Friday 29 May 2009

Cippenham & UKA

Well Pie only had 2 classes at Cippenham. 3-7 Agility and 3-7 Jumping. Both courses were easy, nicely flowing courses. I managed to send Pie back through a tunnel on a pull through on the agility, which meant I could train his contacts as we messed up on number 3.... oops! We also managed a cross behind too yay!! In the jumping, P went wide on a turn after a long straight flat, but ended up finishing 5th which I was really pleased with.

Onto UKA... I was meant to be judging on the Thursday but they didn't need me in the end but I still went to compete and to see Laura, and introduce her to Josh my brother. Haha. She makes me laugh! Ended up spending most of the day with Laura, Sian and of course Josh, and the weather was lovely which made it a really pleasant day.

Pie worked really nicely, considering training on Tuesday was awful!! We managed a 1st and 2nd in novice steeplechase and senior jumping, but I'm not sure which was which. We also got a clear in senior agility, but I trained his contacts, which were superrr.

Here's a video of Pie's runs.... with thanks to Laura videoing for me. Also thanks to Sian and Laura for renaming Pie... APPLE!! WHAT is that about!! hahaha!!



L x

Monday 11 May 2009

UKA, Vyne & Tunbridge Wells

Well after seeing Tace on the Friday I went to Newbury on the Sunday for a UKA show. After going out with my brother on Saturday night (as it was his last weekend before he went back to uni), I didn't go to bed until 6.30!! My alarm was set for 7.15 as my Aunt was picking me up at 7.45. Well not surprisingly I slept through my alarm.... and my Aunt rang my phone to say that she was outside whilst I was still in bed!! OH MY GOD!! Mega panic and rush, but managed to get out the door within about 10 minutes. So feeling and looking like utter poo... I arrived at Newbury... didn't even walk my Senior Jumping and managed a 3rd! I've never felt so awful though.

And I clearly didn't learn after Saturday, because I went out with my brother again on Sunday night and went to bed at 5.30!! Oh dear!! The weather at Vyne was HORRIBLE and sooo cold!! We didn't manage any clears but Pie worked really well.

Onto Tunbridge Wells... I always like this show and thankfully the weather was lovely both days :) and I even caught the sun on Sunday! The KC Chum on Saturday was a tough one for me as there were bits where I wasn't sure how I was going to handle them, and because I was only running order number 17, I didn't really have time to watch, so managed to get a lovely E in that, but gave me a reason to train his aframe and see-saw. I wasn't keen on his G6 jumping course, just because it didn't really suit us at all. But he was a naughty boy and wouldn't go round a jump. I found this even more frustrating as he managed to go round 3 (!!) jumps on Sunday!! Grr. Then our last run was G6 agility. I really really liked the course, which helps! We had a bit of a wide turn before the see-saw but most people were having a wide turn there, but he was a bit slow on his down plank of dogwalk. I think it was because of the turn after so I'll have to practice that. In the end we came 5th.

Onto Sunday. Like I've already mentioned the weather was glorious!! And so were the courses actually. The Crufts singles course ran better than it walked. I watch the small and mediums first as it was the same course. After Pie self-released in the Team, I trained his contacts in his Crufts. I held his Aframe which was 2nd obstacle and the next contact was see-saw. So I ran that in hope he would self-release on his dogwalk again and would give me chance to tell him off and correct him but he didn't. Good dog! Then managed to stay clear until number 16, where there was a cross behind!! Which I have REAL trouble with and so we got a few refusals after having a few attempts!! Lee needs to teach me a 'drag and drop' properly :P I was really pleased with the run though. Grade 6 jumping involved another cross behind but we managed that one, and with a late reverse turn from me a HUGE wide turn near the end, but we ended up 4th :) Then last run was G6 agility. There was a jumping sequence at the beginning which needed tight turns in order to do well. I can't remember if they were tight because I was trying to think of next turn then the next one etc. But Lee said we managed to get them fairly tight which was good. Then i didn't hold my ground for long enough, which resulted in him going straight into tunnel instead of over a jump, but picked up the hard weave entry well, and again gave me another excuse to train contacts :)

Next show isn't until Cippenham, then off for 3 weeks until Thames, can't wait.

There are several videos on my YouTube page so follow this link...... http://www.youtube.com/lucykippie

Friday 1 May 2009

Good News :)

Well just got back from seeing Tace Allen at newbury showground, she had a look over him and couldn't find anything at all, he seemed perfectly balanced is the way she put it. She reckons I should give him a run at the uka show tomorrow on a lower height of about 2ft I think and see how he goes. So we MIGHT be competing on Monday or if not, even Tunbridge!! I'm not going to push him at all, and in all fairness he hasn't been lame for 2 weeks now and could easily of healed naturally anyway. I'm also going to get two people to watch him, who see him compete regularly and for one to film and for the other to watch, just in case one sees something the other doesn't. Smile