Tessa and I now just need FOUR MORE Q's to earn our C-ATCH!!!!!!
Wow! This is such an amazing place to be! So close! And we've come so far! And we are still flying forward as we move closer and closer to our goal!
We went to Barto on Saturday. I just love Barto. Tessa loves Barto - she runs really, really well there. Something about the place really brings out the best in her. But, also, I feel close to Speedy there. It's almost like Tessa, Speedy, and I are together again. It's like he's there with us as we walk the beautiful grounds and while Tessa and I run together. That makes the whole experience extra special.
And Stephanie and Oliver came along, which always makes it more fun.
Uncharacteristically, we went later in the day to run the last three classes of the day: Wildcard, Colors, and Snooker. We needed Wildcard and Snooker, so late in the day it was!
It was a miracle that we found crating when we got there, as it was a very full trial. But we did manage to find a pretty good spot, room for both of us and for Tessa and Oliver's crates.
We had to wait a bit for our first run. We got there much earlier than we needed to be there. Better too early, of course, than too late. But Tessa was rarin' to go and she did have a bit of a difficult time waiting as long as we needed to.
Finally it was our turn. Tessa was definitely "on" and she did a lovely job in our first run. I made one tiny handling blip. I called her name when she was in the air over a double jump. I actually saw her change her body in the air so she could turn toward me. I should have waited until she landed!
But she compensated beautifully, and we managed to Q and get 3rd Place.
Her happy demeanor at the end tells the whole story!
Now we only need one more Wildcard Q! Wildcard can really be a bugaboo for us, so I am extra happy about that.
Next was Colors. We are working toward our Colors Championship. We need 15 Level 5 Q's for that, and we were running for #9 on Saturday.
That run was perfectly perfect! Everything about it was flawless! We Q'ed and got 4th Place!
We had quite a long wait after that. They had to run Levels 1 and 2 Colors, and then they did 1 and 2 Snooker before they did 3, 4, 5, and C.
It was very, very late when we finally walked. I was tired, and I was not thinking as sharply as I would have liked. I bumbled around out there for the entire walk through, trying to figure out an opening that I thought would work well for us, but the best I could come up with wasn't great.
As I was watching some other people run, I saw a PERFECT opening!! Generally I don't like to change my plan to one that I haven't walked, but I considered the matter carefully and decided that this time it was smart to do so. After all, Snooker is a game where you need to be able to think on your feet! HA!
Well, it went perfectly with the unwalked plan! I hesitated just a bit at one jump, but it didn't cause an issue. Here is our run . . .
I love the serpentine at the end!! I love how she dug in as she executed it!!
Well, that was our 4th Level 5 Snooker Q, so we only need one more of those now, too. When I realized that, I was just utterly dumbfounded!
Q and 1st Place! While I am not into placements, it felt good to place above an entire group of dogs who had placed above us all day long! Tessa just rocked this run!
Tessa put her heart into all three of her runs, and she compensated for some little mistakes of mine.
I just love this girl. I just love that we are doing this together! I love that we are having so much fun as we accomplish this goal!
Now, just four to go! The two Jackpot are going to be the tough ones. We are running in two Jackpot classes this coming weekend. We shall see how that goes!
But, no matter how it takes, I will love every second of it!
GO TESSA!!!
Tessa waiting in her crate for her first run of the day. "Can we please run NOW?!!?"
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