The Weekend Report: Farewell to a Beautiful Farm

This weekend was an agility trial given by the Talbot Kennel Club. I've talked about how gorgeous this spot is before, like here, here, and here. I've gone every year since I started trialing 8 or more years ago. The farm is a small slice of heaven on Earth. Beautiful scenery made even better by being on a waterway off of the Chesapeake Bay. The day started out with light rain and luckily moved on to just cloudy and then even sunny! When I arrived at the trial, I soon learned that this was the last time the club would be holding their trial at this location. The unpredictability of the weather has made attendance drop off over the last few years. Without enough entry fees, the club just can't afford to stay. So they have chosen a new location....one with a roof. It is even further away for me, so I won't be going. But for me it is the loss of visiting this farm that really hurts. I will truly and deeply miss having the opportunity to spend a day there. I never really cared how my agility turned out so long as I could enjoy the farm. SIGH......

Our friend Chris and her cute Cardigan Quigley rode with us to the trial. We wandered around looking for photo-ops....

The Tres Amigos!

So how did the agility turn out, you might wonder? Well, we could not pull off a double-Q. Jimmy did qualify in Standard and earned 1st place and another 23 points. We had a very rare weave pole meltdown in our Jumpers run that cost us the Q. No worries, as we went off to walk the farm after that. You just can't sulk when you are surrounded by so much beauty!

Farewell, Spring Cove Farm! May you forever stay a beautiful piece of undeveloped land!

PS I hear they do Barn Hunt at the farm....I'll definitely be looking into that when Jimmy is done earning his PACH ;-)

Tracking Jimmy's PACH progress:
Very 1st Double-Q: Saturday 06/21/2014
Masters JWW legs: 27...MJP Title 01/25/15 MJPB 10/11/15
Masters STD legs: 27...MXP Title!10/24/14 MXPB 10/11/15
Double Q's: 16
PACH Points: 1231

AKC Nationals 2016:
Double-Q's: 9 (out of 5 needed)
Points: 713 (out of 600 needed)....We QUALIFIED!!! 10/11/15
Masters Legs: 32 (out of 20 needed)

The Weekend Report: Mega-Mischief!!!

So this past Saturday was another agility trial at one of my favorite locations. I've posted about it several times, even in my very first blog post ever! The only caveat is that it is an outdoor trial, no barn, no indoor soccer field, just out in the elements. The weather forecast wasn't the best, but it wasn't awful.....passing showers. That didn't sound so bad. When I got up Saturday morning, it was dry and cloudy. Great! I packed up and headed out. Now this trial is the furthest one I drive to, just about 100 miles from home. It involves driving on the Capital Beltway (always a treat!), then heading east to Annapolis and across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Well, it stayed dry and rain free until I got all the way to Annapolis, a solid hour into the drive. Just drizzle at first, and as I crossed the bay, heavier rain. Uh-Oh! Arriving at the farm where the trial was, it was POURING! The wind was heavy and the rain was almost sideways! Crap! I park, and go check out what's going on. Agility trials are rain or shine, as everything has been planned and paid for well in advance. Everyone was huddled under a couple of small tents and a few brave souls were running their dogs in this hard rain. I decided I would wait it out, hoping the rain would pass or at least ease to some drizzle. But after about an hour, it was still pouring! The ground was getting muddy, everyone was soaked to the skin and it was cold! I waffled for a bit, trying to decide if I wanted to run in the rain, or just scratch Jimmy's name off the running order. In the end, I  decided since we weren't chasing a big title, or trying to qualify for the Nat'l Championship as we were last year at this time, that I would err on the side of caution. There was no point risking either Jimmy or me slipping in the sloppy, wet footing. Agility is about fun, and this just didn't feel like fun. So I scratched us, and headed back to the car. The poor boys had never even set foot outside the car! No point getting them wet and muddy. Off we went, driving that same 100 mile drive back home. Back across the bay, heading west this time. And once we got just west of Annapolis....the rain....stopped! It just wasn't meant to be this time. It's funny, too, because it was really a three day trial, but being so far from home, I only signed up for Saturday. Friday was a cool but sunny day, and Sunday was a sunny albeit VERY windy day. I managed to sign up for the one day that was a total wash out! And while it was very disappointing to miss out on my agility adrenaline fix, it was even more disappointing to miss out on this beautiful farm at the peak of the fall season.  No walk in the leaves, no stroll down by the water, and no photographs! Mischief indeed!!!!!

The Weekend Report - Inch by Inch

This past weekend was a glorious fall weekend and I had an outdoor agility trial! It doesn't get any better than that! It's always sad to burn a perfect day inside of a soccer building, so this was such a treat. This trial was given by the Talbot Kennel Club and was held on a farm on Eastern Shore, Maryland. I've posted about it several times, even my very first blog post ever. It's a beautiful place.

We weren't terribly successful however. Our first run of the day was Standard. I set Jimmy at the start line, told him to stay, walked out a bit, released him, and he took down a bar on that first jump. Sigh! It was an easy course and we missed out on A LOT of potential points.

We now had about two hours to burn before our Jumpers run. Not a problem when it's a warm fall day on a waterfront farm!

Our Jumpers run was a very close call with Jimmy's nemesis the triple jump, but despite nicking the top bar, it stayed up and we Q'd! This earned us a whopping 11 points..... It was also the 40th Jumpers leg Jimmy has earned, equaling his MXJ4 title, although there really isn't such a thing.

So here's our tally:

AKC Nationals 2014:
Double-Q's: 8 (out of 4 needed)
Points: 463 (out of 500 needed....37 to go! We can do it! Verified w/ AKC on 09/19/2013)
Masters Legs: 29 (out of 20 needed)

For a third time, I am linking this with the Monday Mischief blog hop and this time I have not one, but two reasons!

First, this pretty country setting was just TEAMING WITH SPIDERS!!! Every single jump upright was crawling with the creepy little bugs. It got to the point that they were spinning webs as we did our pre-run walk-thrus. As we walked the course, we would be breaking through the webs. They were everywhere! My car was full of them by the time I left. Sure hope we get a hard freeze very soon!

And speaking of my car, the second mischief was a dead battery! I had left my keys in the ignition after lowering the windows. I didn't turn it fully off, so it was burning power for about an hour before I discovered it! Yikes. Lucky for me, the first person I asked had cables and gave me a jump. Thank you, Frank!

And we've got more agility next weekend.....going for full burn-out!

The Weekend Report - Two Out of Three.......But....

.....unfortunately not the two out of three I needed for a double-Q. Sigh.

This trial was out on Eastern Shore, Maryland at the beautiful farm I've reported on before. It was a very chilly morning, overcast until midday. Our first fun of the day was Standard and although it looked like it could be tricky, many dogs qualified. Jimmy gave me a beautiful table, nailed his dogwalk contact, and was nice and speedy. When the results were posted, Jimmy had earned a third place ribbon. Good Boy!

Next up, JWW. It really wasn't too bad of a course, just a couple areas of concern. If Jimmy is going to drop a bar, it's usually on a double jump or a triple jump because not only does he have to jump up but he has to jump wider than usual. Unfortunately, there was a double at the back corner of the course, in a spot that made getting a straight on path over it rather difficult. I didn't work the turn quite hard enough to give Jimmy a better angle, and down it went, taking our double-Q with it. I think I see the purchase of a double jump in my future as this needs more practice than a once-a-week class can provide.

At the very end of the day came the Time 2 Beat class. Only one dog earns a ribbon (and 10 points) in this class and the rest earn points based on how close they come to the winner's time. Jimmy gave a nice speedy run and earned another 9 points toward his title. He's now got 24 points/3 legs out of the 100 points/15 legs it takes to title.

I didn't take any photos of the farm this time. I have lots already and just didn't get around to it. I did take one shot as I headed out for home. How's this for an agility trial in the middle of nowhere......?

Tracking Jimmy's MACH progress:
Excellent B JWW legs: 13 (out of 10 needed for his MXJ) Now he's working on his MXJ2!
Excellent B STD legs: 4 (out of 10 needed for his MX) But at least we are now in B class!
Double Q's: 2 (out of 20 double-Q's needed for a MACH)
MACH Points: 244 (out of 750 speed points needed for a MACH)

Time 2 Beat legs: 3 (out of 15 needed for his T2B) 24 points (out of 100 needed)