Stout's Weekend

Stout's weekend was not quite as glorious as Porter's was... But it was still pretty darn good!  :)

Stout made his Open JWW debut on Saturday. We have been practicing 12 weaves for a long time now, ever since he learned to weave, so there was no trepidation there. But I was worried about the increased number of crosses I'd have to do & the probability of having to do some of them as rears (those tend to send him off into the great unknown - otherwise known as the ring crew)  :)

I only entered him one day (with his usual one run) at this trial. Why? Well, he's only ran on dirt once before, which didn't seem to be a problem, but I didn't want to risk a lot of sniffing. But I was also starting to get a little discouraged with our trialing experiences  :(  Maybe not "discouraged," but definitely frustrated! I thought being frustrated just one day vs. two would be better.

So we took a little break (Porter ran at NADAC Champs during the break, but Stout had a little more down time) and really worked on some stuff. This was Stout's first trial back since mid-September.

And I think we may be improving! See below:

We had a start-line stay! He weaved all 12 poles! And the most impressive of all: he didn't run off!!!

I kind of chickened out on the start line, not leading out as far as I should have. Which made it impossible to push him out to that blue jump  :)  I guess I could have done a cross somewhere down that line (like I did with Porter), but I chickened out there too, thinking he would run off...

But did you see him turn really hard to get that jump in the 180? Good Snouters!

Then, I, umm, went off course  :(  Yeah, I shouldn't have taken the tunnel. It was that jump, then into the weaves. Oh well, I don't think Stout noticed.

But we wouldn't have qualified anyway since I didn't fix that blue jump at the beginning. And then he missed the weave entrance. He was jumping up for my sleeve and didn't even see the weaves the first time  :)  But he flew through them when I got him in there!

All in all, I am soooo proud of the little guy! All the mistakes were mine. And he didn't run off!

Yay Snouters!