Twitch, Kris and I headed up to Elma, WA on a familiar adventure with a new twist. We stayed in a hotel. All three of us.
The hotel was just down the road from the trial site so super convenient for me. We arrived Friday with a pretty tuned up Twitch. He was raring to go but it was time for bed. The drive was awful with constant rain in the dark and I was tired and ready for sleep. Twitch was not.
The first night was not as bad as I was prepared for but it wasn’t that great. He mostly growled at noises but settled and ignored it with gentle touches and reassurances. At 4 am however he alarm barked and woke both Kris and I from a sound sleep. It was not a super restful night.
The second night was much better. Twitch slept under the covers at my feet with fewer growls and one alarm bark at 11pm. Hopefully the folks above and below us weren’t also jolted awake.
This was a new site for us and Twitch was distracted. His first run in Gamblers on Sat was pretty good. He ran around the aframe and didn’t stop in his 2o2o for the dog walk but he did for his second aframe attempt. His wide turn over a jump meant he took another jump and good thing because without it we wouldn’t have gotten enough points! He got the gamble nice and smooth! Q.
Next was Standard. That was a disaster. He ran around the aframe and teeter. Popped his weaves and then we skipped a bunch of stuff because he was distracted. No Q.
Pairs. Well it was moderately better but not great. Entered the weaves correctly but then began sniffing. He ran past the teeter again, so two faults and no Q.
We entered Steeplechase for the first time. It was late in the day and we were both tired. We had a pretty nice run but he faulted the weaves and ran around a jump on a wide turn so no Q. But the rest of it was really pretty and his second weaves were gorgeous!
Sunday brought Snooker. He was still distracted with wide turns but we managed to make it through 7 with a Q. That was our third Q in P2 so now we can move up to P3 Snooker and start chasing Super Qs!
Last on Sunday was Standard again. We had a nice run but he was still distracted. I stopped him at one point and asked for his attention because he was not paying me any mind. Then he took the wrong end of a tunnel by going behind me off the teeter! Ugh! So no Q but the first half was really nice and he did stop in his 2o2o for me. 🙂
So a new venue and Kris was in and out of the picture a bit. Not sure if it was Kris or the venue. Otherwise I really like the venue and will go back there again. Crating area was heated which was really nice for a winter trial where it rained all day on Saturday. Plus RAT gives out pretty ribbons for titles.
