Checkpoint (aka Trial)

Last Sunday Bryce and I entered an AAC Masters mini trial. The goal, for each run, was for me to hold my ground and not give in to arguments around tunnels and weaves. Trials are very relaxing for us as the outcomes are not figured into the plan :-).

The tricky part of our weave entry, is that if Bryce is going to argue, it's going to be AFTER he's made a correct entry -- between the first and second pole... Clearly I don't want this as a weave behaviour and we're retraining for that.

I should note, that after his last run (Jumpers), I had Bryce see the onsite EMT for a massage. She said that his rear hip area, quads and psoas were VERY tight, likely resulting in his throwing himself over jumps in the Jumpers run. We're treating with additional full massages, chiro and stretching.

This is Bryce's Standard run. You can see the tunnel refusals, but my response is what is new :-).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adgLTrh8Vww&feature=channel_page

This is the Jumpers run...He started of VERY slowly which could be caused by a) his tightness in the rear, and/or b) my hesitation at the start as I was preparing for a tunnel refusal that didn't happen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrtmAflvzH0&feature=channel

This was our second trial at the Masters level, and a great time to check on how our training is progressing and what things we'd like to tweak or add. After watching several excellent teams, I've tweaked our goals slightly:

1. confident, independent weaves (nothing new)
2. tunnels -- from a send AND from close proximity
3. driving toward the next obstacle with confidence

Time to get busy!