Post date: May 14, 2009 3:56:42 AM
Trevor finished his MX at Casa de Fruta last weekend (May 10) He also got his 7th and 8th double Qs.
It almost didn't happen. First of all, when I got to the trial on Friday (after taking a vacation day from work), Trevor's name wasn't listed in the run order. I went to inquire, and found out he wasn't entered. Apparently I had submitted the online entry, but didn't notice that I never got a request for payment or confirmation.
It was like a bad dream. I was kicking myself and preparing to leave when I got word that I could stay. Relief!
We ran jumpers first. It was the first really hot trial of the year, and it was midday. Trevor wilted in the heat. When he went into the tunnel near the end of the course, I started to worry that he wasn't going to come out the other end. But he finally did, and he Qed (video).
My big concern on Std was whether he would go in the dreaded chute. It was the first obstacle on the course. I played with him instead of sitting him in front of it, and then we just swung around and did the course (video). Success!
The next day (Sat) Trevor NQed on JWW when he looked at the judge and missed a jump. On Std he refused the chute, and wouldn't go back in it when I made a second attempt. In reviewing the video, all I could see that could have been a problem was that the judge was standing right next to it. He was very distracted by the judges throughout the trial, especially when he was on the dogwalk.
On Sunday, we ran Std first (video). The chute was once again the first obstacle on the course. Who knew that this would turn out to be the optimal setup for us? I made him jump up on me facing away from the chute, and then we turned around and did the course. When we finished, the judge told us that the timer had malfunctioned. We could either take the Q for SCT (i.e., no points), or we could run again for time. Ha ha! For our MX? Chance another chute refusal? We took the Q, needless to say. I was ecstatic.
Then Trevor Qed in JWW too (video), for his 8th QQ.
I was thrilled that Trevor finished his MX, especially since he was scheduled to be neutered on Monday. But it wasn't one of our more stellar trials. The heat really got to Trevor, there was a fair amount of sniffing in the weaves, and he was extremely distracted by the judges, which killed our time. Not to mention the chute refusal.
The day after the trial Trevor got neutered, and I spent a lot of time thinking about where to go from here. To be continued...