ASCA Trial Day 1

Cedar and I qualified for our first Started leg today at the trial. She was... pretty good. She really didn't like the pressure of the fences in the arena, and in the take pen. We did get the sheep out okay, and she picked them up off the fence rather nicely. We were both nervous so I think we were both a little amped up... but we made both of the panels and didn't have problems re-penning the sheep. In retrospect, I was a lot more nervous than I thought I was... I made some stupid mistakes that I wouldn't do otherwise and didn't make Cedar back off the sheep enough. Hopefully now that we got our first one out of the way, the rest of the weekend will be better.

We did a practice run after the trial, and I wish we hadn't. It was pretty horrid and sort of blew my confidence a little bit. I think we were both tired and our heads weren't in the game... so it was a mistake on my part to push her. She busted the sheep out of the pen and singled one off, gripped, and was a general bitch. However, we did get it together in the end and I practiced driving them down the fence. She seemed more comfortable w/ that so I may try it tomorrow. We just need to figure out a better strategy for the take pen! Blah. I wish I had more confidence in that area but Cedar freaks out and so do I. She freezes, and I freeze.

Yet again, I am reminded that I don't know what the hell I'm doing... and if I was smart, would probably pursue other dog sports. But I'm too far gone now!

We have three more trials to go (2 tomorrow, 1 Sunday)... so cross your fingers that we continue to keep things under control for the rest of the weekend :)

Congrats to Katy and Jen who won 1st place in Started and High Scoring Non-Aussie!