Welcome to Rabbit's world - 2014 edition!
Follow my journey through the twists and turns of 2014 - training my horses, training my dog, attempting new things, attempting to improve on some old things, and attempting to have bucketloads of FUN!
Click on any photo on the page to enlarge
Dexter, Michigan AKC Agility Trial
3 days of agility...woo-hoo! Unfortunately I had to miss two of my runs on Saturday to drive back 2 1/2 hours for a playoff football game, and then drive back to Dexter in the middle of the night. Wow, the crazy things I do just to continue my passions! Pretzel, of course, was fired up all weekend. In several classes he ran like a
NOT a good day today. I rode Tango tonight, he was so so so bad. Part of it is because he is so out of shape. I am working such long hours during the week, I barely have time or energy to ride. It is showing, because Tango is a horse than needs constant exercise to stay in shape. When he loses strength, his canter goes to the crapper, and BOY is it there right now. So, when his canter is awful, then I have to ride him harder, and then he acts up, rides worse, and the entire session snowballs and escalates. I literally sat in the barn in tears tonight, wondering how on earth I can keep him in shape with everything else that is going on. I think maybe it's time to get some professional help (not for me, silly - for my horse!!!). I would love to send him to someone who can keep him a month or two and evaluate his potential for over fences. This is something that maybe I should look in to doing next month.
I left the barn not in a good mood, which is unusual for me. Usually my barn time is soothing and makes me happy. Tonight it brought me stress, and I hate that. The way I combat stress is by making plans, so that's what I did. I contacted one fences trainer, waiting to see if things will work out. We shall see...
I had a new farrier work on my horses this morning. He found that Tango is 2 1/2 degrees off between his front feet. I have had him in 2 degree wedge shoes the past few years, but he actually only needs ONE foot wedged, the other on a flat shoe. I decided to trust the new guy and see how this works out. He did measure his feet with the gauge and with the wedge on one and flat shoe on the other, both feet measured at an even 55 degrees. I will be interested to see if this changes how his canter goes...he has always been so dramatically different in the two directions. I will give him a few days to get used to his new feet, and the ride.
Later this evening, my vet came out to check Corky. Corky has been in full heat all week, and I wanted to see if she was still producing viable follicles. He took a culture sample to check to make sure she will be ready to breed in a few months, and he ultrasounded her. She is most definitely producing viable follicles, had one on one side that was big and ready to go, and a smaller one on the other side. Overall, my vet thought that she looked good and that everything looked healthy. Fingers crossed....this was step one of many to come in producing my next baby!
AKC Dog Show (Conformation), Columbus, OH
This is a BIG show this weekend, 17 Weimaraners entered on Saturday and 24 on Sunday! I fully expected to get ignored, and that is exactly what happened on Saturday. I don't think the judge even looked at me the whole class, even his inspection was cursory. Oh well! It's a lot of fun for a little money, so I don't really care.
Sunday was a different story - HUGE class, lots of tough Weims showing. The judge was really thorough in her mouth/teeth inspection. Poor Pretzel handled her rough hands rather well. She did scold me after our down and back - told me not to move him so fast and to make him slow down.
The judge for the O/H Sporting Group was really nice, very friendly. Pretzel showed awesome. While everyone was fussing with their dogs in the final lineup, Pretzel stacked and stood rock solid like a champ. We ended up getting a Group 4 (4th place!) which is MASSIVE, considering how big the sporting group is. It was great to have a "non-hair" dog place in group for a change! Yes, of course I got a win picture...just waiting for it to arrive. Meanwhile, here are a few awful phone pictures:
Part of the Weimaraner best of breed class
Showing off our stack ;-)
I love this picture - while everyone is waiting for their ribbon, I am loving all over Pretzel.
Standing rock solid in the sporting group.
What a good boy!
The Sporting Group was a tough group!
AKC Agility Trial, Niles, OH
This weekend we went to an AKC agility trial in niles, OH 9which is close to Youngstown). Pretzel and I spent most of the week visiting family near Cleveland for the Thanksgiving holiday, and Pretzel was on his
We had some decent moments, and some wild moments. Unfortunately no Q's for the weekend. I talked to a trainer that I took private lessons from all summer about bumping Pretzel back down to Novice Standard since he has not gotten a Q yet in Open Standard. She thought it would be a good idea to do for future trials. He just isn't ready for open standard, the difficulty level jumps up pretty big from novice in the way the course is laid out. We are just
I did a majorly stupid thing - I rear-crossed the teeter on Saturday. Unfortunately I timed it wrong - was a bit behind and went too close to the down side of the teeter just as Pretzel was tipping it and it raised up and cracked me in the knee. My knee was swollen all weekend, and had the skin scraped off of it. my very first real agility trial
