The 2015 edition of Jan Hare's life
Hop on 2015 and join me on the roller-coaster ride of training - training horses, training dogs, training humans, and attempting to establish order in my life.
Click on any photo on the page to enlarge
Amazingly, Tango picked up where we left off a month ago. Granted, he was a bit more out of shape, but he really rode well. I was expecting some stupid-ness, but got very little from him. Just one iffy moment when he reacted to Pretzel jumping after a cat in the hayloft which sent Tango bucking for a bit...good times.
What was interesting to me is that his lateral work (sidepassing, etc.) was MUCH improved. The last few times I had worked these exercises with him I got a lot of resistance ("It's just SOOOOO hard!!!") but today he was very willing, and moved his shoulders and hips willingly. Maybe he needed a month for that lesson to sink in. I will call it "Training through time off" LOL!
Well, this week has
I have to stay focused, and I have to keep telling myself that the most important accomplishment was the journey, and not how we end up placing at this show. They are only awarding best of Breed, and Best opposite. the odds are very good that I will leave the ring without a ribbon. I just don't want myself to get disappointed when I leave empty-handed, because this was a HUGE journey for me and Pretzel. Look how far we've come! In just 3 years we went from knowing NOTHING about dog shows to being ranked 2nd in the nation in owner-handled Weimaraners.
OK, and I am a crazy fool and am wearing an
So here we go, off to Florida! After the show, we head further south to Goodland and a week boating to our favorite islands where Pretzel and I will run the beach and love the sunshine. Stay tuned....
AKC Eukanuba Nationals - We Arrive!
We made it to
We went inside, found our reserved spot, set up the crate and chairs and took a look around. The rings are nice and big (over 20 of them) and they have the signature Eukanuba
Eukanuba - All-Breed AKC show
Today was our "warm-up" day. There was a regular AKC all-breed show going on, and nearly everyone was using it as a warm-up for the big show. There were 31 Weimaraners entered. Thankfully, we were not the first dog in, but the second. Right away I encountered a problem - the
National Owner-Handled Finals
Well here it is, the day I have worked ALL year towards - the
Pretzel started the class by gaiting really well for me. He had a lot of energy and was pretty charged up by the atmosphere, which I liked. However, his stack on the inspection was less than perfect - the judge gave me almost no time to stack (I was first, as usual), and I had to correct his stack a couple times as he moved a little bit. Our down and back was really good, and we had a moment of a good free stack, then he jumped up at the bait. I managed to pull him in to a decent free stack for a millisecond before the judge sent us on.
I think what saved us was that at the end, he held his stack like a rock. he got his brain together and really showed well at the end, and I was
Oh, and by the way - I kept that white suit on for
AKC Eukanuba national Championship Show
Today was the National Championship day. I entered as a lark, I haven't got a chance in the world, but I am here, so what the hey? Besides, I never let that stop me. So we showed today against the best of the best. Pretzel was, shall we say, not at his best? the class was huge, and the judge took her time and was very thorough with her judging, which made the class go
Well, I have no goofy dog-wearing-antlers pictures for you, because my dog antlers are in a box I haven't yet unpacked. Yes, I
Today I rented the ARF agility building to work Pretzel a bit. I blocked all of the contact obstacles (A-Frame, Dogwalk, and Teeter) so we could just concentrate on jumps, tunnels, and weaves. I suspect that the hard landing on the downside of the contact obstacles is what made Pretzel's should er sore, so I am not going to do those yet.
He was, shall I say, over-enthusiastic...OK a better term for that would be
That is all irrelevant if he doesn't end today sound and healthy. We had a pretty good workout, so I will watch him like a hawk tonight and tomorrow for any signs of soreness. If he doesn't show any soreness, then I might consider entering him in a few Jumpers classes at the dog show in Novi next month (they have agility in the same building as the conformation). I am hoping and praying hard...
I
Next on the horse agenda is to have the vet out to get a culture on Corky and ultrasound her to see if she is cycling (I hope, but I have yet to see any signs). Time to start adding fuel to the ol' horse dreams...
On another good note, Pretzel shows NO signs of soreness today after his agility workout. YES!!!!! I think I will enter Jumpers at the show in Novi, Michigan since I am already going to be there for the conformation part. That means I will probably be running in a skirt suit again, oh joy.
On yet
Later that night....
"Old age is fifteen years older than I am." - Oliver Wendell Holmes
I am in an introspective mood tonight. This quote strikes me tonight, because it is a phenomenon I just noticed recently. What was old to me 10 years ago is not old anymore. Heck, 10-20 years ago, my current age was viewed as
I hope I never get too old to continue setting
Well, I joined a fitness gym, went and ran a couple miles there tonight in hopes of staving off becoming decrepit. we'll see how this goes.
I will leave you wiht one more quote, and oldie but real goodie...
And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. - Abraham Lincoln
Can we say
But you know what they say...
Well, it's
SHORT TERM GOALS 2015
- 1. Earn a Q in an Open Agility class -
Nope, didn't even compete in open agility for the most part in 2015. Stopped doing agility in June to re-train, and then injuries made me lose the entire fall season. - 2. Finish Pretzel's Grand Championship in conformation -
YES! Mission accomplished on September 4th! - 3. Breed Corky sucessfully -
Well, that depends. I DID breed her successfully, but she didn't carry the foal to term successfully. So, It was and wasn't a successful breeding. Ugh. - 4. Earn an Open agility title -
Nope, kind of hard to do when you didn't earn any open Q's yet LOL! - 5. Show Tango in a new event -
No, sadly he never got to be shown all year. My jumping/fence dreams came to a crashing halt in March. - 6. Get to Level 4 in at least one CPE category. -
YES! We managed to do that in several categories - Fullhouse and Jumpers. Yay!
LONG TERM GOALS 2015
- 1. Earn a Congress Top 5 -
Not yet, it's always a work in progress...it's up to Corky to produce, now. - 2. Breed another great HUS prospect for myself -
Well, can't say i didn;t try! Trying again in 2016, will hope and pray for a healthy foal and mama. - 3. Have a healthy foal out of Corky -
- Ditto on the above statement, trying again in 2016 - 4. Compete at the Excellent Level in AKC agility
- 5. Earn a group placement with Pretzel in open AKC competition -
YES! Not only did I earn two regular sorting group placements with Pretzel this year, one of them was a GROUP ONE!!! I smashed this goal! - 6. Compete at the WCA Nationals in agility with Pretzel -
Well, I did...rather unsuccessfully, but we went, tried, and had a great time. - 7. Earn a CATCH in CPE agility -
Not yet, it is a work in progress
My goal list doesn't even apply very much to my 2015 year - I changed goals about halfway through the year. Once May hit, Tango was diagnosed with his bone disease and my dreams of jumping him were finished. Also in May, I had a disastrous agility trial at the WCA Nationals and it made me realize I needed to step back away from trialing and go back to training (or in this case, RE-training). So I focused all of my energies on showing conformation, mainly the National Owner Handler Series. Someone had brought it to my attention that i was listed in the top 20 rankings for owner-handled Weimaraners, so I decided just for fun to try and crack the top 10. Then I decided to try and end up in the top 10 so I could compete in the finals in Florida. Then I decided I wanted to be in the top 5. Then I started aiming for #2.
So....what will my 2016 goals be? You'll have to stay tuned til tomorrow! My life in 2015 was a huge transformation/renovation of my life. In 2015 my life changed, flipped upside down on a personal and professional level. I became a new independent person, I started an entirely new job and career, I moved 100+ miles to a new place, I changed goals mid-stream and accomplished them with Pretzel. I suffered personal heartbreak in my life, and in losing Corky's baby. I did some stupid stuff, made some dumb decisions, did some really awesome stuff, and saved myself more than once. I look back on 2015 and I am
So...bring on 2016...and keep reading!