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




Saturday-Sunday, June 6-7, 2015, 2015

CPE Agility Trial, Pataskala, OH

Well, what can I say? Pretzel once again is working on proving me wrong. He was really good at this trial. we had a total of 8 runs all weekend, and we Q-ed in 4 of them, and the other 4 NQs were very minor faults (like the one where I celebrated over a good move and I hugged him before we crossed the finish line LOL!). Actually, he was rather slow, and by Sunday afternoon he was REALLY slow. It was a pretty hot weekend, and even though we were in a/c he got tired a lot more quickly than he usually does. Overall - a pretty good weekend!

We have one more CPE agility trial entered in 2 weeks and that is IT until late fall. Time to re-train!





Monday, June 8, 2015

My friend called me while I was at the trial yesterday and told me she was out at the barn and it looked like Corky was in heat. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I stewed about it all night. This morning I got a hold of my vet and he will come out Wednesday afternoon to re-check her. I may go flat-out crazy before then (as if I am not already there!)

On a big PLUS note, Tango has been sound sound sound...ever since that one day at the end of May when he looked a little off, he has looked 100%. I have that pesky bit of hope trickling back into me...




Wednesday, June 10, 2015

My vet told me he would be there "in the afternoon"...which left me a long time to hang out at the barn and wait. I free-longed both horses, and then decided since Tango looked so good I might just hop up on him and try him out under saddle for a bit. He was fantastic!!! Amazing, after having over 2 months off he rode wonderfully. He was a bit "bucky" at the canter, and you could tell he wasn't nearly as strong as before, but I was THRILLED with how he moved.


Today was a day just filled with good news. My vet came out, and Corky has a nice, strong, healthy baby. You could see the heartbeat, it was incredible. So all is well, all is well.





Friday, June 12, 2015

AKC Conformation show - Traverse City, MI

Let's just start by saying today was the most epically awesome day of m,y dog show career...EVER. We started off the morning going against one of the top Weims in the country, and two grand champion bitches. We came out as Best of Breed winners!!!!! Pretzel was awesome. the funny thing was we showed to the judge that we showed to at our second show ever in Urbana (see October 13, 2013) and she yelled at me and almost made me quit showing. the really ironic thing is that she yelled at me yet again today about stacking him too long. Apparently I managed to correct that, because at the end of the class she handed me my ribbon and told me "That's a NICE dog!". Woo-hoo!

But the awesomeness of the day didn't stop there. we went on to the Sporting Group, showed against the best of breed form each sporting breed and we got pulled out and placed FIRST in the sporting group! Unbelievable!!! The judge was a different judge than the one I had this morning, and she also really liked him!

So today I got to do something I have never done before - go in the Best in Show ring against the winners of each group. Obviously we didn't win best in show (I would still be in the hospital from THAT heart attack!) but Pretzel showed really well and it was an epic, awesome, fantastical experience. Wow....

Click to enlarge

Gaiting past the best in Show sign...that may never happen again!


our free stack - we've been working on it for several months now, but got some great advice from a fellow Weim exhibitor so this WILL get better!


Yep, we are ALL business!


Getting our ribbon for Sporting Group ONE


What a cool moment...


I lub you, Pretzel!


The Best In Show competitors (minus the working group huge Great Dane that didn't fit in the picture!)


I love this photo - this is the FIRST time that I was in a position where everyone came up to shake MY hand and congratulate me!


Posing by Lake Michigan (actually Grand Traverse Bay) after the show

br>

Some clips of our gaiting - I have been working on getting Pretzel stronger and I really think it shows!




Saturday, June 13, 2015

AKC Conformation show - Traverse City, MI

Today was more important than yesterday because today and tomorrow the show has the National Owner-Handler series. I am really gunning for those owner-handler points to try and get back into the top 10 and remain there until the points are done (October 3)...then we will qualify for the National Owner-Handler final in Orlando Florida in December. Yeah!!!

I was fairly confident going into the show this morning because the judge for weimaraners was the same judge I had last night in the sporting group that put me first. She took a long time deciding, but in the end awarded me Best of Breed and Best of Breed owner/Handler. YES!!!!!!

I had to prepare for two groups this afternoon - Owner-handler sporting group and the regular sporting group. Owner handler was first, they sqiuished us all into a little ring. I could NOT get pretzel to really move out at his gait because there just wasn't enough room with all those dogs crammed in there. Unfortunately, we didn't place, so no additional Owner-Handler points.




The regular sporting group went a lot better. Pretzel showed better for me. we made the cut, but didn't place. Still a very good day!






Sunday, June 14, 2015

I didn't have great hopes with this judge today, and I was right. we got best of opposite, which was worth no points, and unfortunately that meant we didn't get owner-handler best of breed, so no owner-handler points today. Disappointing, for sure...really wish I could have had my epically awesome day on Saturday or Sunday with the owner-handler points available, but heck...how often in one's lifetime does an epically awesome day occur? RARELY, so I will take mine and enjoy it!!!!!





On to JULY, 2015