We return... triumphant yet broken :-P

Cedar and I returned from our first solo trial trip last night. We attended the Mt. Bachelor Kennel Club AKC agility trials in Redmond, Oregon. The trial site was beautiful, I got to hang out with some of my agility friends from Boise, and I finally am starting to feel more confident in my handling ability. Cedar ran great, with the exception of the weave poles. Overall, I loved this trial and would totally come back next year.

Oh, and Cedar finished her Open FAST title with two second places in a big 20" class :D



Unfortunately, THIS happened on Friday:



Yeah, that's right...I sprained the hell out of my ankle. On the first day of a three day trial. Awesome. The judge thought I had broken it, but it turns out it's just sprained really badly. I was able to run on it without too much pain with the help of an ace bandage and then an ankle brace.

It definitely impacted my ability to run and get to where I needed to be to handle Cedar properly. In spite of that handicap, we did pretty well. Cedar seemed to sense that I couldn't run very fast, and she adjusted her usual style to accommodate me. She ran with more distance than usual, while still listening to me really well.

Oh, but it gets better! Yesterday (Sunday) was our debut in Excellent FAST. We had a really great run going until the last jump of the send. Cedar lost momentum (because I couldn't run as fast as usual, sigh) and started to come into me, I slowed down to try and get a redirect in, slipped, and fell down straight on my back. Thankfully it didn't twist my ankle or anything, but now I have a sore back and tailbone to go along with my bum foot. Christ. Other than that, it was a great run. And even with the fall, after finishing the run we were still 3 seconds under SCT ;)

Definitely not my most graceful weekend.

Other than her weave pole issues, Cedar ran well. I felt like we had a good connection in all but one run. Her contacts were good, she listened well, we were able to tackle some really tough sequences, and, of course, we both had fun. She lives for agility.

By the end of the weekend, she was pretty worn out, though <3