Strike's First Trial - Recap!

Strike competed in his very first trial over this past weekend - All 4 Fun USDAA (3/22-3/23) and blew me away! Honestly, I wasn't too sure how things would pan out because the winter months were so harsh and left us with very little training time. As a result of that, I attempted to stop him on his contacts. I don't want to use running contacts in trial until we get more practice in more locations.

SATURDAY  
Starters Gamblers - NQ
Before the run, we walked by the speaker and Strike was startled when the judges voice suddenly came blasting through calling out numbers. He was pretty spooked, so I tried to get his attention and comfort him the best I could, worried that he wouldn't even run for me. To my surprise, he was totally fine once the run started. Took our time playing around, but I wasn't in a friendly place at the buzzer and forgot I was running my starters dog (not Ace, my distance pro) and so I didn't support the send. Totally my fault and we finished the run on a good foot!!

Starters Snooker - NQ
Didn't last too long... I got whistled off. I'm used to CPE snooker, where if you knock a red, you get another and continue on to finish your red-color(x3). Well... Knocked a red, but apparently we were supposed to start the sequence after our 2nd red-color, which is where I messed up and the run was stopped. My bad!! ;)

Steeplechase - E
Super fun run!! He chose the wrong end of the tunnel... Not sure why, but he was on fire for the rest of the run! He even cleared the broad jump, which I actually didn't even train (oops). So happy with how tight he can turn and how well he can keep up bars in tight areas! 

Starters Standard - Q/1st place
My first concern was the tire right out of the chute which he ended up handling well, but did knick the tire (but not hard enough to break it). Great great great weaves and stopped contacts (yes, I actually got him to STOP!!)

Starters Jumpers Q/1st place
The last run of the day. We had been at the trial for 11 hours (sadly, I am not exaggerating...) I was burned out and exhausted, I can't imagine Strike was any more awake, but we ran and he did wonderful! I forgot to cue a right turn at the end on a close to 90 degree angle so he passed up the last jump, but he could go back and fix it because starters doesn't fault refusals (woo!)

SUNDAY
Starters Standard - NQ
Pretty quick, but Strike and I were both pretty shocked when he slid off of the teeter as it was falling! (Through observation of the rest of the class, the majority did the same thing. I was first to run, otherwise I would have been sure to stop him better!). That shock is probably what caused the bar afterwards, but he ran the rest of the course nicely! 

Starters Jumpers - Q/1st place
The most connected run I felt that we had (besides steeplechase)! We had a LOT of fun and he was really bookin' it! He ran 6.3 YPS (not bad for running at 26"!!) and just sailed over the jumps!!

I am thrilled with how well he handled his first trial and how confident he was. I just need to work on trusting him more and running faster so that I can keep up with him! I can't wait to continue our journey. The future is looking bright. :) Click here for the video!!

Me and Strike with his first ever Q ribbon!