Westfield Trial

Tom , Hailey, Roo, Smartie and Jerry at Naomi's Inn

Well this weekend was quite the interesting! We stayed at a quaint B&B about 20 mins from the trial in Springfield. It was very nice. Thanks to Marci for her wonderful hospitality. I would recommend her B&B if you are around the Springfield area. It was beautiful and the best part was it was PET FRIENDLY!!!








As for the drive to Massachusetts, it was horrible. We got stuck in traffic through Bridgeport and Hartford. By accident on the way home I got on 90 going the wrong way and we ended up hitting the Taconic instead of going the 90-91-84 route and it ended up being shorter and a much nicer drive. I love making "good" mistakes.

On to the trial.....


First off Congrats to Smartie on her FIRST "Q." She was truly amazing this weekend with her jumping and my dad was great too. She would have had two more "Q"s but dropped bars on the last jump of two runs.





Way to go Sailor and Meg receiving their first 2 "Q"s in USDAA. That nickname "Snailor" may not last too long!





Way to go Draco (one of my my instructor's dogs) for having a great first trial and "Q" and also my instructor for "SMOKING" the steeplechase!





As for Hailey she got a little zoomie but stayed in the ring under control. Her jumping is gorgeous and her sit stay in snooker was complimented by numerous competitors. She is going to be awesome. She held all of her criteria on the obstacles and I look forward to seeingher in Standard next trial.





As for Jerry and Roo who do not compete, Jerry because he is too young and Roo because she has a handicap and may not ever compete in USDAA, were the loudest most obnoxious dogs there. Jerry was such an instigator and got Roo and all the other dogs to bark like they were protecting a pot of gold when anyone came near our tent. We had to reconfigure our tenting to block their vision and attempt to keep them quiet. We were not very successful and are now in the process of purchasing more tarps and screens to block their expens completely.





Finally we will discuss Mr. Stubborn Tom. I cannot figure this dog out. We started off with pairs. We were paired with the same dog that Tom ran after in jumpers last week when they came in the ring and were tugging. So of course when the dog and handler came running toward us to pass the baton Tom went nuts. He went over to the dog and barked but I eventually got him back. He knocked the first bar because he blew the sit stay. He managed to get through the rest of the course perfectly but absolutely showed signs of the old Tom with space issues. I was very nervous for the rest of the day but he switched personalities and was amazing. We won the class for Gamblers with the most points and also the best time. This was our second "Q" in Gamblers and our first FIRST PLACE ribbon ever. HE was completely focused. Sunday was awful. He blew me off, took a wrong course and charged a dog from across the field and never even looked back when I called him. He didn't do anything harmful to the dog but bark but it was the most horrifying, embarrassing experience I have ever had with him. He flat out ignored me. I was seriously pulling him from jumpers (his last run) after that, but at the last moment I decided to run him and take it one obstacle at a time so we wouldn't be leaving on such a bad note. He was semi focused and again a competitor entered the ring and was tugging and Tom saw it but I was able to get his attention made him lay down and we exited the ring without finishing. Let's just say we will be working on his obstinate behavior a lot in the coming weeks to prepare for the next trial. Hope you enjoy the slide show of the pictures I took of Tom and Jerry's friends this weekend. There aren't any of Tom on course although you will see his brother War. I think they resemble each other a lot.