A Bit Rusty

Split seems to have recovered nicely and can begin to take the workouts! That is the sigh of relief that you heard!

I have spent the last six months working with just Tip and now my timing with Split has gotten more than a little rusty.

This is the course that we worked on this week. I realized when I was walking the course that I had forgotten what Split is capable of and what he is not. Also, I just don’t know what he will still do well and what we won’t. It does feel like running someone else’s dog.

This map has two courses in it. The first, with the pink circles was the least challenging to figure out how to run Split. I started the course with a recall to front, backed up to send him over #3 and then post turned into the weaves. This worked really nicely. The challenge on this course came when trying to get Split turned nicely and through the box 5-6-7. I ended up doing a forward send, getting ahead of him and heading directly for #7.

The next sequence (Green Boxes) was a bit more challenging. I had minor bobbles from 6-7, I had to front cross the AFrame before the tunnel, Split didn't like to pull to the tunnel. 13-14-15-16 is where I spent a lot of time trying to solve the puzzle. What made this sequence a challenge was 15-16. I could handle it really messy and get it, but my goal was to figure out the best way to handle it smoothly. The best solution that I came up with was a landing side FC on 14, send to 15, get the heck out of there, catch Split’s head and release him to #16 when the risk of taking the #2 off course jump was gone. We need to work on some of our foundation skills, sharpen those up and then I will try this sequence again.