USDAA Central Regionals

I found myself wishing all year that I could go to multiple regionals.  After the fact, I am glad that I only went to one regional.  It was all on the line, I had to get the job done and I found myself probably more focused than I would have been if I knew I had several chances at several goals.

Mostly I want to focus on what "I" did differrently in this regional that made things work better for me.  But I will take a moment to talk about the dogs and how AWESOME they were (hum...maybe related to what I did differently)  :)

Tangle, Steeplechase, 3rd Place

My goal this year for Cynosport was to run both dogs in Team, Tip in Steeplechase and Tangle in Grand Prix.  I am finding that we all have a better time if I don't run myself ragged trying to run all classes with all the dogs. 

I took Tip and Tangle to regionals.  Tip was fully qualified for what I needed for Cynosport going into Regionals, and Tangle needed at least one more cue in Grand Prix.

Tip, Team Standard, 2nd Place
My accomplishments that can be measured in brag moments were: Tip took 2nd in Team Standard, and 2nd in Team Jumpers.  Tangle took 3rd in local Steeplechase, 11th in Regional GP earning a Bye into Semi-Finals and a lot of clean runs by both dogs.  Tangle's team, consisting of all dogs under the age of three, took 7th in the Team event.

My accomplishments that I am actually proud of:  Tangle kept his head and was hugely motivated to run (we have been working on this with Tracy Sklenar.  We had only one bar per dog all weekend.  Tip has been known to clear the field of bars when she gets excited (again, work I learned for Tracy), Tangle's times were very competitive for a 2 year old who hasn't put on his full speed yet, and lastly, yes, it was nice not to come in last :)

For my accomplishments, I am really proud of my mental game!  I only had one moment the whole weekend where I was not in total control of my nerves.   I was trying to stay calm, focused and just work each obstacle at a time!