Lincoln

The show was huge - 10 rings - and it felt a bit too big. Camping was quite spread out and with the rings being in different sections of the showground, you could go the whole weekend without seeing people you knew were there somewhere! And they struggled a lot for helpers and so those who do ended up doing more than was pleasurable. Ho hum.
Maisie did some nice runs and some random amusing bits - TUNNEL! What tunnel? The one 2' from your head! Ummm, I see no tunnel! Maisie, tunnel, the GREEN one! Ah, you never said it was green. Mouse logic: it's green therefore it doesn't exist! OK Maisie but please go through it just for me? Oh, OK then, why didn't you just say?! Canters on OK round the rest of the course till we get to the green tunnel for the second time - and repeat!.. teehee. Then in another class it started with a straight line - jump-jump-jump-tunnel straight ahead, exiting to the right - so Maisie thought that was too boring and bogged off to the wrong end of the tunnel - now that we probably would fail to do if trying! She's a poppet and all errors were no doubt mine really :o) She managed a couple of respectable clears from the w/e anyway though so did many others so no places this time. A huge positive is that she coped brilliantly with the Red Arrows practicing overhead and enjoyed the game of mugging me for happyairoplanecheese each time they appeared. 
Ran Tim in the anysize classes. Some positives - he focused pretty well and did some super distance work - I'm able to send him on, especially to tunnels, and cut corners to the point of being able to stroll leisurely into position to meet him sometimes. He did weaves for the first time in competition in sequence after other course elements - one set after approaching from a tunnel over a jump then I front-crossed before the weave entry and he did them paw-perfect, and the other lot after a fast galloping stretch - that time he missed one pole, but made a really decent attempt to adjust his speed. Out of 4 runs he only bogged off slightly once and that was just for a quick howdy to someone he knows, so quite pleased with his focus. He also did consistent waits and contacts. A couple of the courses, though basically "flowing" courses had some rather tricky angles and they caught us out - all good experience though. However, I really don't want to run him in anysize again. It hopefully helped his confidence in the big show environment, but I don't want him habitually belting round recklessly over small jumps (the largest you could jump was 35cm). So from now on it's big boy jumps or nowt! & it may well be nowt for quite a while ......... but we'll get there one day.
& Billy made a doggy friend!! In the tiny form of Pheobe the Yorkie - he not only sniffed and wagged his tail but actually did a small playbow!!! Verrrry cute, she's just adorable.
& the sun mostly shone and cake happened and then we came home.