Mid Downs and such like

I have to say I enjoyed Mid Downs even though I came home with 3 Es and one 5 faults, both dogs worked exceedingly well and Suzi even got her dog walk. She was so excited about being back at shows that I was left standing at the start of her agility and had to do a mad dash to catch her, she flew round with much more enthusiasm than I have seen for ages, the seesaw was her downfall as it didn't tip when she thought it was going to and her momentum slid her off the side but she charged back up it and finished the course. Tom was not at all sniffy looked as if he was really enjoying himself in both agility and jumping, our downfall was having to turn sharply from a fast straight line as he powers on and doesn't always here my panicy commands of 'Tom, TOM, TOOOOMMMM'. Suzi, once again, flew round the jumping course and if I hadn't got over excited, and tried to get somewhere too soon thus pulling her into the wrong end of the tunnel, would have got a lovely clear round.

The van has been gone so I'm now looking in ernest for a caravan, seen a really nice one but it's over my budget so I'm either going to have to do some haggling, not my strong point, or try and find some more money from somewhere or keep looking. My first caming show is the beginning of May but that will come round so quickly that I have a feeling I wont have found anything by then.

I went for a lesson with Leah at her new outdoor paddock last night, my first thought was 'what a nice place to be able to train', my second was 'God that equipment is spread out'. We worked on Tom turning off a straight line (must remember that he actually knows right & left and use it at shows), going on, and me cutting corners slightly without him coming in to me. I had to do lots of running!
I was so pleased with him as the temptation of sheep poo was very strong but he didn't even attempt to stop while he was was working and if he did wander he came back as soon as I called him let's hope this bodes well as Spring at Shuttleworth usually has sheep poo in the rings.

I'm supposed to be doing Chippenham and Downlands but I now have to go to Boulder, Colorado for work on 20th so will miss both of them :(

New plans

I've decided that my campervan is no longer big enough for agility shows, and that's with one less dog, so I'm selling it and looking at caravans. I would love a brand new one but know this is impossible so it's 2nd hand here I come. I don't need anything huge as even the smallest ones seem to have 4 times more storage space than the van and even a loo which is really my main reason for changing, plus the extra cost of insurance, tax and MOT of having basically two cars. The van is on ebay so hopefully I'll be able to start looking in earnest for a caravan very soon. I can't believe that once I used to say that I would only do one show a month, then only one day a weekend and I would never camp!

My diet is going well but the need for new clothes is looming so more expense, lets hope the van gets people's interest and really brings home the bacon.

Tom's training is still going well with less and less sniffing but we have the big test this weekend at Ardingly, indoors in a riding school that has been used all winter for show jumping so will no doubt be very interesting. I'm taking Suzi and will enjoy running her but however positive I am I really think that contacts may be our downfall :)