Brigg Wins Into Grade 4

It was something of a shock to turn off a roundabout to find a woman heading straight for me on the wrong side of the road, happily we managed to avoid a collision, she just waved and mouthed sorry, she would have been had she hit me!! All the pitches were pre allocated for this show and I was pleased to find that I was in the front row a brief walk from both the rings and the exercise area. As I arrived just after noon I had ample time to set up and walk the dogs in relays as only 2 dogs per handler were allowed of lead. I was surprised to find the ground rock hard and crazed with cracks some of which were quite deep.
After an unexpectedly cold night I awoke to a cool cloudy morning which was no bad thing for running dogs. Friday morning was not very successful, Brigg had several near misses thanks to toppling a pole in two runs and just the last element of the long jump in another and Kai was eliminated in both his runs but at least Keets did a nice unplaced clear round. Chart was not in an obliging mood for two of his runs and then during the afternoon decided to play ball in his final jumping to take 2nd place! As the day wore on it became increasingly warm and humid. Walking out to the second exercise field there was the advantage of a nice pond where the dogs were able to lie in to cool down and quench their thirst.
Saturday dawned hot and humid, Chart happy with his previous day's performance rested on his laurels, Kai did not appear to be running at his best and I feel retirement from Grade 6 may not be far away, after all he has done incredibly well to still be competing at full height only three months off his 11th birthday, he will enjoy Veterans and Allsorts where the jumps are much lower. Keets did another nice clear round and Brigg stormed home in the jumping to take 3rd place. We were among the first to go in his Agility and I was delighted when he went clear especially as the tunnel was immediately after the A Frame, his downfall the other week! On checking his time I was told he was in the lead but with 100 or so more dogs to go I kept well away from the score tent and tried not to think about it until the class was closed and I returned to find his ticket still on the top of the pile which meant he had won into Grade 4. This was really special for me 'winning out' in my home county with my Lincolnshire lad.
Sunday was oppressively hot, my feet were blistered from running on iron hard ground coupled with hot feet plus my troublesome muscle was doing the odd bit of objecting! One of the judges was splendidly dressed in full highland regalia however he did remove his leather jerkin during the morning, his Jacobean style shirt was whiter than white and there was not a crease to be seen all day! I only let Kai do one run as I felt it was too much for him to do more, Keets got his accustomed clear round and Chart actually went clear in both his jumping classes when he took 13th place in the same class where Brigg came 6th, Brigg also took 8th place in another jumping class. In between our runs I walked the dogs and started packing up. By four o'clock I still had two runs to do but decided to make for home instead as I had a long drive ahead of me.