I just need some sticking plasters apparently

The hairy sprout a.k.a. as Archie won both his Anysize/Allsorts Small and Medium Combined classes at Lansdowne.



Bless him.

At least I seem to be able to concentrate long enough over a the kind of course these involve to run him properly.

Doesn't say much for me though, and the least said about my handling of Nellie the better.

Really enjoyed the FCI day the Monday after. Great courses and really friendly atmosphere. A huge difference from last year. I went along to work in a pressured event situation with her not expecting anything, which was just as well really :) But Nellie was great and we did some really good work in many places on different courses. But the same problems beset me as I outline below!

Nellie is running really well - she just seems to be getting faster and faster both across the ground, over the jumps where she is really dropping her head and going, and across the contacts, and I am just not keeping up mentally.

Her confidence is high because she knows her job (through the training she has had) and she is so incredibly responsive. I know I have done a really very good job on so many aspects of her training and on many levels with her to build these skills and qualities.

I just need to get my head sorted.

I think fast in my job - balancing numerous plates in the air: tasks, questions/demands, people (and teenagers are not on the whole patient and reasonable) - lots of things coming at me in an average lesson. Lesson after lesson. Spatial awareness (who is trying to stab who with a pen at the back of the room while I help someone at the front!) is a key skill too. I can run (as people tell me) and I am agile.

I do think too much - Iain tells me this all the time - but where does thought have to be left behind (ie the planning and the strategy to prepare for a course) and where does instinct have to take over (to be in the moment just doing it)??

I can do these two modes - but I don't seem to be able to control them. How do I turn them off and on when I want and need to?

How do I become better at judging how I should be handling a course with her? Angela told me I needed a Plan B on the Jumping Champ at Tuffley as I trotted round assuming I'd get ahead...so I took that on board and got a Plan B and sure enough I needed it as I had no chance of getting ahead. I had walked it that way once but dismissed it as I thought I'd make it...... She clearly knew I probably wouldn't!! Why didn't I know that myself?

Why didn't I realise I would never get ahead of Nellie on the dog walk in the Agility round and certainly not be able to execute a full 'front cross' type move that would mean my feet were fully pointing towards the long jump and not the tunnel (E) as I released her from the contact? I knew I would have to run like stink to have a chance at all and I did run like stink too. Why didn't I realise I should have had a plan B - to flick her from behind?????? Even though I knew I was going to find that almost impossible to achieve I still set myself up to do it. And I am not a stubborn person so I must be stupid instead!

Stupid mistakes.

The thing is next time I am in a quandary about whether I will get somewhere on a course I'll assume 'No I won't'. Only to find I do and then I'll balls it up that way.

Must have Plan A and Plan B and remember what to do in each case and be quick enough mentally (concentration) to make the split second decision to act on whichever one needs to be used in that nano-second of a moment.

No-one gets it right all the time so I know it's OK to make mistakes. I'd just like to get it right rather more than I'm doing now which isn't hard!

Iain watches me closely and he tells me there is nothing intrinsically wrong with what I am doing but that I just need a few sticking plasters.

He says small ones - and I'd like to believe him but I'm not so sure.

But if you can see where I need one please tell me! (my mouth excepted!)