EO Day 4 Team Day: It rained!!

I am almost getting tired of writing about the EOs! It seems to be taking me forever; maybe next time I should bring my laptop and write it down each night so I don't forget what happened. (or maybe I just needed sleep instead!) ooops there I go complaining again! Feel free to slap me.

Sunday was the team day. It was run more like normal (like the World champs) where each team member had a jumping and agility run and the scores were combined. The nice thing was the scoring was more like the old World Champ scoring; you could have 4 team members and the lowest score got dropped. This is such an advantage to have; it was a shame the GB teams were not all teams of 4. For whatever reason (drop-outs due to dog illness or lameness) there were mostly teams of 3 and only one or two teams of 4. I think they could have done some switching around and made up more teams of 4. If we had 15 small and medium dogs we could have had 3 teams of 4 and one team of 3 as the small and mediums could be mixed.

That said; I do not think it would have helped us! The small and medium teams had loads of eliminations for whatever reason. So unlike us! I blame the rain as the rain can't argue back. hehe

I think we had team agility first. If I am not mistaken two teammates had eliminations; so basically we just wanted a clear. It was a really good course and I enjoyed running it. The a-b-c sequence was there again; but it was much wider spaced as the medium dogs also had to run on the same course. You can see Hex bounce these jumps much easier as I think they are 3 metres apart. I held her contacts and was pleased with her entire run. Two bars came down but she is used to heavier bars and I should have been more careful.

Here is the course: Small/medium team agility Most issues were #4-5 and #14-16.



After the team agility we had about 1.5 hour break until our turn at the team jumping. Well, dontcha know it, the heavens opened up! I mean really opened up! And unlike here in England they did not stop running the dogs. It was shame because if they had just stopped for 1/2 hour the heaviest of the rain would have been over. Instead we had to WALK the course in the rain and then run it in the heavy rain slipping and sliding like a mud-soaked music festival! The day before they kept going even in the thunder and lightening! If it had been any other show I would have refused to run in it. I do not ask my dogs to run in mud and risk injury to either of us. Even in the worst weather in Scotland last year; the ground never got as slippery as they did at the EO during that jumping run.

The thing that tickled me most about walking this course in the pouring (did I say POURING) rain? Everyone was good and walked without an umbrella except for one person. Would this be a lady with lovely hair? (I almost did as I knew I was going to have photos later!)Or someone who wears glasses and cannot see if they get wet? Noooooooo....it was ROGER (big tall guy who has a shaved head) from The netherlands! What a wimp! hehe That just cracked me up big time! Gotta love him! I wish Dennis had gotten a photo of that.

Anyway I think most of our team had E's or faults in the jumping course. I just remember Wendy saying as I went to go in: "Don't run out there, take it easy and don't get hurt". Does she forget that I don't often RUN anyway?! haha Of course this is the one run that I do not have video on. Hex ran it really well! I think we were either clear or had one bar down. The scores says clear but someone said a bar came down; either way I was really happy with the run especially as I know Hex hates mud. We just sauntered through the course, stayed up right and she did exactly what I asked of her. God I love that dog!

It was really very slippery out there; Suzanne had a nice slip and fall and directed Unique into the correct end of the tunnel from a position on the ground!

Here is the course: Team small and medium Jumping . Most people had trouble from #6-7 and from #13-15.

This is what the grounds looked like the day before with just moderate rain. On the sunday it just got worse and worse. Another reason why I am glad the world champs are INDOORS! It helps level the playing field as during the weekend of the EO alot depended on when you were running, if it was raining and how the ground was becoming. Way too many variables for a true comparison.



Dennis found shelter under the bratwurst stand and took this photo during the heaviest rain.


This was the only way into our GB "camp".


Some sad wet dogs.




I am almost done with my writing about the EO's but will add the final touches later! I don't even think anyone is still reading this! You are all probably bored now and have moved on! :-) If you are still reading let me know what you think!

So I will finish up with a photo Dennis took of the super-dooper equipment we ran on at this prestigious show. (yes Johanna we are spoiled in the UK with PREMIER equipment! So don't yell at me!)