RVA Indoor Show - November

This weekend we went to the RVA indoor pay-on-the-day show. It's a nice friendly show that we have been going to for a few years. The venue is improved each year as it is being built. This year we had windows in the spectators area! This made it much (a relative term) warmer than it has been. We were running Shadow at grade 6, Doople at grade 5 and Zazu at grade 3.

Shadow started the day off with graded 4-7 jumping. It was a bit tricky but flowed nicely. We got off to a bad start as she broke her wait. Although we didn't go wrong it put me on the back foot for the first few jumps. We got back on track and she had lovely weaves, which is something we've been working on  a lot recently. We finished 7th in grade 6-7, it was a good fun run. Her last run was graded 4-7 agility. She waited properly this time and was charging round, picking up her weaves and also getting all contacts. We were eliminated when Shadow didn't pull through a gap but carried on going. I should have steadied her up before the jump so she didn't jump so long.

Doople was running in the same classes as Shadow. +Susi Cooper ran her in the graded 4-7 jumping. It was a good smooth round with Doople going quite well. Susi got into the wrong position at one point but managed to keep it going. They eventually finished 2nd in grade 4-5. A good result. I ran her in the graded 4-7 agility. It was hard work as Doople was slowing a bit. She still ran on but needed driving all the way. She knocked a pole when I tried to turn her tightly. It shows how she can find it hard work sometimes. She'll probably run less in the future to try and keep it fun.

Zazu was running a couple of proper classes to see what he was like. We avoided agility as we still want to work on his contacts at home. His first class was graded 1-3 jumping. This was a fast flowing course and one that he ran very well. He made it easy for me as I could just stroll into position with charging off the way I point. We didn't manage the 12 weaves but we haven't got that far at home yet, so no surprise. He also ran in the graded 1-7 steeplechase. He was a little tired by this point but still ran well. He got a little distracted on the way round but still focused when I called him and we finished with a clear round. We were both pleased with him today. He still needs to mature mentally to be able to focus for longer, but that will come.

We had a fun day and kept it relaxed by only running in a few classes. We still have more work to do with Zazu but he is coming along nicely.