Trial Report for Luke - w/Video!

Way to go Luke!

I love the pix!

Congrats on the Q's!  Isn't it funny how things turn out?  And why is it that we look so slow on video?  When I watch our runs, I look like I'm running r e a l l y s l o w . . .   but I know that when I was running it, it didn't feel that slow. 

A reason why the video looks slow could also be attribute to the frames per second You tube sets for their flash file. The higher the frame rate, the smoother and higher visual quality but with the downside of a bigger file. With a lower frame rate, the opposite happens, lower visual quality and the playback is slower but with a smaller file.

Things always feel faster than they are!  lol  I know that in my horse riding I often feel like my big boy is FLYING, then I watch it on video and he's shuffling along like a western pony.  haha  And yes, I feel like I'm doing wind sprints sometimes in some of those courses, but it looks like I'm just jogging along.  I love watching Luke; I hate watching myself!!

 that looks like soooo much fun - I love your horse too!! he's gorgeous!!

I love the photo of Luke playing with his little buddy!

Sounds like a wonderful week-end ... well, not the getting sick part  ... and missing the Elite Jumpers title by 1 lousy second. Frustration! I really enjoyed watching the videos. I've never seen a NADAC trial so that was interesting.

I gather you  generally trial indoors? So different from my area, then. Almost all of our trials are outdoors. I do trial in some covered dirt arenas in the winter though. Luke doesn't seem distracted by the different trialing environment, though. What a great dog you have!

Yes, the majority of our trials are indoors -- we don't have a very long "nice" season here in the Wisconsin/Minnesota/Illinois area.  Obviously we can't be outdoors in the winter (cold/snow) and then it's not very long before it gets too hot/humid/buggy to be trialing outdoors, so by the end of June we are showing indoors with air conditioning.  There are still a few outdoor trials in the summer, but they are risky to attend b/c you never know what the weather will do.

My "home club" has an indoor facility and we do nearly a trial a month there -- our June & September trials will be held outdoors, weather permitting, as NADAC requires any club who has that many trials to do two outdoors.

I'm fortunate in that Luke doesn't get distracted or stupid outdoors (go off sniffing, run off course, etc.) -- he just gets hyped up and starts flying off the dog walk again, that's all.  *sigh*  Unfortunately we didn't have ANY contact equipment in our class last night (jumps & weaves last night), so I didn't get to school him.  Boo.  Should be fun to see how he does this weekend without me being able to get after him.

In the lower levels when he got hyper like that I could pull him up before the dog walk and have him trot across it in an orderly fashion and still make time -- the times are too tight in Elite and he has to keep his running contact to make it in classes like Touch-n-Go.  I might be able to do it in Regular and get away with it.  Hmm, something to think about for this weekend!

NADAC is what I started with and it's all I really know -- I enjoy it quite a lot and always encourage anyone to give it a try, but I know how expensive and time-consuming it can be to compete in multiple venues (I have a friend who competes USDAA, NADAC and AKC).

Given those weather conditions, I can certainly understand why your trials are generally indoors!!

The closest NADAC trials for me are 2 hours away. I do travel to that location for a few CPE trials each year, but I also have local CPE trials available. Combining the 2 gives me a lot of CPE trials to enjoy. I'd do NADAC too if there was something local as well. But as you said, it gets expensive, especially with overnight costs (hotel and bird sitter fees). Since I'd only be able to do NADAC if I travel, it's too expensive for me to really compete in, so I just never started with it. I concentrate mainly on CPE, and then on USDAA though I don't travel much for it so I only get a few trials in a year. Dabbled a bit in ASCA and AKC but more and more, I think I will concentrate my $$$ on the venues I am most enjoying: CPE and USDAA.

I doubt my boys would take an indoor trial in stride as easily as Luke does the occasional outdoor trial. Ah, the new distractions to explore! Your Luke is awesome!