May 2012

Well I never thought one month could possibly be jammed packed full of so many things and so many highs and lows.

And it all began with an email :-) "Would you like to upgrade to business class??" OMG OMG OMG!!!! YES :-D

So the extra long flight that started my journey to the World Agility Open in Belgium began in style. I've never flown business class before, but having blueberry pancakes for breakfast, and a fully reclining massaging chair is something I strongly recommend if you get the chance :-D

I was really excited landing in the UK. I couldn't wait to meet up with Jules, as well as meeting her host dog owner the lovely Lara and her border terrier Magners. Not to mention that I was counting down the hours till I got to see wee George again :-) 12mths is a long time between greetings. I even forgot how small he is, especially since I've been around my gigantor kids LOL

After picking up George we really spent very little time sitting still. We had a fantastic training session with Angela Rogers on the Mon. And she helped us hone our skills to the different handling styles of our dogs. I don't think I even noticed the freezing cold and the rain it was so much fun! This is DEFINITELY the way a training session should be!!  So thankyou thankyou thankyou to Lara for organising it, and to Angela for giving up her day to help us :-D

Tues was a 3.30am start ..... and we spent all day in the car making our way to Belgium. Thank goodness for Starbucks!! :-D Mmmmmmm iced latte!!!

Wednesday we had a 2hr training session in the afternoon at the De Warre Equestrian Centre. Wow what a place!! And it was so great to catch up with most of the team again :-D That night we experienced true Belgium dining and thankfully Pettrick was there to decipher the menu for us!! I'm not sure what I enjoyed more, the look on Jules' face when enquiring about what white asparagus would taste like, only to have the chef take some off someone else's plate with his fingers and give it to her to try!!! ROTFWL!!! or the waffles with ice cream and chocolate sauce :-D

Thursday was another early morning start to check in and have our dogs vet checked and measured. Then onto our super quick last training session, before our one and only free afternoon that we spent lazing in the backyard enjoying the sun. It was just what we needed before the competition started the next day.

The Australian Team :-)

Friday and Saturday were jammed packed full of runs :-) It still blows my mind that we get to compete with some of the worlds finest handlers and their dogs. This year I did feel the absence of my own dogs more than I did the year before. And I'd REALLY love to have had Liryk there to play with. But I felt extremely lucky to be running a dog like George, he is SUCH a superstar and his amazing joy for agility is infectious! Just check out his big grin on course!! :-D










We had some fantastic runs over the three days, we even had a close medal opportunity, but got a penalty on the 3rd last obsticle the Aframe :-/ But I think most people had those "if only" moments :-)

The last day of competition was the best for me I think. The finals of all the runs were being held and the atmosphere was fantastic!! The courses were super fast and as much as I love competing I also LOVE watching. The connection of some of these handlers and their dogs and the ability to look like one at such high speed is electric and inspiring! One of my favourite runs with George was the final run in Biathlon. The course was fantastic and you could just go hell for leather. We didn't go clear, but I didn't care, George and I had the BEST time out there and we ran our butts off :-D

With the closing ceremony came the rain and not long after that, came the news that Liryk had been injured :-( A rather evasive email left by my husband to say she was lame and now on strict crate rest and anti-inflammatories.... My brain went into overdrive and I didn't get much sleep Sunday night, waking up at 4am Monday morning with the departure of the rest of my housemates, I stayed awake and jumped on the internet to try and get more information about how bad Liryk actually was. An email from the vet that saw her, as well as chatting to the other vet via Facebook braced me with the crappy news that Liryk may not be going to the Nationals in 2.5wks :-( 

To say that the flight home was long, is an understatement! I'm so glad that I shared half of it with Karen and Colin :-) They definitely helped to keep my mind off Liryk and to make the journey home drag a little less.

To cut a long story short she's out of competition for the next 6-8wks with a grade 1 tear of her illiopsaos muscle (a muscle in her groin)

The bruising that came out on the inside of her leg :-(

I'm thankful that she isn't lame and doesn't appear to be painful and I have my fingers crossed that she will make a full recovery. I'm definitely disappointed that I've spent two years working towards such a big event, let alone not being able to cheer my friends on, or meet new friends and see their dogs in action. Thankfully there is still the Grand Prix and we will now work towards that :-) In the mean time we have weekly accupunture and physiotherapy visits with Deb Nook and Carmel Keylock. A follow up ultrasound is booked at the end of the month to check how the muscle has healed and hopefully ....... fingers crossed.... we get to start doing some agility again :-D