Almost Time

It's almost time for trial season to begin! We leave Thursday for our first trip out, to the Shaker Village trial in Harrodsburg, KY. I went to this trial last year and thought it would be a fabulous place for a double lift, and this year they've added a DL for the top 5 combined scores from saturday and sunday. I'll be running Zac and Jet in the Open, and Bill in the Pronovice. I have Bill entered in Nursery as well but won't decide on running him until i see how he does in PN. He's gotten pretty pushy on his fetch here recently and i'm not sure i want him and sheep nearly 400 yards away from me just yet! If he's listening well and handling the sheep kindly in PN, i'll give Nursery a try but it's not too likely at this point. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Zac will be okay for the trial. This past tuesday he came up lame on a front leg after working. I think he probably sprained his wrist. It was definitely lower in the leg and i couldn't find any toes that were ouchy. I've kept him on strict rest and been soaking it in epsom salts. The limp is gone but i'm leery of letting him do much just yet. I would have liked more prep time with him and to have done more conditioning but at least it looks like he should be able to run. Wild boy is all the time hurting himself.

The last couple of weeks have been very busy, with training and trying to prepare to be on the road a good portion of May. I've managed to drag Bill and Jet out to a few new fields to work though nothing as large as i'd have liked. Bill is showing his age (20 months) but that's okay. I'll try to not let him get over his head in these upcoming trials. He's getting confident and pushy and a little bull headed. Not such a bad thing to see coming out, though the timing might not be the best! Jet is working pretty well. Zac was working well before pulling up lame.

This past weekend was (you guessed it!) a busy one. Friday afternoon off training at a friend's place, saturday shearing the sheep and getting the garden tilled and planted, sunday lessons at Julie's and then scrubbing the winter mess off of my van so it won't be disgusting to drive to KY. I'm looking forward to taking it easy at the uncoming trials!