Another team day at USDAA.

Steeplechase this weekend, Gustavo loves steeplechasing.

Gustavo had some good runs this weekend, and some not so good. I teamed him with some very consistent friends, and our name was Teeters for G-man. Ironically, he had no problems with teeters this weekend, even the one he had to do in the relay. He's so random. He did have tremendous problems doing weave poles all weekend. Go figure.

Our team didn't Q. Shit happens to us all. But even without the team Q, he is now qualified enough to compete in the Nationals. Which will be held next fall just 5 minutes away from where this trial was. If he gets a team Q before then, super. If not, no big. We'll do the other stuff and be very happy to be able to compete at all. That is a pretty big achievement for a little guy like Gustavo.


Grand Prix with guest appearance of teeter totter.

I ran Grand Prix with all rear crosses. Not sure why that happened other than some shock and awe over a successful teeter which snowballed into an alternative handling universe. But we still made it around. There were a few very hard courses over the weekend, a Team Snooker, MC Jumpers and Team Jumpers that had dogs and people wiping out right and left. We wiped out big time in the snookers, but barely squeaked through the jumpers courses. Some screaming and hair raising moments with Gustavo barely hanging onto those poles.

His stress always has to blow somewhere, so this weekend it was blowing out the poles. Sometimes it's the no teeter, no way problem. Sometimes it's running away to find the nearest meaty bones. By the end of this weekend, there were no startlines and no weave poles. 5 runs a day is way too many for his brain to handle, we need to go a little bit kinder and gentler for Gustavo. I see it as a giant victory that he was back to being friends with the teeter totter. Not that I take this for granted, or expect that this will necessarily occur again.

Gustavo is a tiny blue moon, orbiting in his own solar system. On the days he comes in for a landing, I am grateful to have him there for however long he wants to stay.