Sheep Herding

Who says we not naturals - a picture speaks a thousands words you know :)



Surely a truly stunning example of how woman & beast balance to control the sheep!


My Mum's a natural you know :)



O! These sheep are quite interesting after all.........

Borra Da! (Good Day)

Chi & his 'pack mates' have been over the boarder to Wales to visit Billy's Gran'ma!





Beautifull Wales! Where Chi's fitness regime continued on the beaches when the tied was out. He was poopped after....

Pre Season Fitness

Spurred on by my fellow bloggers I too have started Chi on a pre crufts fitness regime. Not sure we'll be doing the 4.5km daily road walking like Johanna!

Any form of excersice needs to be balanced to produce all round results so with this in mind Chi will embark on a regime that includes swimming x 1 weekly, road walking x 2 - 3 weekly for 10 - 15 mins at a trot, sprint training up the feild with a tennis ball on dry days for about 15 - 20 mins, long walks well 4 - 5 miles, Agility trainign at Gran'ma's or club working on techniques, jumping excersises, massage x 1 full body per week & every morning skin rolling, neck stretching x 2 daily following operaation need to ensure he doesn't stiffen up & plerping at every other available opertunity (lazing around relaxing :)).

Only 6 weeks to go!

The 2 jump sequences that Gran'ma found (see OBay blog) are brilliant and are helping me to really consolodate my arm signals.
Next weekend we will attend a Lesley Olden course analysis training session - more for me than Chi.

Amazing Friends & 'Family'

Today Bernadette presented me with a cheque for a substantial amount of money to put towards the cost of Chi's cancer surgery. This money came from a 'secret' training day held at Sue Dennison's sand school, with expert tuition from Nancy Hudson, food created by Lyn & Les & all organised by Gran'ma Bay! It sounds like it was a gr8 fun day of training & we're quite envious we couldn't come!

I can not express enough the thanks & appreciation for this very kind donation - you are all such good eggs :)

Merry Christmas!

Today Chi went for a walk along the Downs Way with his 'family', Billy (honorary OBay). Griz the Lurcher, his Mom, True, sister Zen & The Little Evil 1 - Hex (1/2 sister):) We then went home to stuff our faces with the best roast beef ever! And dispite my forgetting the goose fat the roasties turned out fine (phew!) see the Obay site for spud details.

We toasted family & friends and wished everyone an enjoyable Christmas.

Olympia

What a day, wot an atmosphere, what an acheivement!

Having gone to the practice session at Premier on Sat and not had any adverse reactions to a little bit of work i decided to take Chi to Olympia. He was on top form - the only other time i remember running that fast with him was the Championship finals at Thames back in the summer.

Here are the courses - designed by Kate Austin and gr8 to run. Hum... not so easy to see the numbers eh! Tyre tunnel, weaves, jump, snake, wall, jump, tunnel, pin wheel, right turn jump, long finish - does that help? There's a prize for anyone who can figure out the course from that description! Alternatively just click on the pic!



We gained 5th in the jumping a good start to the day :)



Jump, dog walk, tunnel, jump opposite tunnel, right cross behind, jump, A frame, sharp right, jump see saw, right tunr jump, jump, wall, weaves, jump, long, right through to finish.

Chi had the fastest time on this course unfortunately he had a pole down (jump 11) so we ended up 7th. But in the scheme of things he is a champion in my and lots of other peoples eyes so we realy don't mind :) Watch out next year!


Here's Chi doing he bestest sit for Santa in the hope of getting a Christmas goodie!
Mum & my Auntie Mary came to watch. Here we are with Chi's rosettes. Our very efficient groom for the day & fellow OBay owner, Sonia took this pic. Unfortunately i didn't get a pic of our other supporters or Sonia - there was so much going on and so much to concentrate on.
It was a fantastic day, Chi performed brilliantly taking the whole atmosphere in his stride as usual. A good sign for Crufts & next year!

To Run or Not to Run

Today Chi had his stiches out. The wound is looking very tidy with no swelling, which is a good sign. Chi's vet agreed with our idea of having a test run for Olympia on Saturday and monitoring Chi Sunday & Monday for any adverse effects. If all clear we run. He could see no reason for us not to run as long as Chi was ok after this test run. To keep him fit Chi has been having a mixture of road walks and field runs over the last 3 - 4 days and is showing no signs that make me want to rest him up - so far so good. So fingers crossed. He continues to have Reiki & massage and his diet is crammbed full of anti oxidants & immune boosting foods. Nothing but the best for our boy :)



To keep him warm Chi has been wearing this special little hand knitted jumper. Note the 3 red arrows - rather fitting for Chi really :)
Now that he has his stiches out he will be able to wear his Equafleece - it's red just like our Olympia T shirts - 'tis a sign!! (I hope )