So, I can tell because it worked!

After I exhausted my local resources, I asked the internet for help. Thank you, internet. Thank you, people on the internet. I have tried before - but sometimes it just comes down to the right place, at the right time.

I have a place to practice agility for the winter. I get an hour once a week, most weeks! Now I can calm the hell down about agility. (There are angels.) Not to mention, I honestly was not sure what I was going to do with another winter simply walking miles. This way, my dogs (ie, Reef - obviously) will not fall back to ground zero. This way, I can practice (this distinction brought to me by Fred) - something I've never done. I always train. I'm at the point where I can practice now, so even if we are missing skills at the end of the winter - if we've slipped backwards - I still consider it going forward. I can set up entire courses in there. I'm really lucky with the way the cards fell, on this. I think they fell in an organized pattern.

Nice dirt (not too deep), pretty, light-filled arena. And I love the people there. I also am going to rent a small room to do agility (heated) at a boarding facility, but I really needed a large place.

In addition to this - two people practice with me! I'm not sure if they'll consent to most weeks, but they were there today. Two people who don't do agility, are incredibly good friends - participating in a hobby I love. I love running agility with good friends - like I got to sometimes, this summer. To further that, they are talented horse persons, so honestly any help I give has to be minimal, they just need to learn cause and effect. If I say something after they run, I think they already knew it - and if they didn't have words for what they knew, they'd figure it out. One friend is learning on Caper, and another friend is learning on her well-trained standard poodle. (So, not only does Poodles love agility, he'll pick it up in no time. He also is Ree approved for his good sense around female border collies. Or, just - Reefs.) Today we just put jumps in random spots, but next week I'll have a plan that makes sure everyone there gets the most out of the hour - basically, gets a full hour. Both Caper and Reef were in large amounts of heaven. Caper, because he loves strangers with toys, Reef because she got to open up in extension, for the first time since November. Hit a few bars, looked a little shaky, but I saw her before, so I know it's simply the time off. We did lose our 'bad' turn that we had conquered, but if I had it once, I'm sure I can get it again. With Caper, I made up courses and had people run him to illustrate proper deceleration and acceleration, timing, and placement. No one can really ruin him, he responds as you direct him. He's always directed appropriately - they put him there, so it wasn't his fault - he gets to play with a toy, life is grand. Should you put people brand new to agility on hard turns, push throughs, serpentines, and an extension line where they are set up behind? 'Cause I did. They handled it just fine...

Reef still doesn't run well for anyone else. But I might try it, next time.

I get so much help from people, that to luck out like this again because someone decided to take the extra time to help me out - well, it makes me want to use that word from Charles Dicken's David Copperfield that I hate, due to the portrayal of the Heeps. And that's as close as I'll come to admitting it.

Just pay it forward, I guess.

I hope it continues to work out - but, hey - today I had a lot of fun.

Insert dancing Will and Bill (the krill).

Oh, and I wonder if this is enough to let me do something fun with Reef in May without looking totally ludicrous (I am truly at peace with partially ludicrous, as long as I avoid situations like AAC Regionals, 2011). It will be enough to focus on any big events I want to this summer, without a care in the world about getting out of Starters or Novice, when last summer it was the only reasonable goal.

Reward for reading that: I got video! I'm glad my friends were there, so I had restraint and didn't push Ree's little muscles coming back to full practices, it was nice to run and just see how we both felt.

I put music on it to cover conversations, and then I decided if it had music, it needed a title - so yes. I made an entire movie out of thirty seconds of agility footage. And the videographer got creative and put Caper in there, come on, I have to use that...