Happy Hurdle Day!

This is the first time Belle and I have attempted one of AnnCroft’s Happy Hurdle Day courses.  I had a great time working on different options, but in the future, I will be sure to work without bars until I have worked out my handling.  No need to make Belle jump while I trying to perfect different options.

My original plan was to lead out to (30,5), run a short way with Belle and send her into the tunnel off my right.  Then I'd do a BC between 4 and 5 and push her over 5.  The distance between 6 and 7 is quite great so a shoulder pull should be sufficient to pull her to the correct side of 7 which puts me in a good position to execute a FC.

I had several options for 9 and 10.  I could keep Belle on my left from 8 to 9, RC 9 and take Belle over 10 on my right.  Or I could do a FC between 8 and 9 and either do a post turn at 9 to keep Belle on my right for 10 or do a BC or FX after 9 and send Belle over 10 from my left side.

FC on LS of 13 to push Belle to the back side of 14 and another FC to send her to the tunnel.  Then my grand plan was to do a totally unneeded Ketschker at 17 and dash to the finish.

My first reality check came when I discovered the first tunnel entrance was not all that easy.  I quickly discovered that trying to run with Belle on my right to the correct end of the tunnel was problematical at best.  Running with her on my left was a much better option, but I had to make sure I had her attention or 4 became a very viable off-course option.

Doing a BC between 4 and 5 was successful about 50% of the time.  I had to make sure I started moving as soon as Belle was in the tunnel.  Additionally, I had to make sure I brought her to hand between 4 and 5 to avoid her taking 5 from the wrong side.

I pretty much just let Belle find her own way around 6 so I could position myself to handle 8-10.  I did do one run where I tried to manage that turn but it put me too far behind to handle 8-10 efficiently.

The first video shows Belle and me working on different handling options.  The second shows us running the course in its entirety.