The weekend seemed to be off to a good start - our warm up run went very well, Steeplechase challenge we were one second out of the finals. I'd rather take the regional championship I thought, don't need the Steeplechase as well. Sunday had a brutal standard course to start the day. It was clean by my surprise (how did we pull it off I don't know). Gamblers was a really nice course, especially for Cola. She took first place with 46 opening points. Jumpers was clean but not fast, it was the end of warm day after all. Results were in, Cola was sitting in first ahead by 40 points. The dogs trailing her were slower, so the chances of them catching us were very slim.
Gamblers first Sunday morning. It was a tough course and one that I couldn't make my mind up about. When it came time to take Cola out, she was beyond wound up. I remembered that she gets like this in the morning when it's still cool out. Our turn is up only four dogs in, the grass still wet from the rain overnight. Between the first and second obstacle she slips just barely. We continue on, she continues to run without listening skills and taking any obstacle. Closing gamble was a train wreck, running around one of the obstacles, but still finishing the gamble a second over time.
She starts limping a few moments off the equipment in her front shoulder. I have the physiotherapist take a look at her and she finds that it's her right ACL that has been strained. Her advice is to pull and get her checked by a vet. Any quick movements could have the ACL torn and require surgery. And just like that Regional Championships were lost. Even more heartbreaking was the question if she'd heal properly. Would I be able to run her ever again? At 9 years our outlook does not look promising, but we will wait the 3 weeks to see if she will improve. After that, she'll start exercising again and possibly be allowed to do agility. If not, a retirement party, but a very sad one. Retire Cola?
