The 2010 ASFA International Invitational
The ASFA I.I. is the premiere lure coursing event for the organization, drawing hundreds of sighthounds from all over the country in attempt to find the best of the best. In order to qualify for the event, a dog must have earned 20 points from previous competitions. I’ve taken Echo to two previous I.I.s and she’s finished very well…actually, exceedingly well, earning two Sunday Best of Breeds and coming damn close to winning the whole shebang. But, her age is starting to show and while her heart is still in the game, her body can’t quite keep up with the young ‘uns that are currently playing the game. I managed to get enough points on Bindi to qualify her, so I figured what the hell, I’ll take a trip out to Kansas and let my girls do their thing.
Conditioning for an event like this is really important. The courses are longer than your average field trial, approaching 900-1000 yards on both days. Because it’s always held at this time of year, the weather can be very hot and the ground around most parts of the country is starting to dry out and get hard which can be bad news for greyhound feet. So, we do a LOT of pavement walking to build up toughness in the pads. Mid-day sprints to condition them to work in the heat. Things like that.
On this particular trip, my Mom decided to come along to help and experience more of what has become such a large part of my life. It was a great visit with her and nice to have someone to chat with on the long 14 hour drive there! And, she turned out to be a Godsend as I ended the weekend with a pretty severely injured hound. Having her there to help handle dogs took a lot of the stress off my back.
The girls relaxing in their crates before their preliminary runs
Long story short, my two day event became a one day event due to injuries. One severe, one not so much. On Bindi’s first run of the day on Saturday, she left the line looking awesome. Unfortunately, the course design and rolling hills of the field meant that for the majority of the course, the dogs were out of my sight. As a handler, this is a terrifying notion since you are always watching your dog and looking for mis-steps, tumbles, changes in stride or other things that might indicate injuries or issues with your dog. So, she looked great on the run-up to the first turn before she disappeared over the hills…and she looked for the hundred or so yards I could see as she came in to the finish, but when I collected her from the line it was clear she was limping. I walked her out a bit, looked her over and couldn’t find anything wrong. A few hours later the injury was apparent, her front right ankle was swollen, hot and very tender to touch. A vet attending the event splinted and wrapped it for me just to keep it safe until our vet could x-ray and see what kind of damage we were dealing with.
Echo looked awesome running in Veterans and took first place in her class on Saturday. She ran against two other hounds for Best of Breed but was handily defeated by the hot running bitch Amber. Going in to the Best of Breed run Echo had a few dings on the edges of the big pads on her back feet and I knew that she didn’t have another full day of running on those pads. I debated even running her for Breed, but I thought she had enough foot on her to carry her through the run. As soon as she left the line I knew she was out of the course…she took off slowly and made the first turn with caution. Her feet were sore and it showed. A few days of rest and her pads will be back to normal, but she did end the course with a couple pretty significant tears on a couple feet.
We’ve been home a few days now and Bindi has been seen by our vet. The x-ray only showed soft tissue damage, so she will make a full recovery and will live a long, full pet life. But, her promising lure coursing career is over. I could probably re-hab her and work her back, but these hounds have retired from a professional racing career and once they start breaking down while competing in amateur sports, it’s time to retire them for good. Unfortunately, greyhounds tend to “age” really quickly…their bodies often can’t hold up to the force and power generated when they run. And a hound as competitive as Bindi will absolutely push her body further than it should go, running through pain in order to win the race or ‘get the bunny.’
Our lure coursing season is pretty much over until things start up in the fall, so my dogs have time to relax and recover. I don’t have many hounds that I feel comfortable coursing anymore, but I still have Echo and Lucas who are still great and love to do it. Diva has a lot of potential, I just really need to get her sprinting more. I do think I’ll be doing more LGRA (straight racing) this year because it’s just easier on the hounds…shorter distance (200 yards) and no turns. Stay tuned!
In the kennel building we have a dry erase board that we use to write reminders or notes to each other. Before we left for Kansas, Ken left a special message for me which I think is very true…It was motivating as I loaded up the van and, considering the outcome of our weekend, it was comforting to remember as I drove home with my girls – they truly have the Heart of a Champion.
