Exercises With Options

beardie1234 says:

Not that I need much encouragement for over achieving , but in the case of this exercise, the placement of the small space sequence in the center of the actual course, and the first option requiring me to achieve a front cross at the second jump made me think I needed to add the first 5 obstacles so I could get a better idea of whether I could get to the FC spot in time. And I discovered something very interesting. When I set up Tru to do the actual course 1-4 with a lead out push and sliced course jump- 3, Tru did the backside of course jump-4. When I asked him to come in to take the correct side of course jump-4, he invariably came in too far and missed course jump- 5, doing a 180 to course jump 6 (or the small space exercise #1). The only way for me to get the opening right was to stay out with him to make sure he took course jump 6, and that made it impossible for me to get back down to the second obstacle of the small space exercise for either the FC or BC options. I found that asking him to curl course jump #3 was the only way I could achieve the FC and BC options. The curl gave him a better line to course jumps 4-5 so I could handle them at a distance and have plenty of time to get in the FC/BC. On the other hand, I was able to use either the curl or the slice in the course opening at jump 3 with the small space rear cross option so overall that would be my choice in the real world. I could not manage the second FC between 6 & 7 in a timely fashion. I was not helped by the fact that my field slopes up in that spot. The blind was much better and I think I got a better turn. In the challenge sequence, I preferred the slice option mainly because there was less handler mechanics.