Octagon Serpentine/Threadle Handling Drills
30 Dec 2010
Updated 2012-May-13: Added Video
We had a few minutes at the end of class and I converted part of a Double Box Double Box Sequence GeneratorDouble Box Sequences in the middle of a course into another classic jump layout: the octagon.
I think I first saw this drill in a Rhonda Carter seminar many years ago. Of course this layout need not use only 8 jumps, you can keep adding jumps and increasing the diameter of the circle. You can also create many other sequences through the jumps. I typically space the jumps with a gap of around 5 feet between them, of course changing the distance changes the difficulty (further apart isn’t necessarily easier).
I had my students run the top sequence and at the end go right into to the lower sequence. So they worked Serpentines Serpentine Handling TechniquesSerpentine Sequence and Threadles Mary Ellen Barry on Threadle HandlingThe Connection Between Threadles and Back SidesTraditional Threadle HandlingSingle Sided Threadle HandlingThreadle Sequence. Then next time around I had them run it in the opposite direction. Some dogs and handlers are more successful in one direction than the other. Seems like a training opportunity…
There was some groaning that it would be too difficult. But by using Single Sided Serpentine and Single Sided Threadle handling the handlers can easily keep ahead of their dogs. The really nice thing about repeating each handling again and again is the handler and the dog get a rhythm going; the handling gets smoother and smoother. Give it a whirl!
Here’s video showing Meeker and me running these sequences with some slow motion thrown in:
Here are more courses containing the Octagon layout:
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