14.10.12

morning run:
Ginger
Gracie
Blue
Frijolita
Elewah
Lily
Daisy
Xmul
(8)

Hidden trail: ~8k. Xmul slipped her collar at the gate but ended up waiting for me on the trail with everyone else; she was probably confused and wondering where the hell I was since I'm usually on top of her at that point - kind of funny. I got her saddled up and we carried on as normal for the rest of the run. Lily was inclined to chase birds in the near charcos so she went on the other end of the leash almost immediately at the 1km mark. She cleaned her behavior up quickly and didn't stay on for long but I put her on a couple of times during the run just to keep her honest. We didn't go to the swimming hole in order to avoid flamingos and took the long way on the parallel access road but there were still a fair number of flamingos in the charcos on the way out and everyone was good about it once I laid down the law. We startled a few that were right next to the road at one point but they just skipped across to the far end of the charco in that strange way they have and ignored us otherwise. I prefer to minimize any kind of interaction with them just on principle and since this group was built for speed it wasn't that difficult; I just kept us moving. Xmul came off the leash on the road north from the Au Soleil Couchant access road and was a good girl; I put her back on as we were coming off of the beach at the tortuga sign. Elewah and Lily chased two bird trappers on a moto just before we got to the coco trail on the way home; they were heading towards us down the road that borders the cow pasture to the north. I don't feel too had about harassing bird trappers but was gratified that both of my charges came back to me quickly and weren't really intent on mayhem. Elewah needs to improve in that regard. Otherwise a completely uneventful and high-paced run. The bugs are still bad in spots.
GRADE: A