posting of courses

[Cindy Lee]

Hi, I am new to NADAC, just did my first trial this past weekend.  I wonder why the courses aren't posted the day of the competition.  I have shown horses all of my life, and posting the courses in the morning or at least 1 hour ahead is standard.  I find it confusing to not know the course until it is ready to walk.  Learning it and walking it at the same time doesn't come easily to me, as I have had a lifetime of being able to learn the course well before a walk (if that is permitted). 
Just wondering why it is this way?

[Chris Nelson]

The judge should actually be posting the course, maybe they were posted in a place you didn't see?
They won't post them until the course is set though.   The main reason for this is that if a club is offering day of show entries then we don't want the difficulty of the course to be a reason for a competitor to enter.
For instance they see that Chances doesn't have a contact so they enter day of.   Just not really in the spirit that we like to see.

But once the course is set there should definitely be a course map posted!

[garypaula]

We always offer day-of entries, but we cut them off about 1/2 hour before the trial starts.  Is it OK to post the courses for the day once the deadline for day-of entries has passed?

[Chris Nelson]

We always offer day-of entries, but we cut them off about 1/2 hour before the trial starts.  Is it OK to post the courses for the day once the deadline for day-of entries has passed?

It sure is!

[kbriefel]

I can't think of a NADAC trial I've been at that has posted a course map.  You can ask to see it but they are rarely if ever "posted." 

Ken Briefel

[Cindy Lee]

Thank you Chris for responding to my question about posting the courses.  I did not see them posted anywhere, but maybe I somehow missed them. 
The judge had a clipboard with courses drawn that were set by helpers (I was one).  Obstacles were numbered and that is when everyone learned the course. We walked it and the class began. 
I don't think anyone knew before that what the layout was going to be.  The only thing posted by the in gate was the order of go.
I am new to competing in agility, and my horse show "routine" for preparing to compete is different, mostly because of the usual way show jumping is run.  The most common way in horse shows is that courses are posted at least 1 hour ahead, often posted in the morning, jumps are set, moved, and changed throughout the day, there is usually a course walk, then riders warm up and go.  But you have time to make a plan because you know the route ahead of time.   You might tailor your warmup depending on your horse's strengths and weaknesses as they relate to the course.  I guess I am applying this way of thinking to dog agility.
I just felt a bit unprepared to have to put all of this together in a very short amount of time, and then have my dog ready to compete.  Maybe I am just overthinking?
I also have a very fast, eager, inexperienced dog, and I am kind of old and trying to learn new tricks!  It's not easy!! 
Having a chance to learn the course ahead of time and "mull over" all of the scenarios and try to make a sensible plan takes more than a couple of minutes.  Then the course walk would just be a chance to see it up close, rather than learning it and planning at the same time. 
I'd appreciate thoughts on this.  Thanks!

[agilityaddict2]

I have also never seen a course posted anywhere. I've been doing nadac for 3 years in nevada, california, utah and arizona.
It is dog agility not show jumping. I also am older and came from  a lifetime of showjumping.While there are a lot of similarities, learning and walking the course is not one of them. It might seem impossible now but you will get used to it.

[KarissaKS]

Back when I first started it was common for courses to be taped to the wall or otherwise posted somewhere for all to see. I feel like this practice came to an end several years ago, supposedly due to the angst that it caused certain competitors when a judge would change or tweak something from the course map for safety or other reasons. NADAC courses are set to "flow," not to coordinates like other organizations, so it's entirely possible that what is set before you might not match the map exactly. Some people complained about this. It seems as though the powers that be felt the easiest thing to do was to stop posting maps. That said, I have never had a judge say "no" when someone requests to see maps (I instantly go straight to Chances every morning  ) and I know many people who even take pictures of the maps to take home with them for training. You've just got to ask.

With time and experience it will get easier for you. Patterns are fairly predictable. Even at AKC trials, where they make personal copies of course maps available to competitors, I find that I take them at the beginning of the day, glance at them to get an idea of what I'm in for, then leave them in the car and forget about them. It really amounts to a lot of wasted paper and an additional expense for clubs to print them.

It's wonderful that you jumped in to help course build. For me, that is the best way to learn the course. When I build my own courses at home I generally don't even feel the need to walk them because I figured it all out while it was being built.

[Chris Nelson]

We did stop posting course maps a few years ago, but in April of this year I requested of all our judges to start posting them again.

So I'm sure a few judges are still just forgetting because of the years experience of not posting them.   So just a friendly reminder that course maps should be posted once the course is on the ground would be appreciated I'm sure

[Edraith]

Wow. Another reason to be grateful for VT.
I save maps to my phone. Study them every night before setting the course, or binge if i plan on the next day. I set the course myself in run order. Then i look at it in 3D for a while. Then walk it once or twice to make sure from perspective change i can remember it. I probably spend 30+ min in total plus setup time. My dyslexia is litteraly that bad.  I still have about a 80% remember rate on intro and novice, and about 15% rate on elite hoopers. I got my first VT q on jan 1, 2015 so its been over a year of practice.

So no. It does NOT "get easier". I can find patterns faster but when patterns flip it doesnt matter. Jeaous of all you who can actually improve. 

[Audri, Cee Cee, Lily, Toto, and Calypso]

I rarely look at course maps.  Most of the clubs that I go to don't post them, but like Karissa said, you can always ask the judge.  However, I feed that looking at the map doesn't do me a lot of good because it doesn't tell me the true path of the dog, etc.  Most people, if given a course map will simply obsess over it and not really do well with it anyway.  Now there are those that need it for whatever reason, but I find that simply walking the course a few times is more than enough.  I also run 3 dogs in the same class and they all run differently, so when I am walking, I have to account for all 3 dogs.  Looking at it on paper isn't going to help me with that.

[Foomin Z]

We did stop posting course maps a few years ago, but in April of this year I requested of all our judges to start posting them again.

So I'm sure a few judges are still just forgetting because of the years experience of not posting them.   So just a friendly reminder that course maps should be posted once the course is on the ground would be appreciated I'm sure

For day of show entries that are taken all day, when the course is set, the walkthrough begins immediately, as does the 5 minute timer for the walkthrough. There is no time to go look for a map AND read/study/memorize it AND do the walkthrough. This is unfortunate for those who spend most of the walkthrough looking for the cone numbers. There is no time to actually memorize the path and plan how to best help the dog through it.

[garypaula]

"5 minute timer???"  I have been running NADAC for eight years under many judges and have never seen a timer used to regulate the amount of time people walk a course.  I'm not saying it is a good or bad thing; just wasn't aware that anybody did that.

[Foomin Z]

"5 minute timer???"  I have been running NADAC for eight years under many judges and have never seen a timer used to regulate the amount of time people walk a course.  I'm not saying it is a good or bad thing; just wasn't aware that anybody did that.

The club does this no matter the judge, so I don't think the judge is the one saying to do the 5 minute timer for walkthrough.

[Chris Nelson]

I mean we can always go back to not posting them under any circumstance, lol