You Belong Here (Even If You’re Still Learning)

This morning, as I clipped Rio’s lead on and walked across the field, something hit me.
A reminder I wish someone had told me years ago.
A reminder I want to tell you today.

If you’ve ever felt like you don’t belong in agility…
this one’s for you.

Because I know that feeling.
I know what it’s like to show up at the field with a dog who’s excited, eager, ready to run…
while you stand there quietly doubting yourself.

I know what it’s like to feel too slow.
Too messy.
Too new.
Too “not good enough yet.”

I’ve been there — truly.

If you scrolled back through my old training clips, you’d see:

• Wide turns that looked more like scenic detours

• Weave entries that were basically “guess a pole, any pole”

• Me cueing late, then blaming myself the whole drive home

• Bars falling, dogs looping behind me, and moments where I thought…
  “Maybe I’m just not cut out for this.”

Those early days were chaotic, imperfect, and honestly a bit heartbreaking at times.

But they were also the reason I’m here today.

Because learning is supposed to look messy.
Progress is supposed to look crooked.
Greatness is supposed to start small.

And somewhere between those shaky beginnings and the clean sequences I can run now, something powerful shifted.

I realised this:

You don’t earn your place in agility by being perfect.
You earn it by showing up — even when you're learning.

When I look back at those first clips, I don’t cringe anymore.
I smile.
Because that version of me kept going.
That version of me became the handler my dog believed I could be long before I ever believed it myself.

And that’s what I want to tell you…

Agility isn’t about perfection.

It’s about becoming the handler your dog already thinks you are.

Your dog doesn’t care if your cross is late or your line wasn’t tidy.
They care that you’re trying.
They care that you’re here.
They care that you’re showing up, even when you feel uncertain or slow or behind.

Every champion you’ve ever seen?
They started exactly where you are — learning, wobbling, messing up, trying again.

So if today you’re in the “chaotic” phase…
If your turns aren’t tight yet,
If your weaves are a bit wiggly,
If your confidence is shaking a little…

You still belong here.
Especially now.
Especially in the learning.

When you watch my latest run, the clean, fast, fluid one — remember that it sits on top of thousands of imperfect ones.
Remember that everything about that run was built through mistakes, retries, tears, adjustments, and relentless belief.

And remember this most of all:

**You belong.

You’re enough.
And you’re on your way.**

Keep showing up.
Keep trying.
Keep becoming.

Because one day, you’ll watch an old training clip and realise…
“That version of me didn’t know it yet — but she was already becoming unstoppable.”

You belong.
Keep going.