Crooked Oak Farm: Highland Occasional SDT

This was my first time at Donald McCaig's famous Yucatec Farm in Williamsville, VA. Tough trial. Commercial polypays never worked in small groups. Big field, 500yd outrun, strong draws. HOT and humid weather. Not really promising circumstances for me and 10.5 year old Rae.

Host Donald at the post.

We were ready to run right before lunch and were on deck spotting sheep when we learned that we were bumped to right *after* the lunch break. Donald said to me something along the lines of "the best time to run is right after lunch." To which I replied, "I'm gonna hold you to that!" Then of course there were some jabs about him being a "fiction" writer, etc etc.

After a looong lunch break which served only for me to get more nervous and the weather to get hotter, we were up. At that point, only 2 dogs had gotten around the course and had received numbers instead of letters. K. I had mentallly gone through the course multiple times in my head, reminding myself of Rae's whistles (I keep getting them mixed up with Gabe's), and attempting to predict sheep draws. Most ran hard to the barn on the right on the fetch with many dogs failing to cover, but then broke left toward the exhaust on the first drive leg. They were getting hot and cranky, heavy but not necessarily flocking well.

At the post I could hear Donald explaining things to his spectators, could hear him say something about who I was, and then realized my dog was about to arrive at the top. Good thing she's a strong outrunner because a lot of times I sort of zone out while she's on her way.

Not us. Renee and Bette look upfield.

I whistled her on to pre-emptively cover a sheep break, she flanked off the pressure well to cover, but we still needed to correct the line on the first part of the fetch. She was listening beautifully and we got them back and through the panels. On the second part of the fetch we started having 1 and 3 sheep, the single trying to break for the exhaust. We pressed on around the post and on to the first leg. I tried hard to keep her on the inside of the drive line and away from the exhaust, but at a key moment I did a great job of giving her Gabe's away flank, which she took as her own comebye flank. She stopped them from getting to the nearby exhaust fenceline, but we really struggled to get them up and moving again. Lots of encouragement, flank whistles to relieve pressure, walk ups to apply it, good girl good girl good girl, and after what seemed like an eternity, we got them going again. Made the drive panels and started the crossdrive a little high. There was a large brush pile just above the line after the panel, and for a split second, I lost Rae behind the brush. I whistled her blindly and my good girl reappeared and brought them back online. Good flow across the field and made the cross drive panels. Into the shed ring where we got our split without much trouble. After regathering, I looked at my watch to see that I had plenty of my 15 minutes left for the pen and single, so I lied her down on the pressure to the exhaust and let her and the sheep catch their breath. We got them to the pen smoothly and carefully put them in. Back to the shed ring, lied her down again for a moment to rest, and then called her in for a single. Tadaa!! Not only a completed run, but good enough for first place and our first Open win! Only 6 scores out of 30 some dogs...and we won?!!

Photo by P Kallen.

GO RAE RAE!

"I did go!"

The blue ribbon was really just icing on the cake, I was already so unbelievably proud of us! But boy did it feel good :)

That evening, Donald provided a phenomenal handler's dinner with the best ribs and strawberry rhubarb pie that I've ever had, as well as some delightful live music from a local band.

A couple of the band members.

Our run Sunday was equally as spectacular, at least on Rae's part, though we didn't score nearly as well. We had a set of 2 and 2 sheep, each group determined to do it's own thing. I don't remember details of the run as I've never had to work so hard to keep sheep together, keep them moving, and get around the course. Part of me wanted to sit back to see how Rae handled the situation, but I could see she was looking to me for input. A very, very good experience for the two of us and darn if we didn't get around the course again. I think we missed the fetch panels, made the driveaway, then the sheep got to running across the crossdrive for the exhaust. Rae stopped them just in time to make an attempt at the panel, which we got 2 through, I think. Had to work like crazy to get them to the ring, work for the split, work for the pen, and then I started running out of dog. I tried to call her through on some poorly setup sheds and the sheep ended up folding around me. So instead of saving her work, I created more :( The sheep got out of the ring and headed for the exhaust, and with 9 seconds left Rae caught them and started bringing them back. I went for a hail mary and called her through...she had come in and was at my feet when time was called. Didn't count as she had not quite gotten control of the single. We ended up just out of the placings in 10th and I was so, SO proud of her efforts!

Starting the drive.

We were a true team that weekend and it was such a special feeling. She filled in my holes and I filled in hers. I never would've thought that we could pull off that kind of work, but we did it! I'd been focused lately on working her on very heavy sheep and on the ram, and while I know that it often makes her uncomfortable, she has hung in there and tried her absolute hardest for me. What a girl. It is nice to think that our work paid off, but who knows, maybe she was just feeling especially full of herself that weekend?! Mark and Renee were there, so surely there were some good vibes in the air!

Working the pen. Photo by M. Billadeau.

Gabe got his turn on Monday in the PN. It was a tough setup for the baby dogs. Sheep set about 300?yds on a flat field. I really thought he spotted his sheep being set, and he ran out with his normal extreme enthusiasm, but came up short. I was able to get him down but he was too wound up to take his redirects. Eventually he crossed and I fiddled with getting him to look upfield, but that is beyond what we're capable of right now, so I walked. Donald let us go get our sheep after retiring, and after a bonehead lift, he got himself under control and brought them so smartly. They were not easy sheep and he handled them very nicely. We exhausted them as well as the next set of sheep and I was pleased with how he kept his head. At the end of the novice trial, Donald had us turn out the entire group that was down in the exhaust. About 80 head of angry ewes were crammed into a wooded and swampy area, crammed so tightly in brush so thick that I literally had no room for Gabe to get in behind them. I walked him into the ewes, a bunch stomped and stared at him, and he just walked steady, steady, and got the front ones turned and trickling out of the woods. When enough room was freed up I was able to send him in and he scooped them right out. We drove them through the muck and out into the trial field. I was very pleased with his work, flanking freely, listening, pushing (well, no suprise there). So we ended on a good note for the Gaby Baby!

No photos of Gabe, so here's one of Livy doing her own Livy-puppy thing.

So that was our special weekend. Rae and I have come a long, long way since first getting together 2 years ago, and she continues to teach me something everytime we are out there. I am so fortunate to have her and love her dearly.