Another Rural Hill is in the books. Pretty much the same story as previous years: Dr. Ben's hair sheep set on horseback, good size course, questionable hearing for the dogs, and lots of spectators and their pet dogs running amok. I couldn't get off work to run Livy on Thursday, and I was a little concerned about her picking up of a horse without ever meeting one before, so I wasn't overly bummed to miss a chance at running her. As it turned out, the novice classes were pretty brutal and it was probably good I didn't run her.
Lots of extracurricular activities: dock diving
Flyball and frisbee
(So tempting not to take Ella over for a turn at flyball, she used to be super fast!)
I'd gotten up at 4am to arrive on time for the handler's meeting Friday. Gabe was up pretty early so I had to be there, anyway. It didn't look promising from the time I got him out of the car. Livy's been in heat and he was absolutely beside himself. Gabe has always been wound up at trials, but holy cow I've never seen him so stupid-excited. He ran out nicely to the right and stopped when I told him, but it went downhill from there. He lifted hard and missed some downs, then proceeded to take wrong flanks on the fetch. I'd been working on getting him to flank into the pressure, and not only did he flank hard into the pressure, he kept going and pushed them a good way across the field. When I tried to get him back on balance he continued to flank off balance and nearly headed them. The second part of the fetch wasn't bad and I hit him with several hard downs at the post, trying to get him listening. His drive started OK but then he hit one of the deadzones, I couldn't get a good flow going and he couldn't hear me, so we quit. I wasn't too pleased with that performance.
Spain had a fair go. She had a little bit of a wonky lift, and I'm wondering if she was concerned about the horses. Spain came from a home where she saw lots of horses, but was discouraged from interacting with them (understandably). We're not sure if she's picked up off of them prior to this run or not! She was slow to lift, but otherwise she was fine around the course. Had trouble hearing at the cross-drive panel and just missed it at the last second. I can't remember much about the run, except she had trouble hearing at many times, one was right at the cross-drive panels which we just missed, but I think it was so-so and we ended up not good enough for a placement.
Flag presentation
I was at home working and taking call on Saturday since I didn't have any runs til Sunday. Gabe was my first dog on Sunday and I arrived *just* in time for his turn. I saw one completed run before his, and that run wasn't a good demonstration of where the cross-drive line was. Since the second round of Open started Saturday, I'd missed the handlers' meeting and so missed picking out any markers. A little flustered, I sent Gabe and he did a great outrun and lifted softly. He was working with a great attitude and listened very well, and we ended up with a steady and very straight fetch. Good turn and a nice first leg, through the panels and he was still listening really well all the way across the field. Since I wasn't quite sure where the line was, we ended up a shade low at the panels, and this was one of the trouble spots on the field with regard to hearing. We tried, but he just couldn't hear me to save that panel. Back to the ring for a clean split, put them in the pen with no trouble, and then returned to the ring for a great single. I couldn't believe it, that was one of our best runs EVER! I wanted to turn around to the crowd and say "Oh my gosh, is anyone seeing this??!" I was so unbelievably proud of our run! He ended up just 5 points out of placing in a very big trial with lots of top competition. There was lots of really nice work that he did during that run, and he really got stroking it on his drive. It was the first run that really felt smooth the whole way around. Too bad I boogered up the cross-drive line! Still, I was immensely happy with him.
Spain was the last run of the trial. She ran out fine but her sheep left before she got there. She hesitated a step before covering them, so I think the horses did have her a little unsure. We got them under control and she had a good fetch and good first leg, but she had trouble hearing at the first panel. We saved it and made the panels at the last possible second. By now I'd watched many runs and knew where the line was, and we hit it well. To the ring, good split and pen, and back to the shedding ring for the single. One walked off the front of the group and I thought twice about taking it. I knew the judge had said to take *any* sheep, but I just had it in my mind that I needed to do it "right," and since I had plenty of time, I put her back. We shifted them around a little and I went to call her in and the rascal didn't come in! Oooh was I mad. We tried to get it set up again and when one walked off the front, this time I took it. Spain wasn't enthusiastic about it and I had to jazz her up to fully take charge of it. Later, I realized I may have never taught her to take the first one on the butt. So our run ended in a bummer. We were 1 point out of placing, so that missed attempt really hurt us (plus the 2 and 2 off at the top of the field, though Spain maintains her innocence!).
I need to revisit Spain's shedding, but was very happy with Gabe's turn-around after acting like a goof the first go.
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