Seasoning

Spain has it; Gabe is getting there; Livy is just beginning.

Spain came to me a "professional Ranch dog"...she'd been running successfully in Ranch for a couple of years before we teamed up.  Once I (re)taught her to shed, she really didn't need to gain any more trial field experience, just that the two of us needed to get together.  It was nice to have a seasoned dog to go to the post with; Rae spoiled me in that regard.

Gabe was just starting to get rolling at trials when he got injured last winter.  It took him some time to heal, regain physical condition, and get back to training in order to pick up where we left off.  He made a huge leap forward in the maturity department when I ran him as my only Open dog at the Bluegrass last spring. 

The BG outrun is sizable, the sheep can be hard to get ahold of at the top end where they're set on horseback with a strong draw to the set out, the terrain provides a trap in the first part of the fetch, and the weather is often a factor. 

Both of Gabe's runs were during extremely hot and humid times, and he was not in his prime physical condition as he was still coming back from his injury.  I have always had to sit on him at the top end so that he is thinking and not overflanking or acting like a wrecking ball, but at this trial I knew I'd have to trust him to bring them on his own for at least the first little bit.  I wanted him to have control of the sheep no matter what the line before I started interfering due to the distance and difficulty of the sheep.  Though I was really scared to leave him to his own devices, he handled it beautifully!  I should've posted earlier because I forget the details of his runs, but he was working very, very well for me and handled the sheep beautifully.  We missed some drive panels, our lines weren't great, and we didn't get them penned as he was exhausted and getting sloppy, but I was SO proud of him!  The memories that stick with me are: his top ends, making the fetch panels, making my first drive panels at the BG (Rae didn't get around and didn't make any drive panels), getting two great sheds, and attempting the pen...all with my first self-trained dog!

 

Gabe fetching the lambs.

 

 

 

 

Shed.

 

 

Livy ran on the Novice field in Ranch.  I don't know why I even entered her, it's such a tough set-up for inexperienced dogs.  She was really excited and acted like an idiot until it was time to exhaust, then she was lovely.  But I wasn't very happy with her.

Then we went to Dr. Ben's where the Open dogs ran well and Livy didn't find her sheep.  She was too darn excited to even look upfield and I was again very disappointed in her.

After bad runs at Hop Bottom by the Open dogs, not necessarily their fault but unfortunate nonetheless, we took a few weeks off before getting back out there.  We went up to Keepstone Farm where I ran the Open dogs twice and Liv in Ranch three times.  Spain wasn't happy about the heavy sheep and I did all I could to jolly her around the courses.  Gabe, on the other hand, ran like a rock star and finished 5th his first run and ended up WINNING with his second against some top competition!  Livy got her head out of her butt and ran almost like she can in practice, and she ended up winning a Ranch class!  Really happy with those two at that trial, it seemed like we were finally starting to make progress.

 

Gratuitous ribbon photo!

 

 

Entering the fall I have two very different training foci: to get Spain ready to run in the National Finals, but also to get Gabe and Livy ready for the fall trials.  I have moved Liv up to Open, ready or not, because she's been trained for a long time now and we need to start getting experience on the trial field.  She's been a slow one to mature, nearly over-the-top in her keenness, but I was warned of this from early in our training journey.  Gabe used to be like this and the two of us used to really struggle to get together, so I'm prepared for the growing pains that Livy and I will likely experience in her first year of Open.  So here we go!

Still here

Oops, haven't posted here in ages!  Wouldn't even know where to start...

Went to some trials in the Spring:  First was the Deuce Cook Benefit Trial at Fair Wether Farm in KY.  Deuce was Livy's brother who unfortunately lost his battle to lymphoma at the tender age of 3.  It was an emotional weekend but I was glad to be part of it.  Most of my runs weren't anything to be excited about, I used it for training on Spain (get around the course as fast as possible) and Livy (get out to sheep on a blind and tricky outrun).  Gabe did some marvelous work all on his own as the setout dog split up his sheep before he arrived on one run.  He went around a pond to bring back a single and then pull the other two off the setout, all blind to me, but relayed to me by the other handlers who were spectating.  He finished one out of the placings when we couldn't get a pet sheep to get off me during the shed.  As we were walking off the judge joked, "Feel free to smack that sheep!"

 View from set out of PN; Liv worked in the pens.

Next we went to the GSDA trial at Hubert Bailey's.  I was in a minor car accident that shook me up on the way to the trial, but Livy managed to brighten my day but running very well in the Ranch.  She only had 5 off her gather and was working beautifully up to a point on the cross-drive where I fried her brain and she ran through her sheep.  We got it together to finish well.  I don't know why but I was out there running her like one of my Open dogs, and it was just too much for her to take, especially considering she's been in maybe 3 trials?  Gabe had 2 tremendous gathers, both with very few points off, but also fell apart on the drive, and Spain had fair runs but no placements.  She didn't listen too well, but really I'd only had her out running sheep around and keeping her happy, no formal schooling in a couple months for her, so I wasn't really surprised.

In May we went to the Bluegrass, which deserves its own post.  Then we had the NC State Trial at Dr. Ben's.  Gabe had two really good runs, and if he wouldn't have boogered up his outrun Sunday (how can he go from a perfect outrun to being silly in just one day??), he'd have been in the placings.  He only lost a handful of points the rest of the way around which included split, pen, and single.  Spain had a very good run Saturday and would have placed had I not gotten excited and pushed her last sheep out of the pen prematurely.  Sunday we had a very nice go and ended 4th amongst some top competition and large entry.  The top 3 combined scores made the double lift; I think we were 4th or 5th.

 

Sunday's scoreboard: Linda Fogt, Dwight Parker, Alasdair, ME AND SPAIN, Bruce Fogt, Jenny Glen, Bob Washer, Robin French, Scott Glen, and Bob Washer again.

For Father's Day weekend and my belated birthday celebration, I traveled to PA to go to the PA State Championship trial.  No luck for Gabe or Spain with tricky sheep and poor hearing, and I chose not to run Livy but head home early instead.  Regardless, I had a very fun weekend with my Dad and the Williams are awesome hosts, as always!

Dad and the gang at Hop Bottom.  Spain didn't want her picture taken.

After that, I took a little time off from the dogs and did some "other" things.  I did my continuing education at a beach resort in Florida, what fun that was!! 

Destin, FL

I started a relationship that was great while it lasted, but in the end wasn't meant to be.  No hard feelings.  I actually bought his dog off him. Though I really wasn't in the market for a dog, she had lived with me for a couple months and I'd invested a lot into her.  I just couldn't let her go.  So here is Lena:

 

Lena in July, 12 mo old. 

Daughter of Hubert and Dee's nursery dogs; 

granddaughter of Jennifer Clark-Ewers' Sweep x Jesse

and Carla King's Floss x Tom Conn's Jim.

Lazy J Farm Classic

A month later and we returned to Dawn's for her February trial with an entry of 60 some dogs this year.  This was my first time attending and I was really impressed with the trial that drew not only the local handlers, but those from far away who were heading south to FL.  The field was different from the one we used in January and offered a tricky tiered and undulating 500yd outrun with sheep set on horseback.  The drive was huge and was extremely difficult based on the rolling ground and difficult hearing for the dog and sight for the handler (especially short ones like me!).

Spain ran around lunchtime and had a perfect outrun, but was very hesitant on the lift.  I think the horse bothered her like it did at Rural Hill.  She lifted perfectly straight and controlled, but painfully slow, so I let her run a little wild the first part of the fetch to help get her going.  After reigning her in for the fetch panels, the rest of the run was extremely tidy, but slow.  We finished with maybe 10 seconds left.  I was happy but would've liked to see her work faster and stronger.  Our 88 turned out to be good enough for 6th place.

In other news, Gabe actually got to run again for the first time since his injury in November!  He was totally unprepared and was not physically fit enough to handle such a big course, plus was very out of training.  We'd done a little balance work prior to the trial and that was it.  He ended up crossing on his outrun for the first time in his life, but it was my fault for not seeing it in time and for expecting him to run out 500 yards when he's only run out 20 yards in the last 3 months!  I got him stopped when he was directly in front of the sheep, so wasn't sure if he could figure out where they were, but he got up and went about his work like nothing ever happened, nice end to the crossed-over outrun and lift, but got a little mixed up on his whistles on the fetch.  I switched to voice and he did much better, had good control of them on the drive though he was working a little faster than I liked, made the fetch panels at a good clip and then just missed the cross-drive panels.  We got to the shedding ring and I could see he was tired.  I called him in and he didn't fly in like usual, so I retired.  It wasn't a pretty run but his method was very nice, so I was really happy with him!

On Sunday Spain had a much better run.  She lifted much quicker and took charge of her sheep around the course.  I hit all my markers on the cross-drive and somehow ended up way high of the panel.  I was so surprised and confused that I had to lie her down and just think for a second, since I second-guessed that I really was that high.  I flanked her and then ended up too low on the panel, and sort of gave up on it right at the last second.  We had a marked single and ours was the leader, so she had to come in on it's butt.  I was really happy she did this because in the past she thought this was just wrong (meaning, I didn't teach her how to do that).  Finished with a good pen and a score that ended up being 3 spots out of placing.  Really, though, I was far happier with her work in that run than in the day before's, so it was all good.  My goof-up at the end of the cross-drive was what hurt us, otherwise she held up her end quite well.

Gabe learned from Saturday's mistake and did a fine outrun.  Good lift, but then we just weren't together on the fetch and he was actually very confused about what I was trying to do.  We weren't speaking the same language, my timing was off, and we putzed around down the side of the field.  Got it righted for the second part of the fetch and had a decent start to the drive, but we were having some more communication problems and I could see that he was really tired in that he was much slower to respond to the sheep and to me, so we called it quits.  Poor guy simply wasn't ready to run at the trial, but since I'd had him entered I decided to get him out for just a bit, and that's what we did.  Have to start back somewhere!  Just having him able to be on the field with me was the best feeling.

 

My boy got to run!  His right side is still regrowing hair.

 

Monday brought the invitational double lift.  Neither Spain nor I had ever done this before and so I felt totally unprepared.  I'd hoped to be able to practice a bit before the trial, but it just didn't work out that way.  Actually, I'd only worked Spain once in the last month, and that was 2 weeks prior to the trial.  I'd done a short turnback with her one time.  Ha!  Sooo I was a bit unsure whether she could go back so far in the fog/rain to get a second group on horseback.  The first outrun was to the left and she needed a redirect to keep from heading towards the setout from the past 2 days.  She lifted strongly off the horse and brought them nicely through the panels.  She dropped them on the cone and before I knew it she was heading upfield for more sheep!  Yay!  Her path was too tight and the outrun was blind for much of the time, so I gave her a redirect to kick her out and she landed nicely behind the second group.  Another good lift and through the fetch gates to combine with the first packet.  We put them around the course very well, I had an oops as I let one slip on the inside of the drive-away panel, and then we headed to the (underwater) shedding ring.  We were only using 10 sheep total, 4 collareds and 6 uncollareds, and that, combined with the layout of the course, proved to make it a very difficult international shed.  We could only get 2 or 3 set up for the first cut, and that didn't make for much of a draw.  They all wanted to go to the exhaust, but that was a bad spot to put your cast-offs because it was right behind the pen.  My 3 uncollareds didn't stay where I put them and 2 ended up drifting to the exhaust while the other went partway and then baa'ed for her friends.  We had a very determined collared who wanted badly to go with her friends, so we spent most of the time fighting with her.  Spain didn't like when I used my stick to help put pressure on that ewe, a bit of fallout from a very bad lesson on international shedding that we had not long ago.  So I did a little training to get her excited again and we eventually timed out.  Minus that part, I was very happy with our run.  I didn't do a perfect job and neither did she, but it was a good start for both of us.  I know we can do the shed better, we'll revisit it in training and try again sometime.

Soggy day for a DL

Lazy J Farm SDT

I've been meaning to get to a trial at Dawn Boyce's for a couple years now and finally was able to make it to her January one.  The weather turned out to be unseasonably warm with temperatures in the mid-70s and high humidity.  Gabe was still recovering from his injury, so I only took Spain and Livy with me.  The trial ran two fields at the same time, one for Novice, PN, and Nursery and then another for Open and Ranch.  I was asked to work in the pens at the Novice field and was extremely happy that the work required a dog.  Livy got 2 hours of non-stop work on Saturday and then 3 hours on Sunday, which was just the sort of thing that she needed.  She started off too excited and I had to remind her what was expected of her, but she quickly caught on and figured out how to sort and load the chutes and crowd pen.  She got into a good rhythm where I barely needed to speak to her.  A thinking Livy is a very good Livy, and she is the kind of dog who gets better the longer and harder the work is.  I was very happy that I had this opportunity with her!

Setout pens at Novice field

Liv is on a little hiatus from trialing at the moment.  She is so keen to work that her first gather right out the truck is too fast and thoughtless.  Her attitude is just not correct though her score would be fine.  I'm working on fixing her attitude away from the trial field for now and will hold off on running her for a little.  Having said that, I was curious to see what she would look like after working off that extra energy on Saturday morning, so I ended up running her last in the Ranch class.  Dark was quickly approaching, but since I just wanted to do a gather I wasn't concerned about seeing the course.  The Ranch/Open outrun was probably the most difficult she's done and I was extremely pleased with how she handled it...she walked the sheep to my feet with very little input from me.  This was reassuring, but I'm still going to take it slow with her and let her mature at her own rate.

Spain ran early in Open and had a decent go.  We got to run 3 hair lambs and my group consisted of 2 Barbs!  They were really squirrelly and made it a fun experience for me.  I need to practice more on super light sheep in order to improve my timing.  Spain handled them well, it was my mistake that cost us the drive-away panel.  There was a podium at the post and it actually didn't occur to me to climb back on top of it after the post-turn.  Being up there definitely would've helped my depth-perception at that panel!  Still, we got a respectable score and ended up 3 spots out of the placings.

Open field

 

 



 

Sleepy Livy

 

Sunday morning was spent in the pens again with Liv and then I hung around until it was my turn with Spain.  I was super tired, had a headache, and not all that excited about waiting for my turn at #48.  This time we we were running lambs and ewes, still light but not quite as feral as the day before!  A 96 was leading, a 93 was put up shortly before my turn, and host Dawn ran a 98 the run before me.  Not too inspiring.  Spain had a hesitant lift but a great fetch, a little touch-and-go around the post, and then a beautiful drive.  Finished with a good pen and shed, good enough for a 93 and tie for 3rd, but bumped to 4th on the gather.  So between Livy and Spain, we really had a fun and productive weekend at the trial.

 

Spain had fun

Tuckahoe SDT

The VBCA had its Winter trial at a new location this year, the lovely Tuckahoe Plantation which was the childhood home of Thomas Jefferson.  The sheep were fresh-fresh-fresh cheviots trailered on-site and were absolutely awesome to work!  They were good to dogs who treated them right and made it very clear when they didn't care for a dog.  These girls had not been worked in small groups, had never been through the sort system, hadn't been penned or seen panels.  A nice treat for us!

Livy was my first to run and she had a decent PN run.  Her outrun was tighter than I like and I stopped her twice, but she didn't give me very good redirects.  The trip around the course wasn't great as far as lines go, but I REALLY liked how she handled her sheep.  Penning these sheep proved to be very hard all weekend with only a handful of successful pens, but the experience was great for Liv who doesn't yet understand how to pen (other than sheep that practically pen themselves).  We'd get them all pushed into the mouth but then when I moved myself to put pressure on them from behind, she'd scoot around behind the pen to balance them to me, so they'd run back out.  She was really thinking and even though she was excited and pushing hard, her flanks were appropriately square when needed.  We got 3/4 into the pen with the last one lagging in the mouth when she couldn't help herself and rushed at the lagger, which bumped all of them back out.  Oh well, it was a good try.  She ended up 4th.

Spain got to work the exhaust for the lower classes and it was actually quite a task.  She had to take sheep off the field, through the parking area, and put them into a barn.  Many times they'd split on the field, through the cars, or around the barn and she'd have to figure things out on her own since I couldn't see to help her.  It was good work for her.  She then went on to work pretty well for her run, but I misjudged the driveaway panel and caused her to miss those.  The rest of the run was very nice, she had a good shed but we couldn't get them in the pen.  I didn't think it was a great run by any means, but it turned out good enough for 3rd.

Gabe was on the disabled list and didn't get to participate.  I really missed running him.

Later that evening we had our annual awards dinner in a really cool historical building on the farm.  Rae received her Open Champion belt buckle and it reminded me how much fun I had running her.  She was such a perfect dog for me to start with and I'm forever grateful to her and to Renee for letting me have her!

 

Rae's belt buckle

 

 

Sunday morning the sheep started out winning.  Livy ran out a little better but I still fussed at her to stay out.  She had a really nice fetch going, and although it was very fast she was moreso trying to keep up with them rather than pushing on them.  The turn at the post proved to be the downfall for most of the NN and PN runs as the sheep bolted for the exhaust and many dogs lost their sheep.  Well, Livy was not about to lose her sheep, but she did lose her temper and grabbed ahold of one who tried to beat her.  That was a little too exciting for her, but I'd much rather have my dog do that than not care about sheep running away.

I decided to move her up to Open Ranch and so she got another turn at these tricky sheep.  As an experiment, I let her do what she wanted to for her outrun.  It was very nice until about 10:00, then she sliced the top and came in very shallow.  Grr.  The sheep were moving quickly but she managed to flank well on the fetch and had a good turn.  She was working very well for me even though we missed the fetch and driveaway panels and had a major banana to make the cross-drives.  She had a good return leg and this time I let her do everything herself at the pen, since anytime I moved she moved in response to me.  She really had to work, but in the end she got them penned and I was super happy with her!  She actually ended up 3rd, though later on I was informed that VBCA rules do not let you run a dog competitively in two classes on the same day, so technically her run was a N/C.  Doesn't matter to me, aside from her outrun I was thrilled with how she handled those sheep.

Spain was laying down a really good one for her run until we got to the shedding ring.  Due to the setbacks I'd seen at recent trials, I was very cautious about calling her in on risky attempts.  The sheep glommed on top of each other and we just couldn't get a hole, so I never did call her in.  It wasn't worth it to me to risk a failed attempt, so we eventually timed out with no shed or pen.  The rest of the run was good enough to put us in 5th place, and surprisingly to me she ended up Reserve Open Champion.

 

Robin and Zac

 

 

Open champs Barbara Ray and Stella, judge Tom Lacy, me and Spain

 

 

VBCA handling system with Jesse and Jim working hard

 

It was a fun weekend with a casual trial in a new location.  Everybody pitched in as needed and I enjoyed working the top of the field with some new friends.  And the dinner was excellent.  A nice little club trial.

Rural Hill SDT

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.

Broken Back SDT

The first weekend in November was the Broken Back trial in Cowpens, SC.  This trial always provides tricky, trial-wise hair sheep with lots of field pressure, and I'd wanted to go to give Gabe some experience working on such sheep.  I'd decided not to run Livy and from what I heard of the novice classes, that was a smart move.

The course was different this year than in the past.  Since there is an incredibly strong draw to the left for the exhaust, we kept on the right side of the field and had some interesting course arrangements.  You had to be on your toes going around the course because many groups of sheep, who seemed to be settled and walking nicely, up and ran off with little warning.  I guess there were some dogs that the sheep felt they could get away from.  The shedding ring was expanded in order to give handlers a chance to keep them in the ring, and even so, most people lost their sheep out of the ring at least once.  The sheep were very hard to shed because they knew how to run and curl around the handler, and they were also very difficult to pen, too, sometimes choosing to do laps around it instead of going in it.

 

Saturday's course: fetch panels on far left, drive-away in middle,

cross-drive on the right (out of pic).

Tiny yellow dot is Jan in the shedding ring

 

Gabe was first up for me and his sheep left before he got there (even though I sent into the pressure, they ran back TOWARD him?!), so we were playing catch up right from the start.  We missed the fetch panels but he didn't yet have them under control, so I wasn't upset.  He finally was able to take hold of them on the first leg of the drive and we got that panel, but partway across the cross-drive we had the dreaded wrong flank and the sheep took off.  Neither of us panicked and we recovered control after missing the panel.  The sheep had a tendancy to run the third leg straight through the shedding ring en route to the exhuast, and we had a pretty good pace going but my timing to send him to their heads was just a little off.  They each put maybe 1 foot out of the ring.  After that he had a beautiful shed and pen to finish the course.  Our score was respectable and though it wasn't great, I was thrilled with his handling of the sheep.  He's never seen such twitchy, reactive sheep and he kept his head and neither of us got rattled.

Spain was very slow to lift and I was getting impatient with her.  Later, the spotter told me she was reading her sheep really well and knew they were wanting to bolt, but she's been slow to lift in the past so I'd not given her the benefit of the doubt.  Her sheep did take off as soon as she lifted them and she was a little excited in getting them under control.  The fetch was decent, lines around the course were good and her sheep were settled.  Into the ring and she had not 1, but 2 missed attempts.  She finally came through on a good shed and we timed out on the pen.  So I wasn't too happy with the outcome there because I thought she was a better shedder.

Sunday I again decided to run Gabe first.  I sent him right this time, as did most people, even though that totally doesn't make sense as far as the field pressure is laid out.  Anyway, it made no difference to him and he gave me a lovely outrun, but again his sheep left early.  He had to work way, way off of them the whole way down the fetch, but lucky for us it was right online.  This time the turn was around a round bale placed in between the post and the fetch panel, and when it came time to turn Gabe was finally able to work closer to the sheep.  He had a great first leg and was really driving smoothly with small flanks and good pace to help settle the sheep.  Through the panels and we had a good line going until the sheep started running (I think there was a wrong flank that caused it, so when he released the pressure they bolted).  They ran fairly straight and Gabe caught them without too much trouble, but we just missed the panel.  The return leg was good and this time I wasn't letting them out of the ring.  He had another great shed and put them neatly in the pen.  All in all, a really nice run for us under tough conditions.

 

Sunday's course: fetch panels on left, hay bale for the turn, drive-away in the middle,

cross-drive out of sight to the right

Cy at the post.

 

Rest of the field; cross-drive on far right, shed then pen.

Cy starts the drive.

 

Spain had a decent gather with running sheep, turned tightly around the hay bale, and for whatever reason I had trouble picking out the line from the bale to the panel.  It was a little wobbly but we made the panel and the cross-drive was dead on, good return leg and again we fell victim to 2 missed attempts in the ring.  She came in well the third time and we got the pen. 

As it turned out, Gabe's 83 held on to 7th place out of 47 dogs, our first Open placement!  I couldn't believe he was able to place at such a trial...there was a lot of tough competition and the sheep were light, which has been a weakness of ours.  He ran really well both days and adjusted himself to suit the sheep.  I was so happy with him the whole weekend and the placement made it extra special.

Spain was right there, too.  Her 79 was only one out of the placings, so those missed shed attempts really hurt us.  I was troubled by the fact that both days she didn't come in, and while there were many other teams who had missed attemps, Gabe and I didn't have any trouble.  Plus, considering Spain's history with shedding and how hard I've worked at it, I was extra disappointed in those misses.

But anyway, this was Gabe's weekend! 

 

First half of the score-board. Go Gabe!