Trial results from Mar 28......on cloud nine!!

Look what Nan the Beautiful won for me this weekend!! I love that dog!!

Janet and I went off to a trial this weekend at Dirk's and Sonya's. It is the last trial of a 5 trial series. It was held in Sedro Woolley which is about 1.5 hr north of me. The weather was windy, raining and just plain cold. But the trial was fun and the people were awesome. Maggi McClure was the judge.

I have won trials but never got a cool trophy like this. Dirk gave them out to the first place Open winners at each of his five trials. It has a sheep and a details of the trial. (click to see larger view)

The date says March 21 but the trial was moved to March 28, in case you noticed that detail on the trophy. Our score was 84 and it was the highest Open score over the 5 trial series!!

Lucy ran first and I just got her back from Scott. We still need to work on some items and we had issues on the fetch. She was one heck of a strong driver. I am impressed on strong her driving was.....


Her first leg of the drive. That part of the course is very tough and Lucy just marched the sheep through that part. We had a bit of a bobble on the drive but she had wonderful flanks. We had a tiny lamb fall down at the first fetch panel so we tucked the three upright lambs next to her and waited until the lamb got up and we went on. We had several lambs fall down in the early morning runs in the Open division.

In the shedding ring and we timed out.

After our run and I was telling her that she was a good dog. She tried very hard and I was happy. Give us a few months and we should be clicking well again.

Nan ran very well, nice wide outrun and deep to lift. Stopped at the top when I gave her a down then lifted slowly and we took our time going down the steep hill. A bit of a bobble as we went through the fetch and nice turn at the post then the dreaded first leg. I took a lesson from Scott on Monday to help me with this issue and I put that action in place.

Nan did great and marched the ewes up the hill to the first panel, and a nice cross drive until yours truly put the sheep too high and then too low and missed the panels but a nice line to the ring. Nan took the shed, not the prettiest but with four yearlings, you take what you can get.

She marched them into the pen and held the pressure for that last little tuck before the gate was shut. I was very happy with her run and she danced about in joy.

In the handler's tent during lunch. Dirk made homemade spinach soup. They have made homemade soups for each of the trials and they are delicious., My favorite is the potato and leek soup. He was kind enough to give me the recipe.

Janet brought salads and we ate in her car. It was very cold and we needed to warm up. I brought candy and cheddar cheese bunnies. They ran PN after lunch.

Clapping for the PN winner. Brian in making some statement next to me!! Or maybe a joke?


Pearse Ward got third place in Open with his Riel!! That was a nice run.


Jim Cooper and Zot tied for first but lost on the outwork. Here is Jim getting his second place ribbon. Jim and Donna are the nicest couple!!

Here I am with my "deer in the headlights look" getting my award. I was in shock and so happy to win and get a cool trophy!!

Maybe I should pinch myself to see if this a real trophy in my hand? Look, it has a sheep at the top!! And I have a warm fuzzy in my heart!!

Scott doing his drive during PN with Janet at the helm. She placed 6th that day and 3rd overall in the series.

What was especially nice about this trial was:

• Nan got first place and 3.4 point towards the Finals
• We got a Trophy - whoo hoo....
• We placed 4th overall of the 5 trials- combined points for the Winter series and as a result got a special invite for the Double Lift Finals in May at Dirk's Trial
• She got the highest Open score over the 5 trials
• Nan and really clicked today
• Lucy came back super well trained and was super pushy!!