Well, some days you are the windshield and some days you are the bug. This day we were certainly the bugs, especially in Open. Kathleen and I car pooled and she drove to and from the trial which helped me a great deal. PN, was first, Novice, Ranch, Nursery and then Open. Karen Mahoney was the judge and she did a superb job. I ran Rainey in PN and she was flat. It probably was the worse she has ever run for me. She didn't want to hold the pressure on the fetch nor walk into the sheep on the drive. I had to flank her to do the first drive since she refused to push on the sheep. She didn't lean on the sheep on the crossdrive so then did a big banana loop but we made up for it on the last part of it and then popped them into the pen. She pulled up lame so that might have been it. I had Vet Diane examine her the next day and her knee is a little loose so she is on "walks" for the next three weeks so the inflammation will dissipate. She did place 7th out of 21 dogs so it wasn't too bad. Her score was 60.
I ran Maid first and she started a bit tight and I wasn't too sure about it, but kept my mouth shut and then she veered out nice and deep and came in deep behind the sheep. She only lost one on the outrun and one on the lift. As she came in, the sheep bolted to the comebye side and I gave her a huge, wide sweeping away flank. She took it like a trooper and hit the ground as I gave her a big down. I walked her up slowly and she snuck the sheep back on to setout to march them down the field. But all good things must come to an end and then *poof* it ended! The sheep veered to the comebye side a few steps which put them in the middle of the deep pond. They stalled and Maid got pissed and then went after one. But the sheep were in the pond and when she launched herself at the sheep, she hit the pond, went completely under, got totally dunked in frigid winter water and came up sputtering mad. She split the sheep and we got them back but they split again and then I went up the field to call her off as it was starting to look like "ring around the Rosie" or more like the "pond"
Nan shot up the field like a bazooka and that was the best part of her run! Had a nice outrun, a bit F-A-S-T, deep lift and sporty fetch but good so far. Then the drive that had no square flanks or downs and it plain sucked. We timed out as we were going to the pen. We probably would have done the pen and single with ease if we didn't take all the extra side journeys on the drive. Those side journey do not garnish any bonus points. I was expecting Karen, the judge, any time during my run, call out to me and ask "We are not driving to Calgary nor San Diego. Please keep the drive in the town of Roy, please." But she has manners and refrained from but I am sure she banged her head on the dashboard a few times on my run!
Well, my two Open dogs didn't shine and my PN dogs was a tiny twinkle! Oh well! Such is trialing!
Kathleen had a better day than me. She ran Josh in Nursery and he scored 60 and placed second. He had one of the best outruns, and lift of the day and handled the sheep with ease. I tried to point this out to Nan and Maid but they sneered at me. I pointed this to Rainey and she fell asleep. She ran Gael in PN and placed 8th, hot on Rainey's heels. Gael and Josh have made great strides recently and are a major contentors on the field.
Judy had her RV and it was running so I was able to charge up my batteries for my heated vest. She also had a propane heater so I camped in front of that all day. So my inner core was warm and I didn't get sick. It was very generous of her to do that. She also had hot lunches, hot roast beef sandwiches (made by Kathy Rivers), beef stew and bean soup. Not to mention all the side dishes. The company was great and I enjoyed myself.
Kathleen must have felt sorry for my whipped ass and bought me a "red dragon stock stick". It was a very nice gift and I showed it to the girls who rolled their eyes. The girls (Nan, Maid, Rainey) said they don't need no "stinking red dragon stock stick" as they are dragons themselves. I agreed! Lora makes these cool sticks.
It was pointed out to me that 1st and third in Open were dogs from my kennels, a Tess daughter and granddaughter. The fifth place dog I sold to Lora and is the half sister to Nan. So If couldn't do well, then at least dogs from my kennels shone like diamonds.
Kathleen and I went and had some rib-eyes for dinner and the journey home was enjoyable. Moments after she dropped me off, my eyes rolled to the back of my head and I went into a 12 hour coma until Sunday, when I found out my 12 hour coma was shortened by an hour due to day light savings time!
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