Nursery was about about 350 yards or so, up a huge hill that had sloping gullys that sucked your dog in. Drive would make the sheep run up the hill, but not thru the panel but on the inside and the last leg, the sheep would flip out wide. Pen was a miracle. range yearlings who had no patience for unruly Nursery dogs made short work of them. The Nursery dogs who were ready soon found out about draws, breakaways and patience.
Suzy laid down a nice run with Bryn and Sonia followed up with two nice runs in a row. Lee with Gus, who has a bit of push, had a nice run too. Kathleen and Josh had a bit of issue on the outrun but soon had it sorted it out, and nice fetch, a wee bit off on the drive but got them back on line easily and almost had the pen. The drive was very hard and you were lucky to be in the same area code, on most of it. He showed a big push on his power that got Kathleen by surprise and she had to reel in her new race car.
Jude went out and the gully drew him in on the away side so I stopped it, and flanked him out. He stopped again about 2/3 of the way up and took a redirect and at the last minute saw the setup, got confused and then crossed. He brought the sheep quite smartly to the set out and it took a bit to get them down the hill so we trained on confidence and bringing them to me. We had a decent fetch and nice turn. The ewes turn to face him off at the turn of the post and I cheered him to walk into the heads and he did and got a nice line. At the base of the hill on the drive, about halfway up, his lost confidence and we tried again and stalled at the same place so I left to help his drive. He worked his heart out for me considering that I only got him on Sunday before the trial and not much time to run him. He is a nice dog and just needs some miles on him.
Suzy had a screaming run with Buzz that set the standard and not much wrong with her run. Of course, Lavon ran Tess, who made the sheep look like putty in her paws. The outrun was about 450 yards out and they pulled the sheep from trailers. They were fresh range yearling that either ran or refused to move. The quickly figured out the trailer or the exhaust was the place of choice and would bolt as soon as your dog was not in position. Penning was a real tough endeavor as they had no interest in being trapped. The drive was long on the first leg and very long on the crossdrive and a lot of dogs had the sheep go high or bolt. But it was a really challenge. Some time of the day had nice weather and you would see a bunch of nice runs. When it wold rain or get windy, the runs were especially difficult.
Open Scores- not all of Saturday's runs.
My two open run were very late in the day and the sheep had enough., They were cranky, tired and it was misting and very windy. Nan ran out nice and wide, stopped at the top and had a nice lift. She was offline on the fetch but not bad. She was in the bubble and not bending out as much as I would like but one ewe fought her at the top and she really leaned on her to stay with the group. At the turn, the ewe busted out and she caught it and then the other three galloped in another way so she spent a but of time getting them together for the turn. She got ti and had a nice start and the one ewe busted, she tucked it and went to put pressure on the other side to line up for the leg. we got halfway up and then one busted followed by the other three to the exhaust. She worked her heart out as they spilt around her and she had enough of that one ewe, gripped her and made her realize she meant business but we got a DQ. She tried and it was hard for her but she didn't let the sheep run her off and I will take the grip for trying. It was very windy and at the end of the day was one of the toughest runs.
Maid was dead last to run. The prior run, the sheep busted to the trailer and they could not put them in. They were driving them away and the judge said to go send her so I said she would go after the sheep that were about 800 yards up. He didn't think she saw them so I sent her but that gallant Maid, started the 800 yard outrun. I stopped her at 400 yards and she stopped on a dime. I called her name and gave her an away so she went out to the retreating sheep so I stopped her again. You could see the sheep and ATV moving away. I called her in and gave small away redirect and she took it and came in to see the setout sheep that were on the other side of the trailer. I was very happy that she took my stops and believed me to come back to get the unseen sheep. Nice lift but offline on the fetch. we had a nice turn and they tried to bolt for the exhaust so she flipped back and forth, ready to grip and made her intentions known but we sorted it out. We lined them up for a drive then they took off and veered inside the first panel and tried to break back for the trailer. So we got them back and then on the crossdrive as trying to do the first panel would have not been pretty.. She had a nice second half of her crossdrive, hit the panels and marched them into the shed. A quick tidy shed on the butts than the head as I could see she was on the muscle and to the pen. I opened the gate, she marched them up, I gave her an out, she flared and time held still. One ewe who had fussed with her gave her the evil eye and Maid turned her head, ever so slightly and they marched in for a nice pen. The Judge said it was a nice pen. I see parts where we really need to work on, part where I need to trust her more and parts we just clicked like a team. However, she tried hard for me and believing me at the top to leave the retreating sheep to go blindly on my whistles showed that our bond is strong. I don't know what our score is but we got hit hard on the fetch and killed on the drive but I was happy that she tried for me.
After the run we left to go to the Manila Bay Cafe and had dinner with Ron, Hope and Susan Crocker. Kathleen and I went there the night before and the food was outstanding. It was just as good and soon we waddled out and headed to the hotel.
There are 79 Open runs and we finished at 53 today.
Forgive me for the typos and grammer but I am wiped out and too tired to think so you got what I managed to type--so there!
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