Celebration Day Two

It  was a longer than normal drive home due to an accident so I am going to post a little bit then clock out and go to bed.

 

First of all, it was tough but fun. I love Fair. I love cotton candy. I love firemen getting all dressed up. I love firemen with their big hoses. I love goat tying. I love mutton busting. I love cotton candy. Oh, Did I mention that already. Well, I really love cotton candy.

 

On the trail,  the sheep had the course and escape route all figured out. They busted thru the exhaust gate so rigged it up again and I got a blanket from the truck and covered the gate and that solved the problem of sheep busting thru or over the gate. The sheep pretty much won today. I don't know the scores but I think we placed yesterday and maybe today?

 

Rainey was super cautious and left her come-by at the cotton candy stand. The only time she got out of a slow walk was when the sheep bolted. Then she ran like a bat out hell, got them settled and was very slow. It was like pulling my fingernails out with pliers...very painful.....we did get a score of 12 which was the lead for a long time but we got bumped out later. I was quite annoyed at her for not listening and letting her eye stop her. But she got the pen at least.

 

Maid's sheep were hard to set and kept running back to the setout and bounced off the fence while we were at the post. They finally got them set and I sent Maid and they ran back to setout. She got them off and down to the field and we started and they ran and ran. One ran to the bleacher and two ran down the driveway. No fault by Maid as she tried her heart out and they ran over her and had no interest in being work. After our run, Maid looked at me as if she thought she was in trouble. so I patted her head.  Her eyes were downcast and she looked unhappy. She really tried and wasn't a bad dog and her sheep just were bad from the get-go. She knew the run was over when two bolted down the driveway and I hit her with a huge down then called her to me. She ran well the day before and did all I asked today and didn't lose her temper but tried her best to contain them. One ran over her and she grabbed it for a quick nip, let go, then waited for it to turn. I saw one foot of the ewe hit her head during this. After I gave her the pat, she soften up and was happy. She had a better set the day before and her run was much better. I wasn't mad at her as she did everything I asked of her.

 

Nan ran out nice, and stopped at 9 then I walked her in. We were one of the last runs and the sheep had decided to not play any more. We got partway through, then one bolted so I let it. You could go through the course with any amount as it was time and points. So we did a course with two sheep. They were wildly running so I did the bare amount and penned. We got a score but it wasn't much. Maid and Nan have a lot of power and the sheep were hair trigger to them. Next time I will have a better idea of what to do.  Tequila for my dogs to slow them down and a glass of wine for me!

 

But it was a tough, tight course with tough, wild sheep which made it a challenge. I enjoyed it and will be going back. Much thanks to Karen Mohney for hosting this trial.

 

I took pixs and videos of the firemen contest and mutton busting. Tomorrow I will put more up on the blog on the other fair events.

 

The cotton candy was wonderful!

 

We stopped at KFC and each dog got a chicken tender and biscuit. Off to bed soon as we are all beat.