Mud Rock Ranch?

OK, folks. Here is the blow by blow the last weekend's Sand Rock trial. There are photos, and I will add them as I process them.

Well, here we are again at Sand Rock Ranch outside, Tecumseh, Oklahoma, for their fall trial. We left the farm on Tuesday, October 13, and stopped overnight at WinStar Casino just inside Oklahoma. This is a great first stop for us; nice long pull-throughs with plenty of grass, and great restaurants in the casino. We opted for our favorite sea bass entrées at Mickey Mantle Grill, and were not disappointed.  

We arrived at Sand Rock just after noon on Wednesday. Scott and Angie wanted us to park across the road on higher ground because they have had a lot of rain recently. The red mud is not to be trifled with!  It was so slick that Scott Sells had to pull us the last few yards up the hill with his tractor because Falcon could not get traction in the mud.  It has also turned the border collies’ pretty white feet red, and put us all in galoshes.

The rain continued overnight and into Thursday, with quite a storm around 11 PM Wednesday night.  It was rain gear all day on Thursday as well, with intermittent showers and more mud.

Dutch ran first, and turned in an unimpressive 57 score. The best part of our run was the chute, followed by a pretty nice single. Meg did much better. I was really proud of her, and she scored a 78 and placed 14th out of 60 dogs.  That finish will give her seven TSDA points, as well as USBCHA points, which she will need to qualify for USBCHA finals in 2027.

A front blew in Thursday night, bringing us clear skies on Friday, and quite a bit of wind. The most positive thing I can say about the wind is that hopefully it will dry out the mud so we can leave on Sunday!  Meg ran first, on Friday, but did not do as well as she did on Thursday.  She only scored a 65, but the sheep were more reactive than on Wednesday. Meg does not do well with reactive sheep, because she moves so quickly and often startles them.  

Dutch turned in a pretty good performance and scored a 69.  On his first outrun, the sheep left the setout before he could get behind them, and their leaving was not his fault, so we were given a rerun.. His second outrun was much better, and he picked up his sheep nicely and brought them down the fetch.  We got both our chute and our single, as well. I was pleased with both their performances, given the wind conditions.

Saturday morning dawned bright ,clear and very brisk, a big change from the previous two days, and very welcome.  I was very optimistic that we could improve our scores from the previous two days. However, my optimism was not justified. Dutch ran 29th and had a fairly decent run but only scored a 66. Meg ran number 52, and her head was somewhere else. She only stored 49 out of a possible 100 points. Their handler needs to work on what she is doing wrong.

Sunday morning was another bright clear day, but the ground was still wet, really wet, from earlier rains. When we tried to leave, Falcon spun her wheels in a hole and we went nowhere. Again, Scott Sells had to go get his big tractor and help us get out of the mud and on our way. Next year, if we have had rain prior to sand rock, we will park at Happy Acres RV park in town!