Rocky Mountain High

 Our adventures at the Strang Ranch Spring Sheepdog Trial...

The past week was certainly a Rocky Mountain High…not one induced by substances available there, but more like the one John Denver sang about.   It was a high because of the beautiful scenery and the special friends and awesome dogs we shared it with.

Our adventure began last Monday, April 28, when good friend Charly Kronberger and I left Texas in her LQ (converted living quarters/horse trailer) with our six dogs, bound for Bridget Strang’s Strange Ranch Spring Sheepdog Trial just outside Carbondale, Colorado. Our first stop was in Friona, Texas to spend the night and work dogs with friends and fellow competitors Tommy and Rafa Hefner.  It stays light there into the evening, and we gave our dogs and the sheep a good workout.  We then enjoyed a chilled beverage on the porch while Tommy  treated his dogs to some “ball,” followed by a scrumptious Italian dinner Rafa prepared.  

On down the road we went, across the corner of New Mexico, 

and into Colorado where we met up with Larry Adams.  Larry had previously owned and trialed Charly’s good dog, Tyg.  And, now that Tyg is no longer trialing, he is going back home with Larry to enjoy his retirement.

Our second night was spent visiting Tina and Terry LaPlatt.  Tina and Terry are frequent participants in our Texas sheepdog trials, and it was a treat to spend an evening with them on our way north.  They live in the charming old farmhouse where Terry grew up,

 and look across beautiful pastures to views like these.

From Tiny and Terrys, we headed north across the mountains.  As we climbed, the diesel prices rose, along with the altitude.

There was plenty of snow still on the peaks and roadsides, but fortunately not on the roads.

Traveling along the Colorado River, we made our way through scenic Glenwood Canyon, across its 40 bridges and through two 4,000-foot tunnels.  The views were spectacular, but thank goodness Charly spent most of her time with her eyes on the twisty, winding road while I enjoyed the scenery.

On Wednesday afternoon, we pulled into Strang Ranch and set up camp with a number of friends who will participate in the trial.

The views from the ranch are spectacular.  Sopris Peak overlooks the trial fields, and  offered ever-changing opportunities for beautiful photos.

The trials began on Thursday with Open 1, followed in short order by three other Open level trials, plus Open Ranch (also sometimes called Pro Novice) and Nursery events.  (Open Ranch is for dogs who are experienced but not quite ready for the longer Open courses.  Nursery is for dogs less than three years old.)  The sheep were yearling ewes that had recently been sheared.  I think they were embarrassed to be out and about without their usual fleece.  They were challenging to work, but responded well when the dogs handled them correctly.  

Here are a few photos from the trials.  I had planned to take more, but things just didn't work out.  I haven't tried to identify all the dogs, because "all border collies look alike."

Terry Murray and ?

Charly Kronberger and Mindy's Sally

Bridget Strang and Ritz

Kay Stephens, who not only competed, but judged Monday's Double Lift final

Wilda Bahr

Vickie Close of Farm Diggity

Donna Rock and (I think) Edith

Dutch

more Dutch

and still more Dutch

my haulin' buddy, Charly Kronberger and Floyd (Meg's litter-mate)

I was especially proud of the runs Meg and Bo gave me.  I don’t think Meg had never seen sheep like these big Rambouillet ewes.  She was a little wild on her first run in the Open Ranch class, placing 8th out of 28 entries with a score of 53.  But on her second run, she won the class with a score of 70!  

Bo had a tough time on his first two runs.  In Open 1, we retired, and in Open 2 he received the dreaded “Thank You” and was disqualified when one of his sheep gave up after a disastrous attempt to fetch them to me.  He recovered, though, and finished his third open run with a score of 70 out of a possible 110 points.  He would have gotten a better score if his handler hadn’t had a brain-fart and momentarily forgotten that they were supposed to shed a single after their successful pen.  We got to the shed ring, but timed out before we shed successfully.  Nevertheless, I was so proud of  him!  It was a great effort.

Dutch struggled on his three funs, he got numbers each time, but they were low, a 40, 47 and 62.  His outruns and lifts were pretty good, and his work at the pen was outstanding.  However, the middle of the courses wasn’t pretty.  We have work to do before we go to Friona in a couple of weeks.

Charly and her three dogs had some good runs, as well.  Young Ivy showed real promise on her Nursery runs, and Floyd had a nice go in his second Open Ranch, getting around the course, but timing out at the pen.  Cindy, Charly’s Open dog, didn’t give her best performances, but by the time we got home we understood why that might have been.  She came into heat the day we arrived home.  Hormones don’t always help!  Oh, and another thing that made the weekend memorable was that I got to meet Cora, Bridget Strang's pup from the Skye x Dutch litter born last summer.  I also was able to see Kay Stephens' Drift, Cora's littermate.  He has really grown since I saw him last.  And, competing with Meg in the Open Ranch class was Mindy Bowers' Lush, Dutch's son from his litter with Nan.  

We pulled out on Monday morning, earlier than we had planned, enjoying one last view of Sopris.  Our trip home was arduous, but we made it in two days, working hard to stay ahead of a spring storm that way making its way south.  

It rained on us much of the way, and our trip over Raton Pass in the fog is one we don’t want to repeat.   

But what an amazing week!  It was a real Rocky Mountain High and I can’t wait for next year’s trial.  

A Very Busy Spring

OK…so there were more activities, events and dog trials between the Frio Draw Classic  and the Strang Ranch Spring Sheepdog Trial.  I’m going to try to get some photos up for all of these in the next few days (hopefully before I start posting about this month’s Frio Draw Memorial.)  

Stay tuned for updates from:

Ashcroft Ranch Sheep Dog Trial

Junction on the Pecos Sheep Dog Trial

More snow?

Gatesville Sheep Dog Trial

Lambing

Kota Update

San Saba Reunion Sheep Dog Trial

Baby lambs and calves

More Snakes!

Birds, Birds, Birds

Destiny Farm Sheep Dog Trial

FM 500 Sheep Dog Trial

It’s a tall order, I know, but there was so much going on that I want to share……..

Cow Dog Cody

I have to brag on one of my dogs.  Cody is now over 12 years old, and no longer does the big sheep dog field trials.  But, he is the only one of our border collies that has experience with cattle, so he still does real work around the farm.  He moves the cows from pasture to pasture, and helps us when we need to pen or load them.  Cody comes by his cattle-working skills naturally.  He is a son of Juan Reyes’ good dog, Red, the first inductee into the Cattle Dog Hall of Fame, and Anna Guthrie’s Raskle.

Cody has been with me for six years now, and has taught me so many things I didn't know I didn't know about working sheep.  I have competed with him many times on sheep, but only once on cattle.  

But, Cody really earned his kibble as a cattle dog on Tuesday.  I was returning  home from sheep dog trials in Colorado.  (More on that in the next post.)  Just as dusk was turning into dark, I came down our little dirt road and saw a dark shape with a white face about a quarter mile from our gate.  I stopped and, sure enough, it was one of our cows and her calf…on the wrong side of the fence.  

Fortunately, I had cell service and called John to come and bring Cody.  In the meantime, I began pushing the reluctant cow and her calf down the fence line toward our gate.  She forced her way through the chest-high grass and brush, her calf struggling to keep up.  John and Cody came through the gate just as she reached it.  John jumped out of the mule to stop her, but she refused to turn in and continued down the fence.  We were able to shoo her calf back into the pasture, but she didn’t care, intent on going who-knows-where.  

By this time, it was pitch dark with no moon.  I sent Cody after her, but couldn’t see either of them in the tall grass and weeds beside the road.  I drove the mule down the road, but its headlights weren’t strong enough for me to see what was going on along the fence.  Cody managed to turn the cow and began pushing her back toward the gate.  Occasionally I caught a glimpse of Cody’s white tail-tip behind the dark shape of the cow.  I couldn’t see what was happening to give him commands, but just kept encouraging him to move her.  After a couple of hundred yards, he had her back at the gate, turned her in and hustled her across the pasture.  He may no longer be my number one trial dog, but, like always, he stepped up when I asked him to.  Good Boy!

Welcome 2025!

We began the new year with one of our favorite activities…going adventuring with Rick and Linda.  This time, we drove a couple of hours from the farm to the lovely town of Mason, Texas.  The object of our toad trip was to tour the historic Seaquist House.  This lovely old mansion was built, beginning in 1887, by Rev. Thomas A. Broad.  Since then, the house has had several owners, and has undergone many additions and renovations.  

Beginning in 1919, the home was owned by the Seaquist family.  The last Seaquists to live there were John’s good friend, Mike Seaquist and his wife, Jean.  We had long wanted to see the home, but until recently it was under renovation by the Seaquist House Foundation.  The Foundation purchased the home in 2015 after upkeep of such a property made it extremely expensive and time-consuming for the family to maintain.  

The home consists of a basement and three stories of living space.  It has 13 fireplaces, one in each room, and has been beautifully restored and furnished.  We were fortunate that public tours were available and we could go.  The following are some of the many photos that Linda and I took during our visit.

After Rick and Linda went home to South Dakota, Christmas decorations came down and John and I got back into our regular routine.  We enjoyed watching our feathered friends at the feeder.  (I think this one is a chipping sparrow.)

And, many more parading across the pasture behind the house.

We were also thrilled to capture images of these nice whitetail bucks on our game camera, along with an astonishing number of raccoons that visit nightly and even during the day.

And then it was time to gear up for more herding trials.  First up was the Fort Worth Stock Show Sheepdog Trial.  I love going to this one because Allan and Jef’s house is only ten minutes or so from the Stock Show grounds.  Not only can they and the McElhanys come to watch the dogs work, dear friends and classmates Cindy and Sonny Sandell and Jane Cartwright came as well.  We had a great time in and out of the arena.  

We didn’t bring home any checks, but I was proud of my dogs.  This is one trial where 12-year-old Cody can compete because it is in an arena, a smaller venue than the big open field trials where we usually run.  In Open 1, of the 22 dogs that competed, Dutch placed sixth and Cody 8th.  In Open 2, Dutch was fifth, and Cody 20th.  It was also my first arena trial with Meg.  She was pretty revved up, and didn’t do well.  Her first run she placed fifteenth, and I retired her in her second.  Here are a couple of shots from their runs.  

Meg moving her sheep

Cody and I working on our pen

No sooner had I returned to the farm, we had a bit of “weather.”  Each year we seem to get some snow (sometimes more than a bit), and January 21 was the day.

No sooner had it melted than I was off to Cross Plains for a two-day herding clinic with world-renowned handler, Scott Glen.  It was time well spent, and I continue to be impressed with this soft-spoken Canadian.  He is not only a top-notch handler, but an excellent clinician.

On my way home from one of our clinic sessions, I snapped a photo out the car window of my late grandmother's home just east of Comanche.  Georgia "Punkin" Coker and her husband, Claud, lived here for most of my childhood.  Allan and I spent many happy hours playing in the creek bed out of sight just to the left of the house.  And, also, watching the cows milked in Punkin and Claud's dairy and helping to feed the milkpen calves.

But before we said goodbye to January, there was one more herding event.  John and I loaded the RV and were off to dry and windy Friona, Texas, for the Frio Draw Classic Sheep Dog Trial at Tommy Hefner’s beautiful ranch.  (Well, when it’s green it is beautiful…the end of January, not so much!)  It is a two-day trip for us, and we usually overnight in Snyder, Texas.  Our favorite restaurant there is Polynesian Garden.  John was eagerly anticipating his whole fried fish.  I’m not sure what I had, but it is in the foreground, and it fed me for two days.

The weather at Frio Draw alternated between freezing, windy and dusty (really dusty) and warmer, windy and not quite so dusty.  

The first day of Open competition, it was bitterly cold, with wind gusting to 40 and above.  There were 84 dogs entered, but 24 scratched and did not come, primarily because of the weather.  Of the remaining 60, only 34 dogs got numbers.  The rest retired or were disqualified.  I was extremely proud of Dutch.  He placed ninth with a score of 72.  But that wasn’t all.  The course was 600 yards long, and it was so windy and dusty that not only could I not see the sheep, I couldn’t see Dutch as he outran behind and lifted them.  I just kept whistling for him to bring the sheep to me, but who knows if he could even hear because of the wind.  I waited, and waited for what seemed like an eternity, then out of the cloud of dust came Dutch and his sheep.  His score revealed that he had only lost one point off his outrun, 3 off his lift and 5 off his fetch.  Quite an accomplishment considering the conditions.  We finished the run by penning and shedding our sheep and I couldn’t have been happier with him.  

Bo, unfortunately couldn’t hear me because of the wind, and failed to bring me sheep so we retired.  On their second Open course, the weather was much better.  Bo scored a 78 and Dutch a 52.  Meg got numbers, and I was proud of her outruns and lifts…her drives, not so much.  There were no pictures of the first day, but it finally cleared enough later in the weekend for me to take a few shots of friends.

One evening we surprised Tommy's daughter, Callie Christian, and her husband with a baby shower.  We all look forward to welcoming the little one in June. 

We saw lots of good friends and I was glad that Mindy Bower and Dutch Pup Lush were able to come.  Lush looks a lot like his dad, and Mindy and I took a slew of pictures of the two of them.  

Two other Dutch pups were at Frio Draw as well.  Here are Ron Burkey and Frio,

and Bridget Strang with Cora. 

It was a great trial, and by the last day we finally saw some sunshine, enough to encourage us to sit outside to watch the dogs, 

but it was still Texas Panhandle cold.