Mid-May we made the short hop from Kristi and Cole’s to nearby Simla, Colorado, for the Prairie Grass Sheep Dog Trial. (On the other side of the country, some of our friends were competing in the Bluegrass Sheep Dog Trial, but I think we had more fun, and we certainly had more interesting weather. ) The trial is held at beautiful UhOl Ranch, where hosts Mindy Bower and Kevin Hall made everyone feel welcome. John and I came in a day early to help direct RV’s to the appropriate parking spaces and be available to help as needed. Good friend Joanne Hardy was the judge, and did an outstanding job.
Shortly after we arrived, so did the sheep, some 200 beautiful yearling range ewes. They unloaded down the “ship elevator” and were moved along to their night pasture by Mindy and one one of her border collies.
The sheep elevator is an interesting contraption; it can be raised and lowered to move sheep from different levels in the truck. It takes some convincing to get the first ones to take the ramp, but eventually they all exited. I’m told that some transporters have a goat that is trained to lead the sheep down the ramp, simplifying the process.
Meg and Dutch supervised, along with one of Mindy’s guardian dogs.
The weather varied from shirt-sleeve to rain, a bit of hail, and everyone in parkas and rain gear. The dogs and sheep loved it, though, even if we didn’t.
On her first go, Meg was disqualified for letting her sheep run off-course and take refuge on the manure pile. Her second run was much better, and she placed 4th with a score of 81.
Dutch had a decent trial. His first run wasn’t spectacular; he didn’t pen his sheep, and finished with only a score of 57. His second was better, and he scored a 72.
I was thrilled when both of my dogs qualified for the end-of-trial Double Lift. Dutch had enough points with his two scores combined, and Meg qualified because of her fourth-place finish in Open 2. However, each handler could only run one dog, and I chose Meg because this was her first qualifying Double Lift.
We had a tough go. She usually has a lovely, wide, come-bye outrun, but this day she just couldn’t believe her first packet of sheep were to the left. She ran very short, and was nowhere near her sheep. I recalled her several times, and finally resorted to whistling her look-back command and she finally went in the right direction. She brought her first packet down, narrowly missing the fetch gates, and dropped them at the designated spot. She looked back and, after going the wrong way, picked up her second packet and joined them with the first, again missing her fetch gates.
Her fetch around the post was orderly, and she had nice lines through her drive-away and cross-drive panels. we worked hard at our international shed, but timed out in the shed ring. We have lots to practice on when we get home, but she gave me a good effort, and after her two initial fetches, handled her sheep well.
We also enjoyed watching good friends and competitors as they tried to complete the Double Lift course. Brent Phelps and Rhys gave it a good try but timed out in the shed ring.
And Terry Murray and Dutch's daughter Pickle P. completed their international shed, but timed out before completing their pen.
Congratulations to Double Lift winner Bridget Strang and Bill, and good luck, Bridget, when you compete in the World Trial this fall. Thanks again to Mindy and Kevin, and Terry Murray and Mike Lupow for a great trial!
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