We made our way south and east from Simla, Colorado, with an overnight stop at Wild Bill’s RV Park in Boise City, Oklahoma.
Thursday, May 21, found us back at Frio Draw Farms outside Friona, Texas, for the Frio Draw Memorial Sheep Dog Trial. The trial is held each year in memory of Jake Hefner and his friend, Clayton, who died in a plane crash several years ago, as well as my dear friend, Jill Hefner. (You may remember that my good dog, Llanfarian Dutch, was imported by Jill as a puppy. Shortly before her death, she offered me the opportunity to buy Dutch, and he has been my steadfast partner ever since.
The Frio Draw Memorial sheepdog trial was an amazing, well--run small trial. The sheep were challenging. Competition was fierce, but friendly, and everyone pitched in to make it an amazing experience for all of us. Thank you so much Tommy and Raffa Hefner for bringing us all together and putting on such a good trial. We enjoyed our time with you, and had fun meeting the adorable Clancy, Tommy and Raffa's granddaughter, shown here with her mom and Raffa.
Judge Katy Deardorff did a fine job of judging all the runs over four days. She is quite a trooper, and we really enjoyed meeting her and her husband, Craig. An added, extra bonus was the several gallons of beautiful California avacados they shared with us. I believe Craig said they had over 20 different avacado varieties, plus many fruit trees in their orchard. Katy is in the center of the photo below holding the basket of collars used to mark sheep for the shed and pen in the double lift competition.
Dutch, Meg, Bo and I spent our first afternoon here “grazing” the 200 head of dorper ewe lambs that will be used for the weekend’s trials. That means that the sheep tender has to keep the flock grazing close to their night pen when they would much prefer to go exploring over the hills and far away. Our grazing assignment went well, and we kept our sheep contained until an approaching thunderstorm made it advisable to put them away for the evening. There were about 200 head of sheep, and Meg learned a lot from moving the flock and preventing escapes.
I was generally pleased with the way Dutch and Meg ran, but there were some rough spots. When we arrived everyone was so happy that Tommy had laid out the field with the wind at our backs so that even over such long outrun, our dogs would be able to hear us. Not! Friday morning the wind had shifted 180° and was blowing straight down the field into our faces. The dogs that ran earlier didn’t have as much wind, and they generally were able to score better because they could hear commands. Dutch ran in the middle of the 28 dog field and finished ninth with the score of 69.
Meg’s run was another matter. Unfortunately, by the time she ran at the very end, the wind had built in strength, with gusts over 40 mph. The wind was blowing straight in my face, taking away my cap, my words and my whistles. For the second time in a row, she came up short on her outrun and crossed over, losing 19 of the 20 points she could have kept. The rest of her run was dismal. We did manage to get around the course and into the shed ring, but ran out of time. She posted a personal worst score of 11, but I was surprised her total wasn’t in the single digits. I don’t think she could hear any of my commands until she got right to my feet.
On Saturday, our dogs did not run, so we helped with scribing course directing, etc. Then on Sunday, both Dutch and Meg gave me very nice runs. They scored a 79 and an 80, respectively, and finished eighth and ninth. Below are some pics from Meg's run.
I had entered Dutch in Monday’s, double lift, but he did not fare as well as he had the day before. The sheep were tough, and he tired in the heat, and nipped a nose in the shed ring so we were disqualified. It was a fun trial, though. We’re so glad we came back to Texas to participate.
Here are some photos of friends and fellow competitors from the trial.
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