Thursday, September 27, 2012

2012 National, Day 2....



Wednesday was another day of tremendous weather in Klamath. The morning started brisk and clear with a good run by our new leader, Deborah Milsap scoring 152.
Overall the scores remained low with a number of RT's and disqualifications and the Open field finished at 4:00. Another stand out run was Suzy Applegate, who made a good job of a difficult Suffolk finishing with a 150.

Herbert and Tricia Guidry had nice runs around the course but did not finish and both are on a 137, currently 11th & 12th place. Official scores can be found at http://www.usbcha.com/events/sheep/open_results1.html

The nursery started with a very good run by Lyle scoring 163 and the current leader. The sheep were used in the Open before being moved to the nursery. The field is beautiful and tricky. For the less experienced dogs it is challenging to show them the sheep prior to their run but many dogs nailed the outrun and made it look easy including Joni Swanke's Sage and Ron Enzoroth's Pete.

I ran Queen, Alasdair's Star X Don. This was her 5th trial and she and I have only been together 4 weeks as we switched (Alasdair running my Jim while i have Queen) mid August. Given short duration of our partnership and her age i was sensitive to asking for too much. She had a good outrun and we put together a nice fetch, good turn and after releasing the pressure to go around the post a Suffolk started to put hard sideways pressure to the left leaving us witha  3-1 split. I decided to retire.

The handlers tent proved exciting late afternoon and included making plans for a BC wine tasting tour. Thursday begins with Vickie Close in the Open at 8:00 am.
Nursery Field

Tricia Guidry's Tipper

Lee Lumb's Gus

Herbert's Juno

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

2012 National, Day 1....

A gorgeous morning bled into a lovely afternoon with highs in the low 80's, and a not a cloud in the sky. We started promptly at 8:00 am and finished 38 runs by 5;00 pm
Each lot of sheep was set evenly and timely at roughly 400 yards with a handler/dog team on foot. The field is mostly flat with ample room to cast left or right.

The clock was cut to 13 minutes and the panels were just as deceiving with sheep as they were last night when walked the course at the handlers meeting.

The sheep required more pressure than years past and most packets a bit more difficult to shed. Overall scores were lower than previously in Klamath.

Erin O'Brien had the high score of the day with judges on equal points for a total of 150. Don Helsley had a good run without a pen on 148 and Amanda Miliken completed the course also on 148.

I sadly managed to miss both the drive away and cross drive panel but Max ran well with good lines.  We finished scoring 143.
Haley Hunewill, Michelle McGuire and Beverley Lambert were in the 130's to round out Day 1 top seven. Open begins tomorrow at 8:00 & the Nursery at 9:00. Diane Pagel is updating scores from the handler's tent at http://deltabluez.blogspot.com/

Scrummy dinner at Nibblys, great steak, chardonnay and decadent desserts of many splendor.

Monday, September 24, 2012

And so it begins.....


The Field


The Sheep

The Players



Excitement & Anxiety abound....
The field is gorgeous. The organization and hospitality tremendous. The sheep are a bit different than years past, more breeds included in the cross wools.
A change in the judging has Alasdair & Micheal Gallagher judging the Open qualifying, Bevis Jordan and Bruce Fogt judging the nursery.

Clock will start in the morning with 14 minutes, right hand drive, split, pen.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Testing, Testing.....

My friend from Canada has been encouraging us to update our News & Events on Blogger rather than our website for months. By 'encourage' I mean cajole, mock, badger--she is no novice to the needling process. I  conceded to her insistence back in May. I have been distracted this summer and did not follow through. It was not intentional and I thought it was a non-event. After all she lives in Canada; how could there be repercussions?
Yesterday I received a very concise e-mail from her with a not so veiled threat referencing my commitment & reminding me I will see her in less than 2 weeks. I had been under the impression Canadians were a peaceful people. Hmmm.

Her recommendation is well founded as Blogger has some great offerings: supports video, data is stored, update alerts, etc.. That is the good news....
The bad news is I am technology challenged. My 9 year old niece can blog, no problem. I had to watch the YouTube tutorial (yes, really). Still you will note the absence of any bells & whistles. Hopefully, I will become more proficient in time.

My goal is to update our blog from the National as well as our excursion afterward which will take us to Washington & British Columbia. Ideally with pictures. Lofty ambitions for me. Canadians are wily.