Sheepdog News

Meeker began today. Not unexpectedly, the best running seemed to be in the morning. Amanda did a good job with an afternoon draw; it should get her into the semi-finals, which is what we are all shooting for at this point.

We run 42 dogs a day. The top 30 scores run again on Saturday in the semi-final. The top 15, I think, from Saturday run in the final on Sunday.

Meeker trial field

I helped set out for a couple of hours in the morning with Hemp, along with Don Helsley and his dog Biel. There is a crew of very capable cowboys who do the actual sheep spotting. The handlers take turns helping to get the sheep away from the setout pen. The sheep have never been worked in small bunches before and can wear out the spotter's dog in a morning. The handlers help give the spotter's  dog a little less running to do and cut down on the number of wrecks at the setout pen. It was fun. The spotters have worked Meeker for years and are really expert at herding sheep on horseback. They are fun to watch, and it was great experience for Hemp on facing down determined sheep.

I went over to the practice field this afternoon with Florence Wilson and Carla King.  Worked all my dogs, and they all looked pretty good.(Funny how much harder the trials always are compared to the practice.)

So tomorrow morning I find out how much Mirk learned at Soldier Hollow and see if he can transfer it to five of these semi-wild sheep 500 yards away from me. Wish us luck. So far it looks like a score in the 60s will be enough to get in the semi's.

This view from Soldier Hollow doesn't do it justice.

Two-thirds of the handlers had left by the time we got back from dinner last night. At 8:00 a.m, I was one of the last to pull out. Before leaving I took the boys for a nice long walk. We climbed up to the top of the trial field, and I took a picture of the deserted Soldier Hollow. All done for another year.

Taken from where the sheep were spotted toward where the audience sat.

I'm always sad to leave my favorite trials knowing I won't be back for a year. But the next one is always there waiting. On to Meeker!

Soldier Hollow field from the now-empty grandstands.

The drive from Heber City, UT to Meeker, CO is only 250 miles, but it's a hard drive. The road is twisty, no shoulder for much of it and a lot of climbing and descending, so it's a long drive pulling a trailer.

After a brief stop in Vernal, CO for groceries, I arrived in Meeker at 2:00. Drove over to the City Park to dump and get water and met up with the Soldier Hollow judge, Don Helsley and his wife, and one of my duck competitors, Jeannie. The City Park is a necessary stop for almost everyone, as we are all  coming from other trials (either Soldier Hollow or Steamboat or Kaycee), so it was only natural that Stormy and Pat Winters should pull in behind me. Meeker is as good as the Finals for meeting old friends.

Meeker is also the hardest trial in the country to park at. With 125 dogs running plus vendors, there are at least 60 campers parked here on the side of a mountain with only enough flat space for the first ten arrivals. They have had a lot of rain here this year, and many of the big rocks are obscured by tall grass, increasing the challenge of parking without damage to camper, truck or temper. With a little help from Alison Holmes, I soon got level enough not to get winded while walking from one end of the camper to the other. Off to see the field and exchange information on everyone's performance at their last trial.

The grass in the field is the lushest I have ever seen it. The whole field had been mowed, but where they stopped mowing is very tall and I doubt a dog will run into it. Kind of tight on the top end. So which way to send–always a tough decision here??? The mountain and hills on the left. Much more room on the right, but also past the letting-out pen and a big deep corner to get lost on. Hard choice. The outrun Is over 500 yards. Unlike Soldier Hollow, we have a choice to make here about which side to send. Well, I don't run until Thursday–I'll see how the running goes tomorrow.

Amanda and Marie had a little camper trouble and pulled in at 5:00, just as we were all headed down the hill for the complimentary pizza and beer party. More visiting and bed. Lovely cool day, going to be a frosty night.

Rained all night. Very unusual here. Got up to a rainy, cold, overcast day. Handlers meeting at 8:00. Normal sort of course, with the exception of the "dumbed down" shed. The two lots of sheep are eight ewes each for a total of sixteen sheep. Eight of the sheep are collared; at the shed the handler must retain and pen the regular five ewes. The extra three collared ewes are to make this task simpler and to increase the number of handlers who finish. The greater number of finished runs hopefully increase the satisfaction of the large, paying audience. Since almost all the hands shed and more than half penned, it clearly did allow more handlers to finish, even if the handlers miss the chance to try their skills in a true international shed.

The first outrun  was to the right on a section of the mountainside we had not previously used. The turnback was left, up to where the sheep had been held for all the preliminary rounds. All of the sheep were well spotted and where they needed to be on time. It was a very smoothly run final, just as you would expect from a trial as well organized as Soldier Hollow.

The running began at 9:00 with a completed run by first timer Lana Rowley. Faansie Basoon had a good morning run and held first place until Bill and I ran eighth and topped him by a bare 2 pts. 

Our place at the top of the leader board was of short duration, as Scott Glen and Pleat had a smoking run that ultimately and very deservedly won. Amanda's late run with Ethel was very good up to the second drive gate, where she ran into some trouble. She had a strong finish though and just barely missed edging Faansie and me out, ending up fourth.

 I'm giving up ducks, though. My romance with duck herding ended when both Huck and Hemp failed to get into the prizes. Clearly I'm too old to learn a whole new sport, and I'll stick with the one I know.

The weather cleared in the afternoon, so although attendance was much lower than the norm there were still thousands of fans for the very nice medals ceremony that closes the trial.

A bunch of us went out for Mexican. I'm back in the camper now, dogs all walked and ready for a good long sleep before driving to Meeker in the morning.

Amanda, who has fully entered into the blog spirit of things, took a ton of photos of the day's events and has sent them to Heather at no small inconvenience, as she had some difficulty in finding a computer to dump them to the Internet. They give a real feel of this great trial.

Mirk ran really well. He kept his sheep moving no problem and just generally had a lot more confidence about what he was doing. I was greatly reassured. Had he penned we would have made the final.

This was true for a lot of dogs. Ten or twelve pens  were made today out of 42 runs. Perhaps ten dogs would have made the final had they penned. The running was particularly good for the first few runs this morning, including Amanda who took best advantage of it for the winning score of 88. As the day progressed, it again got quite warm and the scores reflected the sheep's unhappiness with the weather and the entire event. We finished before the weather cooled so there was no perceptible late draw advantage.

The ducks went very well for me. I worry perhaps I have missed my calling and after all these years of struggling to master sheep herding, maybe I should have been studying ducks. Hemp and Huck have both made the duck final. I have no idea what a "duck final" is. I await enlightenment on this newest phase of my new sport with keen anticipation.

I'm sorry to have to report that I'm  developing way more character here in Utah than anyone needs. Bill ran great, but we just didn't get it done. Hope we manage tomorrow.

It was very hot today, topping out in the mid 90s and not cooling until we finished running and the sun set. There were good runs all day.

Amanda ran early and had a really tough ewe who repeatedly challenged Ethel. Ethel handled her perfectly, taking her on the face when she really asked for it and otherwise getting on with the job.

Amanda's 79 remained second to Barbara Ray's great run with Queen. A nearly perfect go that got a well-deserved 89.

It's dark now and I'm out walking dogs in the cool evening after yet another great meal at Amanda'a. Big storm forecast for tonight followed by cooler weather. I run both dogs tomorrow and am hoping for a better outcome.

Hemp makes his move . . .

On a more positive, note Hemp reluctantly agreed to work the ducks in the first go around of that trial. In spite of spending half the run looking over the fence for sheep he's leading the field. Nice to be good at something!!!!

. . . and they're in. Duck soup!

I'd sure love to report that Amanda and I covered ourselves with glory after all our practice, but I'm afraid this was one of those character-building trial days.

I ran Mirk 14th, and my having visualized the run of a lifetime didn't help our performance. Between over-flanking and catching the eye of the sheep and not liking to walk up when the sheep were stamping at him, Mirk was in trouble from the lift. At the first drive gate I decided we weren't doing it and retired.

Amanda and Clive rounding the post.

Amanda ran late in the day. It was hot and the sheep were not any easier to get on with. Clive ran out really well but just wasn't quick enough on his flanks. In spite of a valiant effort on both their parts she just didn't score enough to make the cut.

Amanda and Clive at the pen.

We both have three more kicks at the can. So we are keeping our spirits up, aided by the great hospitality here. Tonight is free beer and pizza for the handlers.

There are few greater optimists than dog handlers. Five handlers got in today. The rest of us are sure we'll get in next time.

The standings, Day 1.

Amanda and her team, full of optimism before the terrible practice session

After all of our very successful practices, today's was pretty disasterous. We spotted the sheep about 200 yards out on the hill so we could run uphill, as we will at Soldier Hollow. Unfortunately, the sheep blended into the brush and tall grass so successfully that our dogs all ran out about 400 yards and totally missed them. We spent a frustrating hour at this, finally got in a couple of moderately good 100-yard gathers, and called it quits before it got any worse.

Amanda attempting to locate Clive, who was trying to find the nearly invisible sheep. Major frustration for dog and handler.

We were met at the bottom of the hill by a women in a big flatbed truck who had a herd of cattle coming down the road toward us. It seems three fields of cattle had gotten mixed together and loose. They had them all rounded up and were putting them in the field next to our campers, until they could get them sorted.

Cattle coming down the road

So Amanda, Marie, and I guarded the possible escape routes while 150 cows and their accompanying bulls and calves wandered past. 

A nice photo op for the tourists.

Once the excitement ended we headed out for Utah. It's only a 250 mile, drive but it's mountainous and secondary roads, so it's a hard haul. 

3:00 though and we were parking at Soldier Hollow. It's always so exciting to arrive at a trial, with all that potential success so tantalizingly close.

Herbert Holmes called me to say that he and his wife Alison had lost a wheel on the camper and were running late. So I held them a parking spot as it gets a bit crowded in the handler parking. Nice to see friends I only get to visit with once or twice a year.

It's 9:00 now and handlers are still pulling in. Been out to see the field. It's the driest I've ever seen it here. Today was quite warm–80s–and tomorrow is forecast to be even hotter. The sun here is really harsh and makes it feel about ten degrees warmer than the thermometer thinks it is. The shade is usually pretty comfortable, but of course the poor dogs will be running up that big hill in the hot sun.

Soldier Hollow trial field

Soldier Hollow has a web site so you can follow all of our fortunes tomorrow. We start running at 8:00 mountain time. Wish us luck.

I am writing this blog on my iPhone and emailing the entries to Heather, who is cleaning them up a bit and then posting. Since each entry Is done on a 2" x 4" keyboard, typed with one finger, they are tending to the short side. Aren't you all lucky. On a positive note, I'm getting to be a brilliant one-handed typist. (Note from Heather–I'm the one adding the goofy titles, so please don't blame Bev for those!)

Today was pretty much a reprise of yesterday. We got a bit of a late start but again took the ewes up to the big field and did long outruns, with Amanda and me on opposite ends from yesterday. Today's top performer was Amanda's fifteen-month-old Star pup, Roz. She handled both the difficult, rather heavy sheep and the outrun with aplomb. Very impressive.

My two Open dogs weren't nearly so clever, both wanting to run way too wide. Bill wasn't stopping well , which on the next-to-last practice is not very reassuring.

Mirk waiting for his Outrun turn next to my dirt bike.

After running a bunch of errands in town, we spent the afternoon helping our wonderful hostess with a bunch of odd jobs she needed done.

At 3:00, finding ourselves hot and tired, we grabbed our tubes and headed back to the river. This time Amanda and I left our bikes a mile downstream and floated down to them, then biked back to the truck while Marie guarded our tubes. Perfect plan.

Camping in Colorado

Just finished the evening with some perfectly grilled ribeyes at Amanda's. I don't know why everyone doesn't park next to her–she sure is a brilliant camping companion.

Amanda

I'm all hooked up again, and we take to the road tomorrow after running the dogs one more time. I'm going to try and get Bill stopping, which will certainly increase my confidence. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Mirk performs at Soldier Hollow. Keep your fingers crossed for us. He runs on Friday morning, so I won't have long to wait to get a fair indication of how the rest of the trip is likely to go. It's sure started off well.

Not unexpectedly, my activity level increased considerably with the arrival of Amanda.

We took all the sheep up the road to a huge (read: hundreds of acres) field and traded outruns for about an hour. After we finished with the first group of sheep, I left them behind the fence of the hay yard where we were holding our fresh sheep, figuring they were tired and would hang with their buddies. Wrong. When we finished working they were nowhere to be seen. Amanda finally spotted them about half a mile away trotting toward the mountains with a lot of determination. 

The fields were full of irrigation ditches and round bales, a hopeless outrun from our distance. So I grabbed Hemp, jumped on my trusty dirt bike, and got as close as I could to them. After running about a mile and getting about twenty re-directs, poor Hemp finally found the sheep and saved us a lot of embarrasment.

After our morning's entertainment, Amanda decided we were all going tubing on the White River. She claimed to be primarily motivated by a desire to provide photos for this blog.

We bought three tubes, took her Bart and my Mirk, and headed for the river. We had a blast, although we did decide tubing is perhaps not a dog sport! Mirk rode on my tube all the way down the river, until Amanda's tube developed a leak and our hostess had to come and rescue us.

I anxiously await Amanda's next contribution to the blog.

Lovely day–maybe it was worth the drive, after all.

Met my hostess in town and followed her out to her ranch. Hundreds and hundreds of acres of outruns. Lovely!

Hemp did a great job sorting off five of the big western ewes and bringing them across the road to the nearest field. It's always tricky moving someone else's sheep around. You hate to put something through a fence (or in this case down the road and through someone else's fence).

I did short outruns and a little driving with Huck. He really enjoys the way the western ewes move off, and I think looks his best in the west. (See photo above.)

Mirk of course is my biggest concern: these are going to be tough events for such a young dog, not helped by our short acquaintance. Did a little driving, but since much of the field was under water and it was quite hot I concentrated on shedding. I tend to spend a lot of time practicing shedding, as it involves the sheep looking at the dog and is the phase of work that really requires instantaneous  handler/dog communication to work. Mirk wasn't coming in as fast as I would have liked, so I put him up and worked Bill a bit while Mirk rested. 

After Bill finished I tried Mirk again; he looked quite a bit better, but still not as good as I have seen him.

Spent the rest of the day getting the camper set up , reading and just generally goofing off, as it was too hot to do much else. Good recuperating day.

In the afternoon it cooled off, and everyone got some more work. Mirk was shedding better but still seemed a bit diffident about it, wonder what that's about?

In the evening Amanda and her traveling companion Marie Cashenarrived with treasure troves of culinary delights from Amanda's shopping in Denver. I have a great camper, but I have never really gotten over my many years of roughing it at trials. I always view camping as a sort of wilderness experience. Not so Amanda. Grilled salmon, tomatoes from her garden, baked potatoes and key lime pie. Canadian hospitality at its best.

Just walked the dogs for the last time. The big Colorado sky is full of the Milkyway, not a sight we see often in Connecticut with all our lights and pollution. No traffic at all this far out from town. Lovely!