BevLive: Back in the saddle!

I'm on my annual spring fling and was actually asked by several people at the Blue Grass if I was going to do a blog this year. I hadn't planned to, thinking folks were maybe tired of my travelogs. But as has been pointed out to me it will be different. 

 

Road to Terri's

So I'm starting this sort of mid-trip. I have just spent two and a half days driving from the Blue Grass in Kentucky to Terri Warner's ranch in western Colorado. It was an endless trip not helped by having a blown trailer tire between Fetterman's trial and the Blue Grass and then another one yesterday in Kansas. I finally just replaced my last not-new trailer tire and hope I can get home without further incident. I keep looking in the rear window to try and see if my tires are still there.

Terri seems to live between two mountain ranges in a great river valley at 7500 feet of elevation. It's a great ranch, was a sheep ranch before she and Paul bought it and it's really pretty with all of the great wooden builings and corrals they have restored. She has a flock of 70 practice sheep. So I think the drive may well have been more then worth it. 

This year's trip is especially important to me as I am running the two new girls I bought in Scotland in an attempt to determine which two dogs should be on my open dogs for the next bunch of years. 

I want to run all three, Nel and Fly (my two new dogs), and Mirk and see if I can figure which will be the most successful at the important fall, western trials of Meeker and Soldier Hollow.   

 

Nel (aka Awel)

Terri's is a good start for us as she has lovely range sheep for us, lightly dogged and quite fresh. I worked all three briefly when we arrived and they all looked okay. Mirk looked great but these sheep are familiar to him. Nel, at two the youngest and least experienced of the trio, showed a bit of eye and didn't walk up as strongly as I would have liked but clearly gained in confidence, so I'm hopeful. Fly looked pretty good but was less obedient then her norm so they were bothering her. Early days yet but I have a week here which is great for them. 

 

Meg

I'm also working a half-trained nursery dog, Meg, hoping to have her ready to run next week, and Joe. Those who read last fall's blog will remember that Joe is the puppy I got from Dennis Gellings off his great bitch, Jan. Joe has done a lot of growing and I have just started training him. So far I like what I see but very early to really know anything.

 

Fly in the foreground, Joe behind her.

So those are the players in the blog. The plot is if I have anybody with me who is going to make a great open dog. I can hardly wait to see how it turns out.