BevLive: Meeker begins

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.