BevLive: Soldier Hollow, the Finish

Double lift days are always long. The anticipation and the half hour of really keen concentration combined with all that sun and fresh air wear me out. Today was no exception.

The first few morning runs were pretty disastrous. with Suzy's young dog running first and failing to find her second group of sheep and retiring. Dennis was next with his veteran and my favorite, Jan, who got lost on the first outrun and retired. At this point we all realized that for some reason the outruns were going to be much harder this year than last. I don't know why, there were spots of unmown grass that may have confused the dogs, but over the day several veterans got lost on the first outrun, ran too big and ended at the setout. Wilda was up third and DQed with the first bad grip of the day and a warning to us all that while Jennifer would allow some grips not everything would pass her.   Then Suzy ran Buzz and had a really hard time with both outruns, but also had a nice finish for the first score of the day.

Linda and her young Suede had a great first gather and then an awful fight with his second group. Linda finally retired and went and helped him, which brought Tom and Sly to the post. Sly had trouble with her turnback and a not-perfect first outrun, unusually for her. When Tom was at the pen his shed-off sheep came and rejoined the collars, leaving him with no pen or shed but the highest score thus far. Faansie soon put an end to that with a reasonable run with two troubled gathers a good shed and bad pen for what turned out to be the second place run.

Haley followed the lunch break with troubled gathers and a good finish for 4th place. Bill Berhow had a bad first outrun using too much time getting his dog to the first group of sheep, which didn't leave him time to finish. I followed Bill with Nel. She needed one more redirect on the first outrun then I gave and crossed under her sheep. On the positive side she didn't run too wide and took all my redirects, except the emergency stop when I realized, too late, that we were in trouble. Like many but not all the dogs she had trouble with the sheep, but got the first fetch. She went back fairly well, needing two commands, and had a good second fetch. As has been the case for her the drive was the problem. The sheep were very heavy and she hocked them multiple times and more than one time had to deal with a ewe coming out at her. It was a very poor drive with two gates gotten and a good last leg. We got our shed immediately but couldn't hold it. We then got it three more times and finally managed to have it when the buzzer went off for 6th place. I'm sure I could have managed that better. Poor Nell was physically and mentally very tired by the shed and while she did her best I think it was too much, what I asked. All and all I was very pleased with her. Several times she misunderstood what I wanted on the course but she never stopped trying and never backed down from the sheep. I think we may have a beautiful future together. We certainly need to improve our communication.

I was followed by Dennis and Jake who didn't get along as well as they usually do and ended up 5th. Jean Gellings and Star were indeed the day's stars, having a very reputable, workmanlike run amidst general chaos to win the day. Lavon and Tess kept things moving as well to come third.

Lyle and Shep handled the sheep as well as any dogs all day, keeping them moving and handling recalcitrant sheep with cool authority. Unfortunately she was called for a grip at the shed when a sheep broke over Shep, ending what might have been a placing run. The final runner was Patrick and Riggs, but after waiting all day Riggs lost his first group of sheep, ending the trial.

The final event of the day was the medals ceremony based upon the awarding of the medals at the olympics. It's really kind of nice to stand on the podium while your national anthem plays. Certainly as close to Olympic glory as any of us are getting. They had the largest crowd today to ever attend a dog trial. Was nice to share my sport with so many people

Had a really enjoyable dinner out with Michele, Amanda, Haley, and Joni during which we all cut each other (and everyone else) down to size. Friends who keep you well based in reality are a gift.

Off to Meeker in the morning to try and do better.