I have been a bit delinquent in getting these posts up so these will be fairly brief racaps of a number of items.
Starting with the Porterville Fall Trial at the beginning of November. Originally I was not going to run as I had a work committment for the Monday of Pro Novice. My work committment cancelled and I managed to beg my way into the trial. I would have been better off not getting in.
The sheep were very difficult, the field was muddy and the rains came heavy overnight forcing a nearly 4 hour delay in getting started. Piper ran out nicely and got behind her sheep. She even managed to move them about 20 feet the first run before they dropped anchor. The second run they would not budge. Two retires. We did work exhaust in between for several runs and she had no problems with them on exhaust.
The next week was Hopland. The only complaint I can have about this trial is that it is a LOOONG drive to get there. Beautiful field, beautiful weather, nice sheep, good wine tasting close by. Piper ran well although she had what seemed a mystery (to me anyway) 5 points off her outrun. She placed 13th in a pretty competitive group. More importantly - although the final leg of the drive suffered badly from a wide turn and the sheep escaping towards exhaust - her first two drive legs were some of the best she has given me at a trial. Since that has been our big trouble area I was very happy with her.
The big news is that I finally took possession (at least temporarily) of new dog Rylee last Saturday - one day before my birthday. That is Rylee in the picture below with Piper. I worked her for the first time on Saturday and while she was not real sure who I was she works nicely. There will be a get acquainted period and she will be a very different dog to work than Piper but I am excited about her and looking forward to it. Depending on how soon we team up we may make our trial debut in Nursery at the Snowbirds trial over New Years weekend at Jennifer's.
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