National Finals - The Semis

The morning was the same as everyday, very cool (cold) in the morning and blazin' hot in the afternoon. Today was the "Tough enough to wear pink" day honoring the battle with cancer and we had several fundraisers including Alberta's own Wendy Schmaltz who raised over a $1000 and shaved her head.
We had a left hand drive with a marked shed - two uncollared - then a pen and then a single with a collar. Our judges were Lyle Lad and Kevin Evans from Wales. There were some really nice runs today. Haley Howard is probably a crowd favorite being very close to a local and her Ross and Bodie looked spectacular. Bodie, just a 3 year old, had the top score of the day. Alasdair and Star are always a favorite and he looked good with both her and Nap. Derek Fisher also looked nice with his bitch and had a fairly high score.
George Stambulic and his 4 yr old Kate handled the sheep well and got quite a respectable score of 141 but in the end it just wasn't enough to make the double lift.

George Stambulic and Kate on the third leg of the drive

His old dog, Gyp ran in the heat and George retired in the shedding ring so that she didn't get over heated.
Maid and Scott had a great run. Maid was on and listening well with an easy stop.

Maid on the fetch

She made all her panels and had a great first shed

Scott and Maid on the first shed

and just a tiny bobble on the pen. When it came to the single, Scott had over 2 minutes in the ring but he rushed the call in. You can't rush Maid in the shed. She can eat one. She came in like a scud missile and the sheep went up in the air and no shed was called. On his second attempt it was calmer and a success. Unfortunately, that shed was probably only worth 1 point and they got a 162 and landed in 15th place for the day still ok for the double lift tho.
I ran with Lad when it was quite hot. My goal at this finals was to get into the semis since I have never gotten that far before. I didn't actually think about what I had to do when I got there. I HATE doing a marked shed and I really didn't think I could do it so I thought I'd just try to get the experience. I sent Lad to the right again but this time he didn't go as wide. Of course, the king of the bad outruns got himself quickly lost in the unfamiliar territory of a correct outrun and I had to blow him out. He didn't take it wide enough and got way too center so I stopped him and told him to Look. He took that and then went nice and deep but pulled up short. I blew him over once but he wasn't convinced and I had to blow him again. Still, not much of a response so I let him walk on which wasn't too good and the sheep lifted off line and stayed that way for a little bit. I got them back on the line and made the fetch panels although a little wobbly. Lad was still handling them well but they were running. They ran down the drive line and we made the panels and had not too wide a turn and a decent crossdrive. We had been told in the handler's meeting that we could leave the post when they made the crossdrive panels but couldn't enter the ring until the sheep did. It totally slipped my mind and while I was admiring my 3rd leg, I walked into the ring too soon. Once there, I almost lost them outside the ring while Laddie ran to cover until I woke up and walked over to stop them. After that, we puzzled on the shed for a little while. We had over 7 minutes so I knew I had time. (I remembered to set the watch again!) I found it wasn't all that hard to move them and before I knew it, I had a nice opening and Laddie found it wise to come through.

Laddie and I getting the first part of the shed

On to the pen. That was easy and quick

An easy pen

and we were back in the ring again trying to saw off one collared ewe. I managed to get one at each end of the line of sheep. The girl on my right was walking away but I was set up to stop the girl on my left and hoped that I had chosen the right one and she didn't squirt ahead with her buddies. I waited her out for a second and everyone left but her because she was busy looking at Lad. I called him in and another miracle, he came in and we were done.

Laddie coming in on the single

Many things could have been fixed and we only earned a 141 but we were respectable ending up in 26th place, and learned alot and actually enjoyed playing with the shed. I might actually not worry the next time I make a semi finals. Yeah, right.
We didn't make the double lift but we achieved our goal of the semis and tomorrow I plan to sit back and enjoy the double lift and root on Scott and Maid who run 10th. If you want more of a play by play of other runs check out Diane Pagel's blog.