Soldier Hollow Day Three - Update

Well, Maid is hanging in there.

Maid's sheep running on the fetch

We didn't think her score of 77 would still be in there and technically, it isn't in for day money but she's still a possibility for the double lift. HOWEVER, even tho there are only a few dogs to go, they are almost all tough. So it's a nail biter right now. Other than coming in short on her outrun, there wasn't much more Maid could do. She had heavy sheep when it was hot and she was patient with them and more to the point, Scott was patient with her.

Maid and Scott turning the post

If he had rushed her, she would have gripped them.

Maid slowly convincing the sheep to move forward

Her lines were good but slow and she had a great shed but no pen. The sheep never left the mouth of the pen but they just wouldn't go in.
Drift crossed over again but Scott got him to the sheep. After that, he started working well but it just got too much for him on the crossdrive and he gripped off.
Before I go on, I must say how happy I am with Hemp. He came to play today. Unfortunately, we ran out of sound. Scott said he was blown away by his outrun. I left him alone and didn't redirect him (I so wanted to when he disappeared but I stayed quiet) . He came in perfectly at the top and lifted nice. I didn't have to get on him much for pace on the fetch even tho most sheep were running down the fetch at that time of day. Nice turn around the post, but I felt the wind come up. Uh oh, still going ok, and listening really well. Made the drive away and then the wind got bad and Hemp heard nothing. He took a wrong flank and headed them. I got him back around but he was only hearing pieces. I tried to avoid coming back through the panels and I did but he got confused. When he finally got them moving in the right direction, he'd had enough and gripped them behind a tree. We didn't get called off but the sheep scattered. I put them back together, way off the line but they were frazzeled now and scattered again. This time I had a feeling that if I had Hemp chase down the runners he'd eat one badly and with thousands of people watching, I thought I'd retire since I had no points left anyway. Despite that, I'm real excited about him. He's only been in open since the end of April and he's really coming together. Remind me I said that after Meeker chews me up and spits me out in a couple of days!
I'll try to go see what's going on back on the field and get the final info up. Super big FREE dinner tonight at a big hotel. I love Soldier Hollow!