Eye On The Prize

It's hard to think about the 2011 National Finals while we are hunkered down at home, in the snow, but winter is when we should be thinking about it the most. Alta-Pete Stockdogs doesn't trial at all in the winter. Instead, we spend the time training the dogs, fixing the problems we saw in the open dogs (many, many in mine!) and preparing the up and coming nursery pups for their debut in the Spring.
The 2011 USBCHA National Finals is going to be held in Carbondale, Colorado this year. It's going to be absolutely beautiful scenery.
VIDEO

National Finals '10 - Double Lift

It's in the history books now. Patrick Shannahan and Riggs are the new National Champions and Tommy Wilson and Sly are reserve. Congratulations to them both! Patrick and Tommy are gracious winners and Alasdair was very classy as he stepped down from his past domination of the finals. (he and Scott plan to fight it out for the win next year)
I'm sure everyone watched the webcast so there is no need to go into details about Scott's runs but I can add a little information from behind the scenes. Maid's rerun was given because she was unable to turn back without a crossover due to the fact that the horses setting the first lot of sheep stayed out to watch the run. When she looked behind her that was all she saw. The judges decided to give her a rerun but they elected to keep her crossover. It was an odd decision but Scott said they might not have given him a rerun at all so he was happy enough. Maid showed she could have done it perfectly and was one of only two dogs to do a turn back without crossing over (the only other dog was Spot) so it was unfortunate that she wasn't given the credit for it. We are just happy that the new way Scott has been training Maid is keeping her head cool and she still didn't grip today.
The other little tidbit is that one of the judges told Scott that until Donnie's grip (Scott said he got a little desperate when the sheep started to rejoin) he was in third place. Not a bad run for a dog who was only 3 yrs old this past January. Scott was very happy with Don. It was the most difficult trial he had ever been at and he showed great command of his sheep.
If you were watching the webcast at home and you noticed in the first few runs they didn't follow the dog on the turnback but followed the sheep, you can thank my buddy Louanne for getting that fixed. She told me on the phone during the runs that they weren't following the dog so I relayed her information to the camera man who thanked her for her direction and changed his camera angle for the rest of the trial.
Wendy Schmaltz and Gin won the overall stockdog of the year award for being the highest placing dog at the cattle dog nationals (7th) and at the sheepdog nationals (4th). She said she couldn't be happier. She's a celebrity now after her heart stopping run and it felt good to scream with everyone else when she shut the pen gate.
Debbie Bailey and her Huck (who showed tons of heart when you realize he was running with a torn tendon in his rear leg and still finished the course) won rookie of the year. Congrats!

Some pictures from today...

Maid and Scott wait for sheep

Maid pushes on a challenging ewe at the pen

She could have gripped but she didn't!

Half time procession - Cy Peterson from Georgia holds the Canadian flag

My favorite dog and handler team (other than Scott and his dogs) : Lori Cunningham and 2 year old Matt

Donnie studying the runs before his

Donnie stops a collared ewe in the shed

Wendy Schmaltz and Gin accept the All Around Stockdog of the Year award

The top 17 handlers and their dogs with the judges

National Finals '10 - Semi Finals

I am sooo tired so forgive me if this blog is heavy on pictures instead of words. We had some young dogs that felt the need to be walked 4 times last night. Yes 4 times. Then Donnie, who is sleeping in the camper with Maid and us because he has earned it, told me he needed to go out. I thought he had drank too much water and had to potty but no. He wanted to visit the girls we have in the truck who are in heat. I fell for that ruse twice. I'm a slow learner. Just ask Laddie. Anyway, Don and Maid were wonderful today and both got in the double lift, along with our fellow Albertan, Wendy Schmaltz and my favorite dog, Lori Cunningham's Matt and his father, Tom Forrester's Pete. I am happy for all of them.
It was tough running today because the sheep didn't just run, they made the dogs prove they could be moved around the drive. I'm sure everyone saw the webcast. You should have. If you didn't, go to the link on the side of this blog and watch it. You won't be disappointed.
Don has drawn up 17th tomorrow. A good slot. The sheep have been sweet at the end of the day but it will be cooler all day tomorrow. At least they will know what they have to do to get it done. Maid is 4th. Not a bad draw at all. Tommy Wilson has the danger spot of 2nd place. He's going to be hard to beat with that draw. Alasdair is 15th. He's amazing no matter where he draws.
I'm going to bed and get some sleep and hope that Scott, Maid and Don get a good night's sleep
as well.
Some pictures from Don's run:

Don schools a wayward ewe on the art of flocking

Donnie with a good crossdrive line

Scott and Don get the pen

Donnie being filmed for the webcast

Don and Scott do a shed

Maid's pictures:

Maid making the fetch panels

Scott helps Maid take the sheep around the post

Maid on the crossdrive

Maid taking the sheep through the ditch on the crossdrive

Scott calling Maid in on an exciting shed

National Finals '10- Day Four Open

The heat was almost unbearable today. There were alot of runs that retired early because of it. There are some grumblings that the dates for the nationals should be pushed back to October. Fortunately, they are expecting only 85 tomorrow and a nice 71 for the double lift.
So Scott and Maid and Don made it into the semis tomorrow. Alberta girl, Wendy Schmaltz did too with her bitch, Gin (a granddaughter of Scott's Dan - shameless plug). I reminded Wendy that they will be broadcasting her on the live webcast and that the camera adds 10 pounds so remember to wear something slimming.
My favorite run of the whole trial? Tom Forrester's Pete. They ran today and had the best fetch and what would have been the best drive except that Tom apparently didn't know where the line was on the crossdrive because he marched them brilliantly across but just low the whole way. He made all his panels though and had a wonderful finish. Even with the crossdrive being off, he ended up 5th place overall. I don't think it's a coincidence that Lori Cunningham's Matt is a son of his.
The most shocking run and the one I was most wanting to see was Alasdair MacRae and Star. I love watching Star and comparing Donnie to her. I hope for him to have as great a career as she has had. Unfortunately, today Star was not at her best and took off wide on her outrun. Real wide. So wide that when she got to the three strand barbed wire in the distance, she went through it and kept running. Alasdair tried to get her to come back through but she only came in a little and continued running on the outside of the fence. Finally, Alasdair called her back and walked off (or was DQ'd I'm not sure which). When she reached his side, the audience clapped for her and Alasdair gave her a pat and left the field. In her defence, there was something odd going on for the last few runs on the outrun. Nothing I could see but Vickie Kidd, Jack Knox and Alasdair's dogs all ran wide. Maybe the light was funny.
I have not heard what the running order will be for tomorrow yet. Scott is out helping to set the course again. Don't forget to watch the webcast!

National Finals '10 - Day Three Open

Hot Hot Hot! (and I don't mean my looks- just kidding) Today reached 95 before it started cooling off in the late afternoon. When Maid and Scott drew up it was about at it's peak. Just before their run the sheep were at their worst. Anne Mock had a set that had two stop in the shade of the tree and the other two kept racing down the fetch line. She couldn't get her dog around the runners to take them back up the field and ended up having to retire. Alan Mills and Sis, who was a nursery dog last year that took third in the national finals open double lift in Oregon, had a set of two and two unless they were 5 singles by themselves. He finally had to retire at the drive panels. So we were hoping that when they took a short break to take more sheep to the top that they would improve. We didn't realize it at the time but there wasn't an improvement.

Maid and Scott wait for the sheep to be set

Scott thought Maid was just being on the muscle and stopping late on the fetch and drive away. On the crossdrive she opened up at bit, but what we found out later from the set out people was that she had a very bad single ewe that they had a difficult time setting. When we went back and reviewed the pictures I took, it was much more obvious that there was a ewe that continuously was trying to run off but we didn't notice it so much during the run. Points for Maid! She had a slightly tight outrun and Scott whistled her once but she didn't really take it. However, she bent when she saw them so no harm done. She had a nice lift and a straight enough fetch although Scott was fighting her alot.

Just after Maid's lift

Good turn around the post and a good line, although, not an easy one, to the panels. After the panels they tried to get past her to the exhaust on the left of the field but Maid did some good work getting them broke and back on the crossdrive.

Maid struggles to control the sheep at the drive away turn

There was some line struggling on the crossdrive and they almost missed the panels on the high side but they got it done and took a good shed.

Maid gets her grumpy hot sheep set up for the shed

The sheep are penning very easily so that was not an issue,

Maid and Scott pen the sheep

but like Don, after they took the sheep out, she figured she was done and she was hot so she went to the water.

Maid cools off in the tub before her single but keeps an eye on the sheep

The sheep were standing nicely, so Scott let her have a minute in there to cool down since it had been such hard work and it was so hot. When Scott called her back she came right to the ring and did her single.

Maid and Scott take the single

She ended up with a 163 which currently puts her in 21st place with the top 40 to go to the semis. It looks like she should make it in but tomorrow is the last qualifying day.
There were some more good runs today. Robin French had a another very good run, this time with Zac and Vergil Holland had a great one with Dally. I have to brag a little bit on Dally - Scott trained her many years ago to the pro-novice/open ranch level long before Vergil owned her. Vergil has had her several years and has made many improvements and handled her wonderfully today but I don't think he'll mind us riding on his coat tails a little bit. The other great run that made us proud was Marianna Schreeder and Penny. Penny is out of Scott's Pleat and Fly and he trained her and trialed her before selling her to Marianna. They are a perfect match and she actually runs better for Marianna than she did for Scott. Their run today made us so proud.
Speaking of proud, I couldn't be more proud of Lori Cunningham and Matt unless it was me and Lad. I've always said that Matt is Laddie's brother from another mother because, although he is better than Lad, he reminds me very much of him. I have to point out that you heard it here first when I declared in May of 2009 that Matt was going to be a dog to watch. He ran nursery here at these finals but like me, Lori said she had a handler error (in the same place no less!) and they didn't do very well. The open was another story. Lori stated ahead of time that she wouldn't make that mistake again and she didn't. I just about busted at the seams with pride when they posted his score of 181 today in the open, putting him currently in 7th place!
One more day of hot and one more day of qualifying. Scott is going to run over to Dan King's tomorrow where he has received an invitation to work the dogs again to prepare them for sat. (thanks Dan and Sylvia!) and I will stay behind and enjoy the trial- oh, yeah, and continue to sweat!

National Finals ' 10 - Day Two Open

Poor Laddie. He is saddled with an incompetent owner. He doesn't seem to mind but it is his lot in life. In my defence, it was 98 degrees when we ran today. Laddie was fine. I had hosed him down several times leading up to his run and he ate 4 handfuls of ice cubes right before we went on which must have gone a long way to lowering his core body temp. Anyway, when he left the post, he was not panting. My mind is the one thing that wasn't working. There were a few DQs around my run and we were talking about it and I have to think that the main mistake I made was probably because I just didn't have my mind fully on the run. When it's that hot, you get worried about the dog and don't pay as close attention to details as you should. It's something you can't afford when you are competing against this deep of talent with these kind of tricky sheep. Well, I think that was my problem anyway.
I sent Lad to the left and he did his customary pull up short. It was a little too short but I stopped him and since the pull to the left was so hard, the sheep came back on line. We held the line for a little while but then got off just enough to miss the fetch panels and then got them back on line with a nice turn around the post. We had a great drive line going and there was no way we were going to miss the panels except for my misjudgement. I don't know why I thought I would make the only tight turn at those panels when better runs had failed. I figured I'd hang on to a few points and dazzle them all while I was at it. The only problem was that I wasn't through the panels when I made the turn. This caused us to have to catch the sheep again and do some bobbling to try and at least pass the plane. Lad and the sheep got confused and when they split, Lad thought about it and figured the best way to put them back together was to circle the last one and put them back. I didn't have time to react to this before he made that decision but alot of points were gone there. We settled it down and made the panel and even made a halfway decent turn and got past the first 1/4 of the crossdrive where most dogs have problems. It was a wobbly crossdrive but not far off the line. As we went into the ditch the sheep started leaning on Lad (probably because we had lost our athority with them with the crazy drive turn) and pushing him farther down the field. There is a hill there and I couldn't see what he was doing but he was no longer anywhere near the crossdrive panels and had yet to pass the plane. I could tell it wasn't getting any better or the sheep would be back in my line of sight. At this point we had lost too many points to get to the semis and there was no reason to make Lad continue to work this hard in that hot of weather. I called him off and told him to go get in the water. He was doing fine and could have finished the course but there was no point with that many points gone.
The sheep go in varying degrees of difficulty. Our time was about the worst but in the late afternoon there were some really good runs as the sheep became more agreeable. Ron Enzeroth had a spectacular run and Debbie Bailey and Huck would have surged to a huge lead but Huck was thinking about eating his single so Debbie had some trouble calling him in and keeping him from gripping. She ended up not finishing, but the run was so good, she'll still be in there for Sat.
Tomorrow, Scott runs Maid at about the same time I ran today and it's supposed to be very hot again. I'm hoping they will do better than I did. As for Laddie and I, we will relax and enjoy ourselves and try to stay cool. Fortunately, it is supposed to start cooling down on Saturday and I will keep my fingers crossed for Donnie's run!

National Finals '10- Day One Open

We are very proud of Donnie! He worked very hard for his run today and ended the day in third place. Robin French and her nursery dog, Bill, a son of Joanie Swanke's Lew won the day with a stellar run and Carla King was second. Alasdair and Nap also worked hard for their run and should have no trouble advancing to the semis along with Tricia MacRae who had a great run but didn't get her single. Even without that her run will advance, I'm sure.
Don was sent to the left on his outrun and overran slightly at the top

Scott prepares to send Don on his outrun

(there is a plateau there where the dogs and sheep don't see each other) it caused no damage and he had a nice lift but as in so many other runs, the sheep tore off down the left side of the field. Donnie got them stopped before the fetch panels and then fought them to the line and through the fetch panels. It was a difficult turn around the post and the drive line was good but just as hard as it was for all the dogs. They had a nice turn and a very good crossdrive line.

Don turns the sheep at the drive away panel

At the end of the line, there is a ditch that the sheep have to go through and they came out on the high side so Donnie and Scott had to do some maneuvering to get through the panels.

Don takes the sheep into the ditch on the crossdrive

They had a nice shed (you must take the one collared ewe with one of any of the other collared ewes) and had to work for the pen

Don catches a belligerent ewe at the pen

(they got much easier to pen as the day went on and went as far as running into the pen for some handlers, like Patrick Shannahan). After the pen they went back to the ring and shed off one uncollared ewe and it was done.

Scott and Don take a single

Both Scott and Donnie were hot and happy when it was over.
Tomorrow Lad and I are due up around 2PM. Unfortunately, they are expecting 93 degree heat with a chance of showers which equals humidity. I will play it by ear as to what I will do. I won't hesitate to quit my run early if the sheep continue to be difficult and it gets too hot. I am just excited that Don has done well enough to move on to the semis and Laddie and I will take what comes.

National Finals '10 - Nursery Finals

The final day of the nursery was a bit of a cliff hanger. The leader of the first day was Alasdair MacRae and his second run was at the very end of the final round. Earlier in the day Anne Mock from California had laid down her second consistently good run. She led the day even when the first day's second place winner, Vergil Holland also ran another good round. Vergil and Scott had a great run especially since the sheep were getting more and more tricky but he couldn't beat Anne. It looked like Anne and Vergil would probably take the day until Alasdair and Coll. Coll had a fetch that was off line and a few splits but by the time they reached the post, it had all lined out and the lines were impeccable after that with a clean pen. We all waited on the edge of our seats to see how it ended up and when it was posted, Alasdair, once again, was the nursery champion with Anne the reserve and Vergil in third. Congratulations to them all!
Kuro ran in the late afternoon. Scott sent him to the right which is his better side but he ran a little tight and got the sheep running off line.

Scott sends Kuro on his outrun

The fetch was fast and furious and didn't get back on the line until almost to the post.

Kuro racing to stop the sheep on the fetch

After that, Kuro and Scott settled the sheep very well and they worked together to make the difficult drive panels to the left.

Kuro works hard to make the drive away panels

The turn to the crossdrive (and away from the draw) was where most of the sheep and dogs came to battle. Kuro's fight ended with him running through the middle of them and circling the last sheep. After that they got back on the line and just missed the crossdrive panels. They had a good line to the pen and with very little maneuvering, got them in.

Kuro and Scott close the pen door

When it was all over, Kuro had placed 24th in the nursery nationals.
Tomorrow starts the running of the Open class. Scott and Don run mid day. Don't forget to keep an eye on things here.

National Finals '10 - Day Two Nursery

Sweep/Jr. saw the sheep in the exhaust this morning and went there. Nuff said.
There were alot more good runs in the afternoon - Vergil Holland's Nap son, Scott was a standout. I didn't see it but I heard Marianna Schreeder had a good one too.
Scott and Kuro ended up 19th for the first round and have drawn up for run 28 tomorrow.

National Finals '10 - First Day

The first day of the 2010 USBCHA National Finals was a good show. The handlers are being well taken care of by the hospitality folks and the weather, although a tad warm at times, never got too hot. The swag bag had lots of nice stuff in it including a utility/pocket knife with the finals logo on it and I got a new ABCA hat! We are finished with the first half of the first round and Alasdair is, not surprisingly, in the lead. The sheep are tough but his Nap son, Coll, did the nicest job of getting them around. They want to run like slightly nicer Meeker sheep. They don't run as fast on the fetch as Meeker sheep but they just keep going in the direction they want and the dog has to get almost to their heads to have any affect on them. This is resulting in most sheep missing the fetch gates and a fetch somewhere down on the right hand side of the field.
Herbert Holmes is in second place with his Keema. It was a very nice run that would have been even higher if the dog hadn't gotten a little excited and circled them in front of the crossdrive panels when it felt the draw there. It isn't the only one. Many of the youngsters found that pressure in front of the last panels and did something stupid. The sheep are not bad to pen and there are alot of pens but it is not a given and you have to be on your toes.
Jeanine Van Der Merwe had a smoking run going until she turned the crossdrive panel and seemed to relax and let down. Her bad line on the third leg, and no pen, hurt her.
Scott ran Diane Pagel's Kuro mid day.

Scott and Kuro sizing up the outrun

He sent him to the right since that is his better side and I don't think there is damage done by sending either way. Kuro needed one redirect as he came up the slight incline and then had a decent lift. The fetch started out as a short footrace, but Kuro caught them and got them back on line.

Kuro catching his sheep after the lift

It didn't look like it was possible to miss the panels because they were dead on line but the sheep are tricky and they slipped around it at the last second.

Kuro looking like he would make the fetch panels

After a nice turn around the post, Scott got Kuro onto the line for a right hand drive and they made a good drive panel.

Kuro on his fetch

As they do with every run, they started to race across the crossdrive of their own accord. Most of the time the sheep missed the panels low and Scott was ready for this and gave Kuro a comebye flank but he panicked and took the wrong flank, missing the panels like so many others.

Kuro missing his crossdrive panels after taking a wrong flank

The third leg of the drive was good and after one ewe dashed around the pen, they got them in with less than a minute to spare.

Scott and Kuro at the pen

His final score was a 122 which put him in 10th place for the day but we still have another day to go. Top 40 will rerun on Monday and the combined score will determine the nursery champion.
Scott is first up with Jr./Sweep tomorrow morning.

USBCHA Finals '10 - We are here

After a week of wonderful hospitality, first at Jan Thompson's and then at Dan King's (both of whom have incredible fields to practice on) we are now camped at the Belle Grove Plantation in Virgina.Camper row is filling up and as the weekend progresses it will be very crowded as all the finest are turning out for this show.
Handler's packets are being prepared. I'm hoping for a new hat.Nursery starts tomorrow. The USBCHA finals committee finally has the course organized. Scott's on the committee so if you don't like the course, call him. He'll enjoy talking to you about it.Remember you can follow the scores on this page.

Soldier Hollow '10 Day Three - No Dice But It's OK

Well, I will have Scott's company spectating the double lift tomorrow. It's good and bad. Donnie almost made it and stayed on the leader board until about 3:30 when a spectacular run by Haley Howard and Ross took the lead and bumped Scott out of the double lift. Good try Donnie. What is ok about that you ask? This might be a little bit much for Donnie to do a double lift here this year. The sheep are just so difficult. I think not doing this double lift will save Donnie to fight another day when he is more experienced. Halfway through his crossdrive it seemed to click with Don and he loosened up and started taking that comebye flank with some enthusiasm and got control of his sheep. He had a smooth shed and a perfect pen so we were happy with him but his 77 won't play tomorrow.
I'm afraid Maid will also not be in tomorrow. She had a rocky lift when a sheep foolishly challenged her and she told it where to go.
Tonight we eat well. Soldier Hollow gives the handlers a free prime rib dinner with all the fixin's every year and we get to pick up our new Woolrich embroidered jackets tonight - also provided free for the handlers. To borrow a comment from fellow Canadian George Stambulic, I'm going to eat as much as I can incase I don't get invited back next year!
I will probably spend most of my time enjoying the double lift tomorrow and taking the pups into the event to socialize them so I will not do a blog but get today's and tomorrow's scores on the Soldier Hollow website, and keep an eye on Amelia Smith's blog because she's been doing some live blogging about the runs when she's not doing her informative demos.
On Tuesday Scott and I will head off to TN to do some training on the dogs before the finals so I will see you all in a couple of weeks in Virginia at the National finals. (yes, Lad got in at the last minute so I gotta shed shed shed with him this week)

Soldier Hollow ' 10 - Day Two - (Sheep 4 Glens 0)

We got nothin' again today!
It was hot and windy and the leader board never moved after dog number 19 (the leader by the way was the outstanding Tommy Wilson and Sly with a 92!) Scott had been wondering how Donnie was going to deal with all these new things: heavy range sheep, a difficult outrun, lots of pressure. He did ok. Not outstanding, but ok. We hope for more from him tomorrow. Most of his difficulties came from the outrun. He just didn't understand to look up that steep hill.

Scott trying to help Donnie spot sheep

Scott had to send him blind and Donnie gave it his best. He started tight so Scott gave him a bend whistle which he took, but maybe a little too deep and he almost got lost, he did eventually get to his sheep but was a little frazzled and that carried throughout the run. He didn't have any trouble moving them but his comebye flank was broken and slow so that caused Scott some handling difficulties.

Don on the fetch

They got all the way to the shedding ring and were on their way to the pen when Don took a quick low heel. (so quick that very few people saw it) and he got called for a DQ.

Don and Scott in the shed

I wasn't expecting much from Hemp's run because it was a horrible time of day to run but armed with my lucky new friendship bracelett from 4 year old Hailey Fogt ( who has "styled" my hair a few times already at this trial) I figured we'd do our best and see what happens.
I'm afraid Hemp is liking his grip a little too much and he also got a DQ. He was not as smart as yesterday on his outrun but got there and had a nice lift. He kept things quiet today and took my flanks and we made our fetch panels but had a little grip after, that was not called. He had a nice turn and a wobbly start to the drive but then lined out beautifully and had a tight turn which really surprised me at how easy it was to do today. I was afraid of the cross drive since that is where he gripped last year and yesterday but he did the crossdrive just fine, if a little off line in places and missed the panels by just a little. After the turn around the panels he started getting difficult to handle. I couldn't open his flanks enough to get him back on the third leg and after a fight with me he gripped again (a little more spectacularly this time) and we were called off.
Tomorrow is supposed to be alot cooler and Scott runs both Don and Maid again so I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Once again, for all the scores, go to the Soldier Hollow website.

Soldier Hollow '10 - Day One - ALMOST!

Tough! That's what I have to say about today. Soldier Hollow is still it's absolutely amazing self but the trial is difficult. This year's sheep are from a different flock than the last few years. They were born a year ago in April and don't know which way is up. Add to that some real heat in the middle of the day and you've got one hard trial run.
Hemp was lucky to draw in the morning and I was hoping to do something with the run but no, it didn't happen. He was third up and I thought he might have spotted the sheep (up a steep hill with roads crossing through it and many trees to confuse you and the dog) but I wasn't sure. He's been running stupid wide at the last few trials so I'm sure you could understand my fear on this difficult outrun. No worries. It was the best thing he did all day. He wasn't quite sure where they were but stayed smart never coming in and always searching. When he saw them he cast out and went nice and deep at the top. He had a quiet lift but as usual, it got a little Western after that. His line was good but his pace was fast (many dogs had some difficulty lifting but not Hemp) so since he was ignoring my pleas for pace, I stopped him. That allowed the sheep to try to run back up the hill and I had to do some maneuvering to fix it. We missed the panel and I continued to over command Hemp. We had a nice line to the drive panel but missed it anyway and after a wobbly start to the cross drive, Hemp had enough of my nagging and flew into the sheep (he was mad at me, not the sheep) and we were off with a DQ.

Scott and Maid enter the Soldier Hollow park

Scott was in the hot hot afternoon with Maid.

Maid and Scott waiting for their sheep to be set

Most of her outrun wasn't bad but she pulled up very short (she did that last year here too) and had to be flanked 3 times before she was in the correct lift point. She had a super quiet fetch with that nice way that Maid is now learning.

Maid on the fetch

Made her fetch panels and had a nice turn around the post. They had a good drive away and made their drive panels but the crossdrive was a little off line and they were eating up time keeping things calm so by the time they got to the shedding ring there wasn't much room left on the clock. The turn around the crossdrive panels is blind because of trees but Maid did fine.

Maid gets ready to make the blind turn on the crossdrive

The third leg of the drive took even more time, with the sheep trying to get around Maid.

Sheep trying to get around Maid on the third leg of the drive

A great shed and only 30 seconds left to pen. The pen is quite far away from the ring and you use up almost all that time getting there and you can't rush the sheep once you have arrived. Scott gathered his sheep in the ring and started over to the pen, not in a hurry and time was called. The score wasn't bad, a 72 and was enough to stay on the leader board, ALMOST to the end. Top 5 go to the double lift from each day. The very last run, by Patrick Shannahan and Riggs, bumped them off!

They almost did it

So, Scott has the great white hope, Don, to run tomorrow. He's never been on these kind of sheep so it will be an education.
BTW it's supposed to reach 90F tomorrow.
For complete scores, go to the Soldier Hollow website