EID Classic '10 Day One

August 20, 21, 22, 2010 Brooks, Alberta: Joanne and Ian Zoerb put on a great trial and this one is shaping up to be no exception. It seems to draw more people every year and I believe that says something about it. This year we are judged by Herbert Holmes and your combined score will get you in the double lift on Sunday. Yesterday we started with open. I didn't take any pictures because the air is very smokey due to fires in BC. The fires are nowhere near us but are on a jet stream path that carries the smoke a long way - I will try to get some today. There were very few perfect outruns. The field is tricky with dips and hills and confuses even the best outrunners. The sheep are a mixed bag of cheviots and suffolks and mixes of each. The cheviots are not playing well with the others and if you draw a single cheviot in your group, she tends to run way ahead of the group and makes it hard to contain her when the others are lagging behind. One person drew 4 cheviots and one mix breed and each cheviot chose it's own direction with the one mix breed trying to hang out with whoever it could.
Scott ran really well with Maid. She needed a redirect on her outrun but after that was the calmest I have ever seen. The panels are not all that hard to make if you don't have a running cheviot. Maid really marched her sheep around quietly and kept her cool at the pen. She got an 82.
I ran Hemp a little later and was very happy with him. He ran too wide on his outrun thinking that he had more sheep out there than he did but I'm hoping for an improvement on that today. He had a running cheviot leader but still made all his panels AND had a great shed and pen. I have worked on nothing but his pen and shed flanks for 2 weeks now. You could still feel the newness of the concept with him but he tried his best and it paid off. Now if it could only last one more day! He also ran an 82
Lad was fine but not great. He only needed one redirect on his outrun but was a little lazy about getting over on his fetch flanks and I was late at dealing with it so that was a little off line. I was afraid of his shed because even tho he'd been shedding like he liked it all week, he had a little breakdown the other day and decided he couldn't shed. No way. No how. He did have one missed attempt in the ring and I looked at my watch and saw I had 6 minutes and thought that it was a very long time for us to run out our clock if he wasn't going to shed but fortunately, although the next one wasn't pretty, we got it done. (PLEASE let him do it again today). He had a very smart pen. He's getting super good at that and if we could just fix the shed we'd be back to doing well. He got a 77.
Scott ran Don late in the day and he blew us all away. A perfect outrun and the smoothest run I have seen in a long time. A lot of people commented on how nice a team they are. Unfortunately, the rope was wrapped funny around the pen and when Scott went to grab it, it hung up so the sheep passed the pen, otherwise the score would have been alot higher. As it was, they won the class with a 93.
In the pronovice, we were really proud of Kuro who did his outrun without help. He did fine around the course and showed his great heart and bidability. He got a 5th place with a score of 73.
Sava never found her sheep and Jr. had trouble on his outrun but got out there. Scott schooled him around the course a little bit and then retired him.
We didn't have anything in the nursery class which was filled with some very young dogs this early in the year but it was won by Bev Lambert and her young dog Meg. Bev said this pup is a handful but had a great turn around at this trial and she is pleased with her.
I missed watching the youth class but I must hurry up and finish this post so I won't miss it today. It was between Joey Swenson and his Joy dog and Bailey Musgrove and her Sam.
Joey has been doing this for a year now but Bailey has only been going at it for a few months. She has jumped into it with gusto and has taken over her father's 11 year old Sam who still has plenty of get up and go. They have teamed up and Bailey has complete responsibility for all of his care including exercising him on her bike to make sure he is limber enough to still run. I have to say that although I really like Joey, Bailey's family are special friends of Scott and I so I am very excited to say that at her first trial, Bailey won! If she continues to enjoy it like this I think there is a future for her in the dogs (her dad isn't such a bad hand himself!).

Open One (45 dogs) - ties not broken
1. Scott Glen and Don 93
2. 3. Tie - Lee Lumb and Chica
Bev Lambert and Hemp 89
4.Wendy Schmaltz and Fly 84 (continuing her hot streak!)
5. Lee Lumb and Nan 84
6. Bev Lambert and Mirk 83
7. 8. 9. 10. Tie - Scott Glen and Maid
George Stambulic and Kate
Corey Perry and Jill
Jennifer Glen and Hemp 92

Youth One (2 dogs)
1.Bailey Musgrove and Sam 45
2. Joey Swenson and Joy 44

Nursery One (9 dogs)
1. Bev Lambert and Meg 73
2. Joanne Zoerb and Boone 54
3. Lee Lumb and Cass 47

Pro Novice One
1. Penny Ohanjanian and Moss 79
2. Chris Hanson and Ben 78
3. Lee Lumb and Jeb 74
4. Don Grant and Brutus 74
5. Scott Glen and Kuro 73
6. Bev Lambert and Meg 71
7. Bob Stephens and Tim 70
8. Don Grant and Jess 69
9. Chris Jobe and Fly 67
10. George Stambulic and Bill 67