Bow River Classic - Day 2

We were awakened bright and early by the judge's arrival in a bush plane. Grant Armstrong, the pilot and our host was giving him and a Schmaltz nephew, who was working in set out, a tour of the prairie before another long day of judging.
We started with the nursery class and Reba was first to the post. Scott switched it up on her and sent her the opposite direction from the day before. It was good schooling for her since the outruns were difficult. She pulled up a little short this time but then got going. The first set out of the gate were pretty hopped up (and were standing out when the plane buzzed by and got stirred up) and Reba had her work cut out for her corralling them. She made a bad turn on the third leg of the drive because she didn't want to give up the pressure and ended up needing a rather large flank. It hurt her enough to put her in 4th and end up 2nd overall.
Nan got to the pen today but couldn't get them in and ended up with a 60. Tam almost made it to the top, in fact it looked like he was going to do it but he might have been worried about the horse because he turned around and came back the way he went.
June didn't have as nice a run as yesterday with the sheep feeling so frisky but she still managed to win the class and win the overall!
Open started shortly after with Hemp running early. He was a baaaad boy today! He overan on his outrun and then didn't listen to a word I said about flanking, stopping or steadying. We missed the fetch panels but made both drive panels and got a decent shed and I kept him well out of the pen and got them in. He ended up with a 78.
Donnie was his usual unflappable self. He ran a very nice run, not quite as nice as yesterday and got a 93.
Maid was awesome today and won it!!! She tied with Thad Buckler and Nic for a 95 but beat him on the outwork, thereby insuring herself a place in the double lift along with Donnie.
Laddie was the worst today!!! I`m very angry with him. I decided to send him to the right today since he got lost on the left. I set him a little ahead of me to hopefully keep him tight and I put my hand on his collar and got him all jazzed up and ready to go before I sent him. It worked and he did a nice outrun but disappeared at the top. I called, I yelled, I pleaded but I saw no sign of him so I had to call the run, borrow a quad and make the ride of shame. Turned out, he was up there, next to the horse in position to bring the sheep but since he couldn't hear me for the wind, he wouldn`t make a move on his own. I was very unhappy to say the least and he`s lucky he got dinner tonight!
SO - I don`t have the double lift list - it`s supposed to be top 4 from yesterday and top 4 today plus 4 combined runs. Some of the dogs from yesterday qualified again today so we weren`t exactly sure how they were going to deal with that. I will put the list up tomorrow as soon as I get it.

Grant Armstrong flies our judge onto the trial field to start the morning.

Judge, Warren Mick, poses by his morning transportation.

June works to catch running sheep

Nan turns the post

Future winning trial dog, Jamie Van Ryan`s Glen.

Reba

Donnie

NURSERY 2 (15 dogs)
1. Scott Glen and June 79
2. Ian Zoerb and Zen 69
3. Wendy Schmaltz and Floss 65

OPEN 2 (54 dogs) - Scores were not finished on the board! Sorry!
1. Scott Glen and Maid 95
2. Thad Buckler and Nic 95
3. Scott Glen and Don 93
4. Peter Gonnet 92
5. Ian Zoerb and Sam 90

Bow River Classic Day One

The EID Classic in Alberta has moved locations and therefore changed names. It shall heretofore be known as the Bow River Classic. Still put on by Ian and Joanne Zoerb, it is now located on the land of Grant Armstrong, a hard working host if I ever met one. The new location is as challenging as the last one with the lift being at the top of a bowl. Both outruns have their pitfalls and dogs got lost on both sides. The honorable judge is Warren Mick, who, although staying just down the road, will be flown in to the trial tomorrow in a little passenger plane (Grant is a pilot). I'm not sure Warren is looking forward to this but as we told him, it will make a good story.
The sheep are Suffolk-y crosses and are quite nice until the end of the day when they get pretty punchy. They somehow know where the exhaust is and you have to guard against it.
Maid was a brat today, or so Scott says. She ended up with a score of 86 which wasn't all that bad but it was challenging to make her stop and that is what he was referring to.
Laddie got lost on his outrun (surprise) and needed alot of recalls to get him to the sheep. After that he was really very good. He paced nicely and handled well. Scott is trying to have me settle the dogs down more and I did what he had asked me to today. The sheep fooled me on the shed by squirting past me when I called Laddie in but we got it on the next try and couldn't get a pen because I had one girl going one way around and another going the other way. He ended up with a 72.
Donnie laid one down to win and got a 94, tying with Lee Lumb and Nan but beating her on the outwork. It wasn't easy but he just keeps it moving and brooks no opposition from the sheep.
Hemp didn't feel good to me today. Even though he was pacing nicely, he wouldn't stop or steady. Still, he nailed the outrun, made all his panels and penned (although I could have used a little more room from him at the pen). I was surprised when people told me it was a good run and he ended up with an 88 which was good enough for 6th place. Could have knocked me over with a feather.
The double lift on monday will come from the 4 top scores today, 4 tomorrow and 4 combined scores.
The nursery ran at a difficult time of day. The sun was in our face and the sheep were sure it was quittin' time. Tam almost found his sheep but got lost at the end and had to retire. Nan did ok for her lack of training time but struggled with confidence and walking directly into these belligerent sheep. June did a good job. Like her dad she walked right into them and ended up with an 82 - which gave her 2nd place. Reba was a star once again! The sheep were the worst they had been all day and she didn't care. She didn't rush them but they didn't get any ideas about trying to run her over. She won the class with an 86!

Wendy Schmaltz (Shmaltzy) shows off the latest in equestrian fashion - shorts and spurs.

Scott and June save the pen

Nan

Scott and Reba spot sheep

Reba

Set out master Chris Schmaltz trails sheep to the top

Open 1 (54 dogs)
1. Scott Glen and Don 94
2. Lee Lumb and Nan 94
3. Thad Buckler and Nic 92
4. Joanne Zoerb and Brynn 90
5. Penny Ohanjanian and Qill 89
6. Jennifer Glen and Hemp 88
7. Chris Jobe and Fly 87
8. Ian Zoerb and Freckles 87
9.Lisa Wright and Kate 86
10. Scott Glen and Maid 86

Nursery 1 (15 dogs)
1. Scott Glen and Reba 86
2. Scott Glen and June 82
3. Lee Lumb and Cass 70

Soldier Hollow

I love the last line in this video!

This Could Be Fun

With the film festival success of movies like Sweetgrass and Buck it's not surprising that the documentary world would take a look at our sheepdog trials and realize that there may be a story there too. A new film is being produced about that very subject. It follows some of the top handlers on their road to The Soldier Hollow Classic. Haley Howard, Amanda Milliken and Faansie Basson are a few of the names they profile. It's not finished yet and it is hoped that it will be ready in the spring of 2012. So, if you run into the filmmakers around the trials this year, show your support (ultimately it promotes all of us), act natural, don't look at the camera and remember to wear vertical stripes. (the camera adds 10 pounds).

LINK

Bracken And The Ewe

I thought I'd post these great pictures of Bracken from her and Scott's second run at the Wild Rose Classic. Thanks to Kristi Oikawa for taking them and letting me post them on my blog.

Stampede Pictures and Wild Rose Corrections

Thank goodness someone thought to bring a camera to the Stampede 'cause it wasn't me! Sarah Novak to the rescue. She snapped some of Laddie's second run. I wish I had made it possible for her to photograph a closed pen picture but oh well!

Lad and I walk to the post (handler's circle)

Holding Lad and signaling for sheep (the dog is disqualified if they leave the ring before you send them)

Lad turning barrels while I whistle him on

Everything looks better on the Jumbo-tron

Turning the post

Attempting the pen

So close but not enough time

Good job anyway, Laddie!

I also forgot to mention how Bracken did at the Wild Rose Classic. She didn't place either day but her runs were worth mentioning because it showed how very direct and brave she is. There are some photos floating out there on the internet of her holding off an attacking ewe that illustrate my point and I will have to try to track them down.

I also messed up on the first day placings of the Wild Rose. I mentioned Wendy Schmaltz and Fly and that would have been a feat indeed since Fly is now retired but Gin has taken her place and the Fly I mentioned was actually Chris Jobe's.
Our next trial is in a few weeks - the Bow River Classic. It is actually the old EID trial put on by Joanne and Ian Zoerb but is now in a new and improved location and so therefore deserved a new and improved title.

Stampede Day Two

Hemp didn't get a pen tonight and missed out on the finals by 0.12 of a second. Closer than I ever dreamed he would get so not so bad. Laddie was much better and although he drew an awful ewe who kept challenging him, he kept his patience and gave her her space and got her to the pen. Unfortunately, that didn't give us alot of time to get that pen so we timed out.
The good news is that Louanne Twa got both her dogs in, and Lisa got Hope in. Louanne got one of the few pens with Meg but it wasn't enough to win. In the end, Dale Montgomery won it again, and last year's champion and past reserve champion, Dave Claypool was reserve.

Calgary Stampede 2011 - Day One

Ok, ok. I'm bad. No pictures today and I don't have the results but I can give you highlights. First off, Laddie was bad. He did alright around the course but at the pen he sliced a little and we had some trouble. Finally, one dashed out of the mouth, and he did a drive by and bumped it with his shoulder. He got called for a grip. On the other hand, miracles still happen and Hemp actually got a pen! His run was a little slow but I'll take it. A few other highlights: Dale Montgomery with his Zip dog are in the lead, then Diana Gauthier and Kit are in second. Louanne Twa and Meg are in third (yea!). A few others in the top ten in no particular order are Chris Jobe with both of her dogs and Wendy Schmaltz and Gin. Lisa Wright and Hope also penned.
So tomorrow we press on. Laddie will try for day money and Hemp will try to pen again. I'm not sure lightning will strike twice, but I can hope.
Apparently, they will be doing live streaming tomorrow of the runs:
http://ag.calgarystampede.com/saddledome-ustream-2011.html

Wild Rose Classic

We are finished and towed out! I will have to post the Pro Novice/Nursery Results later in the week. Because it is a class within a class it's too hard to sort out as we drive late at night to the camping for the Stampede.
Maid got a buckle for overall open and Reba got a perpetual trophy for nursery and a belt buckle for Pro-novice.

A wild rose for the Wild Rose Classic

Scott and Maid on the shed

Camping leading down to the river (creek)

The creek

June on the drive away

Maid at the pen

Scott and Don on the field

Scott balancing all his runs

Open 1
1. Scott Glen and Don 92
2/3 (tie) JoAnn Zoerb and Soot / Scott Glen and Maid 87
4. Wendy Schmaltz and Fly 86
5. Jo Ann Zoerb and Bryn 80
6/7 (tie) Norm Sommer and Lexi / Wendy Schmaltz and Gin 78
8. Dale Montgomery and Ben 77
9. Chris Jobe and Jill 73
10. (tie) Tess Davidson and Dell / Vickie Close and Gael / Jennifer Glen and Lad 68

Open 2
1. Scott Glen and Maid 91
2. Wendy Schmaltz and Gin 88
3. Jimmy Walker and Jiggs 84
4. Scott Glen and Don 82
5/6 (tie) Ian Zoerb and Sam 81 / Dale Montgomery and Zip 81
7/8 Chris Jobe and Fly / Bev Sommer and Jock 72
9.Lee Lumb and Chica 68
10. (tie) Pam Boring and Mirk /Norm Sommer and Lexi 67

Over All Open: Scott Glen and Maid

Over All Pro Novice: Scott Glen and Reba

Over All Nursery: Scott Glen and Reba

Wild Rose Classic

After the rather exciting weather start, the Wild Rose Classic settled into the business of putting on a trial. This is a beautiful location. The field is a gentle slope with some trees at the top to hide the set out and behind the camping area is a forest with a creek (after all the rain it's imitating a river) running through it. It was planned to have a camp fire last night down in the woods but with the rain and the trial going over on time, things didn't work out. We did have a free chili lunch yesterday which was enjoyable. Every new trial has it's bumps that are ironed out in the first year and this year the set out was a learning experience. Don Grant (owner of the property and host) and Randy Dye (host) have been working overtime to fix the problems and ultimately, the only thing affected was time. We didn't finish last night but finally stopped the runs at 10PM. After finishing up things this morning, we started the open back up again. I'm off to the Stampede as soon as we are finished today so I'm not sure how much of an update I will have time for. I will try to get the top 10 scores posted on the drive over. George Stambulic is our judge and is doing a good job sorting things out. The young dogs ran first yesterday. The nursery and pro novice (same as open ranch in the east) were run as a class within a class. June ran out well and landed behind her sheep but the set out flanked their dog and drove the sheep back on her. She had no more room for a lift and ended up trying to charge them but they like to divide up on the dog if they can so after she struggled a little bit, Scott went up to help her. He figured if he could help her bring the sheep down that would be good enough and he wouldn't take his rerun, but the set out dog ended up driving them over her and back to set out so with those bad experiences, Scott figured he better take the rerun and show her she could lift them just fine. She did. Well enough to win the nursery and place 3rd in the Pro-novice, which was won by Norm Close. Reba had an even better run. It was very pretty but there was a little hearing issue right in front of the drive away panels and she took a wrong flank and almost headed them. It lost her the win but she was second in the nursery and 4th in the Pro-Novice. Tam did a really nice outrun and it looked like he was going to get the sheep down the field but they dodged him and ran back up so Scott retired him. Nan, with her lack of training because of the broken foot she had earlier in the year, pulled up short and just wouldn't get across the top. Scott had to help her get over and then retired her.
The Open got going as fast as it could after that. Maid had sheep that tested her but she did a really nice job with them and ended up tied for second with Joanne Zoerb and her young dog Soot. Donnie did the nicest run of the day and he and Scott smoothly walked those sheep around for 92 and the win of the day.
Hemp wasn't bad. I let him come on too hard because he was on line and I was afraid if I stopped him that they would go off line. Scott said I've got to quit that so when I run him later today, I will try it. He ended up gripping off at the pen but I actually thought he'd done his nicest pen yet. Since it is our albatross, it was nice to see him try to do it right. The grip was minor, he might not even have totally made contact but I ran at him and gave him trouble for it anyway.
Lad had a funny thing happen on his outrun. He didn't run until this morning for his first run. I went to the post as the sheep were settled and noticed that for some reason, two set out people had chosen that moment to walk up the side of the field. It was going to take them some time to get up there (and time is something this trial is short on) so I told the judge that if they could get them to stop, I would send my dog anyway. I figured it would confuse Laddie but we are ok on points for the finals and it might be good training for him. The judge yelled at them, and they stopped. So knowing I was probably throwing my run, I sent him anyway. He went out on a really nice line and then spotted them and gave ground, figuring that they had some sheep hiding out with them. He slowed down but never stopped when he saw they didn't have anything and didn't need a whistle to get up to the top and bring his sheep. The rest of the run was ok but not in the money. A couple of hours later, he had to run his second run. Unfortunately, my previous bid to save time messed with him on his next outrun. When he didn't see those people that he'd seen on the first outrun, he bent out looking for them. He didn't find sheep there before, so he shouldn't have done it but like I said, I knew it would confuse him and I wasn't thinking that I was going to have to run him again so quickly. He didn't need any redirects until the top so I blew him over and then the rest of the run was nice but we had a wiley ewe at the pen and she wasn't going in. I retired rather than keep running them around because with that outrun, I needed a pen. I was ok with that - I chalked it up to training, until the guy who had screwed up the outrun this morning, told me that the dog was wide and he was perfectly within his rights to walk up the field during my outrun. I'm afraid that it's been a long trip and I did what I shouldn't have and told him why he was wrong in a volume that was perhaps not what you would call an "inside" voice. I just couldn't take the fact that I threw the run to save time and he thought what he did was fine. I didn't convince him he was wrong. I probably made an enemy and I'll never get him as a client but since he already thought he knew what he was doing, I guess he probably wasn't going to ask us for help training anyway.
Donnie had a good second run this morning but couldn't get a shed. He finally did but it knocked him down quite a bit in the points.
We are running to a standard right now so hopefully Hemp doesn't get the hook this afternoon!
I'm having trouble getting computer reception here so I can't post pictures right now but I'll try it tonight when we hit the road.
Scott will be going home tonight and I will be off to the Stampede with Lisa and Louanne. I need to hurry now and not miss his run with Maid. - whoops I missed it (he said she was really good ) but he said he had a lung-er so he's getting a rerun and I'll catch that one.

Alberta Wild Rose Classic

Insanity! We arrived at the trial field at 5:30PM just as the first drops of rain were descending. We jumped out and with our rain gear on, we set up camp. The drops kept getting bigger and I quickly jumped in the back of the truck to feed the dogs and then ran for the camper just as the hail started to come down. It's been coming down for over an hour now and shows no sign of moving on because there is no wind blowing the clouds over us. We had one momentary break where we could venture out and see a fog coming off the camping field

Evil clouds and haze on the camping field during a break in the storm.

and get a look at the size of the giant stones that were pelting our camper.

Huge hail stones

The break was over all too soon before we all had to run back for shelter. Bob, Skid and I are still riding it out in the camper, hoping that the golf ball plus size hail stones don't break any of our vents. Scott ran to the truck and is standing in the middle under the roof, between the two rows of dog boxes so that the dogs have a reassuring presence. It's coming down even faster now .