WAWSDA 2009 State Arena Trial

Andrew Gorton and Grassvalley Tippy (Swagman Bobby x Grassvalley Brook)


WAWSDA 2009 State Arena Trial 3rd-6th September 2009

So back we all went to "Yallambee", Ken and Jenny Atherton's place, for another crack at the new Mayanup course with the four days of the State 3Sheep Championships. There was a huge entry, so rather than restricting entries or risk running to a standard, the club opted to run the trial over four days.

The course had been altered since the last trial, with the bridge shifted away from the dambank, and the sheep were much less fence-happy, perhaps as a result. The weather was also better, with actual sunshine on Friday, although the temperatures remained antarctic at night and on Saturday an erratic pattern of showers and biting wind stirred everyone up.



Let out crew: Jenny Nolan, R, and Jean Hydleman




The weekend turned into something of a Battle of the Sexes. The relatively small and novice group of female triallers dominated the placings in the first two classes, and it must have been a shock to the system for some of the blokes . They took it well (generally!), and managed to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and salvage some male pride in the Open. With mostly female dogs...

There weren't too many spectators, possibly because of the weather or the new venue, but we did see a few local drop-ins. It was also great to see more potential triallers coming along to have a look- Lisa, Kath and Deb last time, Jenny W and Emma this weekend. Hopefully they'll be contributing to the ranks of the Trialling Chicks before too long.

Novice
judged by Malcolm Seymour

1) Sam Weaver Daheim Queani (collie) 75
=2) Jenny Nolan Faraway Zeddy (collie) 66
=2) Rod Forsyth Binnaburra Milo (kelpie) 66
4) Jenny Nolan Faraway Quinn (collie) 62
5) Rod Forsyth Binnaburra Wal (kelpie) 60

Yep, I was pretty pleased with Queani. Totally stoked, really.
In all honesty we should have been beaten a few times- but the better runs all came to grief at the last minute, so Queani's early run, penning for 75, stayed in the lead. She was working well, listening and saying calm (mostly), and not so bad on her anticlockwise side.

We've been having major issues with that 'back' side for ages. She often won't cover it at obstacles, or even on the fetch, and when she does go back she's either painfully slow and short or flies in and swipes- and then when there's a serious break and she really has to go that way fast, she'll often turn away instead of propping in. We've been ascribing it to the "lazy bitch syndrome", but on the two occasions when I've knuckled down to try to get her going back nicely, she's pulled up lame on a front leg, very much like Jack-The-Dog's biceps tendonitis. So now my current working hypothesis is that she's weak on that side because she's sore. Judicious NSAIDs, rest, warmth and TLC. So far, so good. She's still a lazy bitch, she's still got a temper, but then maybe that's why she and I get along so well.

Daheim Queani (El Shamah Max x Gibsons Brooke)


Binnaburra Milo (Binnaburra Tuff x Binnaburra Tina)


Faraway Quinn (Nolans Roy x Glenview Laydee)


Boylee Poppy (Dajara Woody x Boylee Sweetpea)


Mike Scott and Torbay Badger (Boylee Fred x Tig, Imp UK)


Torbay Badger

Improver
judged by Tim Foster

1) Sarah Somers Nolans Brynn (collie) 92
=2) Andrew Gorton Grassvalley Tippy (collie) 91
=2) Andrew Gorton Boylee Ella (collie) 91
=4) Hayden Harries Mac's Magic (collie) 89
=4) Gordon Curtis Binnaburra Jess (kelpie) 89
6) Bernie Jones Christies Juke (collie) 87

Hayden Harries and Mac's Magic (Boylee Fred x Christies Demhi) at the pen


Tony Boyle and Boylee Mustard (Boylee Pepper x Boylee Salt) at the bridge


Boylee Murphy (Boylee Popeye x Boylee Mouse)


Marianne Rogers and Christies Cocoacina (Glenview Texem x Delapre Queen) at the race


Peter Gorman and Princes Casper (Wynella Digger x Granan Blondie)


Morillo Tess (Morillo Marcus x Morillo Hedda)


Badgingarra Tony (Binnaburra Tuff x Karrawarra Shona)


Nan Lloyd with Badgingarra Rio (Badgingarra KB x Badgingarra Lace)


Richard McGuire and Yarralonga Bella (Ballysheehan Greg x Yarralonga Sophie)

Open
judged by Gordon Curtis

1) Andrew Gorton Boylee Ella (collie) 93 + 82 = 175
2) Ivan Solomon Perangery Jill (collie) 75 + 94 = 169
3) Ivan Solomon Perangery Beck (collie) 92 + 75 = 167
4) Peter Gorman El Shamah Ellie (collie) 73 + 87 = 160
5) Marianne Rogers Bellview Obie (aka Bernie, collie) 88 + 59 = 147
6) Jenny Nolan Nolans Jackie (collie) 74 + 70 = 144
7) Ken Atherton Ramulam Gus (collie) 87 + 50 = 137
8) Yvonne Haynes Boylee Ceilydh (collie) 81 + 47 = 128
9) Murray Bell Belmore Jaxon (collie) 81 + X = 81
10) Jenny Atherton Ramulam Don (collie) 79 + R = 79
11) Jenny Atherton Badgingarra Dotcom (collie) 74 + X = 74
12) Frank Sutherland Rocky Bear (collie) 73 + X = 73

Boylee Ella (Boylee Barney x Boylee Salt)


Marianne Rogers and Bellview Obie (Bernie- Boylee Pepper x Christies Cocoacina)


Ramulam Gus (Boylee Doug x Branga Spec)


Ramulam Gus


Perangery Jill (Perangery Tom x Christies Chloe)


Yvonne Haynes and Boylee Ceilydh (Dajara Woody x Boylee Sweetpea)


Belmore Jaxon (Glenview Alby x Ivanhoe Minty)


Jenny Atherton's Ramulam Don (Princes Tom x Branga Spec)




Malcolm Seymour and Glenview Ruby (Glenview Polar x Glenview Jessie)


Glenice Webb and Morillo Hedda (Dajara Woody x Davids Ali)




Haka Bill (Alroy Kevin x Ivanhoe Jessica), 12 years old


Haka Bill at work

Aggregate: Andrew Gorton with Boylee Ella

Best Gentleman Handler
(was originally "Best Lady Handler", but the gentlemen seemed to need the encouragement more...)
Novice: Rod Forsyth with Binnaburra Milo
Improver: Andrew Gorton with Tippy and Ella
Open: Andrew Gorton with Boylee Ella

I was happy with the other dogs, too. Pinky shifted the sheep in her two runs, and we actually made it to the race before she wouldn't come off the head. I retired eventually, but not until I'd put a fair amount of pressure on her and she didn't quit. She's still off the trialling list while she gets some more farmwork under her belt, but it was nice to finish on a positive note.

Bill wasn't at top form early on- the sheep weren't keen on the race and weren't keen on Bill's flick-flack style, and we didn't have a lot of action. But his Open run was more like the Bill I've been missing. The wind was up and one of our sheep was a bolshy sod who kept pinging away from the other two at random moments. Bill worked hard, argued with me most of the way around and walked in on them every time I told him to stop. Eventually we did coax the sheep into the pen, but they had never settled and with seconds on the clock I had to get the gate shut. Just as I came in, out came the bolshy sheep and we dumped all our pen points as the buzzer went. It was brilliant.

R's dogs had a mixed weekend. He didn't have any Novice runs, so they relaxed for the first day. Both Murphy and Bella did some nice work in at least one run, with the odd farmdog shortcut and a bit of bad luck messing things up. Sally got a bad vibe from the sheep or something, getting a bit panicky and crossing in both her runs. Fred was a bit fired up for some reason, although he also had one rogue sheep that gave him a bit of trouble, and he never really got them settled although he got them to the pen fairly neatly before running out of time.

And BabyJ found himself his very own puppy, apparently. But that's another story...

The retiree: Nolan's Roy (Taff Imp UK x Nolan's Ashley)


Yarralonga Charlie (Ballysheehan Greg x Ramulam Jade)


Boylee Bill (Boylee Pepper x Boylee Creamy)


The stars of the future: Ramulam Duncan


Gwaerfeyn Flynn (Perangery Danny x Boylee Ceilydh)


Torbay Trim (Boylee Fred x Tig, Imp UK)