Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Albany Arena Trial 2010

So that’s it- last trial of the year. Phew.

storm

We were hoping to be finished shearing, but showery weather, galloping gastro through the team and some other commitments meant we are still only half done. Then the rain that winter left behind straggled into town this week, and we had over an inch of solid soaking. Not great timing in general (although it might keep the wheat chugging along), but it did postpone shearing long enough for us to make the Albany trial.

Home away from home
 Doreen Hansen and Jandoree Molly (Boylee Sid x Boylee Elly)doreen molly

So here we are- Albany Ag Show, a nice grassy little venue, in recent years host to some of the most feral sheep I’ve had the pleasure of working. Unfortunately they were quite a bit mellower this year, especially the Open sheep, who were some of last year’s ewes, but had actually been dogged down before the trial.

The Open sheep, in the v. spiffy letout yards, kindly loaned by Commander Ag-quip letout

I only had Bill and Fly to run this time- Queani stayed at home to change nappies and sing lullabies.
 I didn’t get a chance to work Fly at all since the last trial, so she still felt like someone else’s dog, and a generally out of control one at that. In contrast to Bill, Fly gets worse and worse as a trial goes on, so while I had a teeny bit influence on her in the Novice, where we penned for a 45, she just took over in the Improver and I ended up retiring to get her to stop. And her Open was a non-event when she came onto the sheep a bit too enthusiastically and they split, so she ended up crossing. That was a pity, because those older ewes were heavier and less inclined to run, which would have suited her much better than the usual.

Flyfly

Bill had a mixed trial. He was fairly hyped up in the Novice, had to come in and jazz them up and we spent a bit of time off course, ending up penning for a 68 which scraped us into the prize money with 4th. He did work better in the Improver to pen again for 76. I was worried about how he’d handle the Open sheep, because they were standing up a bit at times, but he actually did okay with them until the pen. I handled particularly badly, which made it harder for him and we had a fair loss of points, but the sheep were really keen on the obstacles (very, very strange). When we got to the pen they went in once, then one big ewe turned around and decided to leave. Bill tried asking nicely from a distance, but she was looking for a fight and I didn’t want him to feel beaten, so I asked him to get her, she blew out of the pen mouth and we were disqualified for gripping. Oh well.

On the bright side, it looks like the scabby patch that appeared on his eyebrow suddenly a few weeks ago and has been impersonating a scary growth is probably ringworm or similar. It’s going away with antifungals, which makes me happy, and R is able to call Bill ‘Fungus Face’ and I can’t argue with him, and that makes R happy.
Fungus Facebill

R had his young dogs entered here and there, and was happy with all of them. Esme had a nice run I think in the Improver, made an obstacle, but still too tight on her cast. Tom started nicely in both his runs, I think he got at least one obstacle before things went a bit screwy. Bonnie and Trim both had farm-dog crosses in the Novice, but Trim had another run in the Open and worked pretty well, getting her first pen. Tess also worked okay, and penned for a 72 which wasn’t too far out of the final.

R and Binnaburra Bonnie (Binnaburra Tuff x Binnaburra Tina)r bonie

Just Esme (Grassvalley Tippy x Boylee Ella) waiting her turnesme

and with R, on their way to the racer esme

Torbay Trim (Boylee Fred x Torbay Tig) at the pen trim pen

Malcolm Seymour with Euroa Sue (Grassvalley Tod x Glenview Ruby) and Andrew Gorton with Just Martha (Grassvalley Tippy x Boylee Ella)malcolm andrew

Novice
1) Peter Gorman Grassvalley Milo, collie 79 84 163
2) Andrew Gorton Just Martha, collie 70 X 70
3) Jenny Nolan Nolans Kade, collie 69 R 69
=4) S. Weaver Boylee Bill, collie 68
=4) Ken Atherton Ramulam Lad, kelpie 68

Grassvalley Milo (Grassvalley Moss x Pendalup Candy)milo

Peter Gorman and Grassvalley Milo at the penpeter milo rainbow

Just Martha (Grassvalley Tippy x Boylee Ella)martha

Ramulam Jude (Ramulam Gus x Olboa Merle)jude 2

Greg Dorrell in his Encourage run, assisted by Ken Atherton, with Ramulam Emma (Ramulam Gus x Olboa Merle)greg ken emma

Ramulam Smoko (Ramulam Gus x Olboa Merle)smoko

Linthorpe Percy (Boylee Fred x Crowesdale Rose)percy

Improver
1) Grant Cooke Grassvalley Moss, collie 96 96 192
=2) Tony Boyle Boylee Mustard, collie 94 X 94
=2) Peter Gorman Glenmar Midge, collie 94 X 94
4) Tony Boyle Bellview Dale, collie 89
=5) Gibb Macdonald Boylee Poppy, collie 86
=5) Gordon Curtis Binnaburra Maggie, kelpie 86

Boylee Mustard (Boylee Pepper x Boylee Salt)mustard

Glenmar Midge midge

Boylee Poppy (Dajara Woody x Boylee Sweetpea)poppy sits

I think this might be Faraway Quinn? or Royal?dog

Mike Scott and Torbay Tig (imp UK)mike tig
mike tig sheep

Open
1) Peter Gorman El Shamah Ellie, collie 94 90 184
2) Gordon Curtis Binnaburra Tuff, kelpie 93 89 182
3) Ken Atherton Kiwi Knight, NZHD 82 86 168
=4) Gordon Curtis Binnaburra Jess, kelpie 79 78 157
=4) Marianne Rogers Bellview Obie (Bernie), collie 79 78 157
6) Ivan Solomon Perangery Jill, collie 93 57 150
7) Jenny Atherton Ramulam Don, collie 75 73 148
8) Ivan Solomon Perangery Sasha, collie 80 67 147
9) Ken Atherton Olboa Merle, NZHD/collie 77 69 146
10) Phil Dorrell Ramulam Patch, NZHD/collie 75 45 120
11) Yvonne Haynes Boylee Ceilydh, collie 84 X 84
12) Peter Gorman Glenmar Midge, collie 82 Ret 82
13) Marianne Rogers Faraway Royal, collie 76 DQ 76

Gordon Curtis and Binnaburra Jess (Binnaburra Tuff x Binnaburra Tina)gordon jess

Bellview Obie ‘Bernie’ (Boylee Pepper x Christies Cocoacina)bernie

Frank Sutherland and Rocky Roxyroxy

Euroa Nell (Stoneyville Harry x Glenview Ruby)nell bridge

Best work in Novice event by Novice worker: Karyn Buller with Kumbark Monty
Highest score by a Novice worker with a Novice dog in the Open event: Phil Dorrell with Ramulam Patch

rides

Now what?

Shearing, selling more lambs, harvesting. Getting the house and garden sorted before I go back to work in January. Christmas, New Year, birthdays. Finishing the kennels, building a decent chicken coop and a proper orchard. Horses, horses, ponies. And somewhere in there, we might have time for training some dogs and the odd new pup…

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