Mayanup 3 Sheep Trial 14-16th August 2009

Due to "issues" with the traditional (and wonderful) Mayanup club grounds, this trial introduced a new trial ground for WA. It was held at Ken and Jenny Atherton's property near Wagin, on a brand new arena with a picturesque view down to the Arthur River, swollen by the recent rains.

The setting of the course was more than a little tricky, with a slope to the right, a track cutting diagonally across the ground and a ditch and dam bank on the right side of the course, just past the bridge. The bridge was made more difficult by the addition of posts before and afterwards for the handler to negotiate- I believe they were intended to keep the handler's path from influencing the sheep at the mouths of the obstacle, but the position of the bridge close to the dam bank made this irrelevant for most runs, because the sheep tended to break into a mad dash for the dam as soon as they approached the bridge. More than a few handlers (myself included) were too busy concentrating on their course to anticipate this, and lost control.



We've had some bad weather at trials before, quite often at Mayanup events, but this trial was impressively awful from that perspective. Storm warnings, strong winds, heavy rain, frigid temperatures and three separate showers of hail... The sun did come out for brief periods, just enough to start us thawing, and Sunday was mostly fine, although I suspect by that stage many competitors were thinking that Mike and Glen Scott had the right idea, trading a weekend of trialling for a jaunt to Broome.

Just after the hail- R judging the Improver


The gate on Saturday morning, with two more days of traffic to come


The bright side




The sheep were temperamental Dohne crosses, which took advantage of the terrain
to make repeated breaks for the dam, and were often successful, resulting in
more than the usual number of crosses, retirements and lost sheep (especially
for dogs that got to the bridge). There were only 19 scores in each of the Novice and
Improver classes, with 60-something runs in each class, and only 3 pens for the
whole trial- all of them by female handlers (Marianne Rogers with Coco, Germaine
Seymour with Somerville Lucy, and Jenny Nolan with Ella).

Frank Sutherland and the cheap seats


Binnaburra Tuff and a Nolan's dog (?Ceri)


Nan Lloyd's Ramulam Pixel (Ramulam Feathers x Pomanda Lily)


Butter wouldn't melt...


This year, Mayanup tried to address the growing issue of high entries by excluding Novice dogs from the Open competition. It wasn't very popular, especially with me, but I'll whinge about that later. So I had two runs each with Queani, Pink and Bill, and then sulked through the Open as a spectator. I wasn't expecting much, since I haven't had a chance to do any training since the last trial, but Queani actually worked relatively well. In the Novice she did swipe on the anticlockwise side of the obstacles, which cost us, but we made it to the bridge, where I took my eye off the ball and the sheep broke to the fence, and Queani crossed behind them. In the Improver she seemed to be overrunning to the right at the top of the cast, so I whistled a stop, and uncharacteristically she actually paused, which allowed our unfortunately crazy sheep to take off running to the dam, where one flung itself into the fence and we retired. Shows how much she should listen to me.

Pinky tried hard, again, but we have some major training to do. She's getting stickier on her cast, and harder to shift, although once she does decide to move she kicks out well around them. In the Novice we crossed, but in the Improver made it to the first peg where we had to unwind, and then I just couldn't get her to come off balance again. I did put a lot of pressure on her, and eventually she started looking stressed, so I retired.

Bill with the wind in his hair


Bill was in a funny mood on Friday for his Novice run. The wind was howling, and maybe it was the noise of the wire and plastic at the let out that spooked him, but he just didn't seem himself. He worked reasonably well for him anyway, and we did have the sheep fairly settled when he got to the bridge, put them in a good position, but then he and I argued about how far around he needed to come to cover the dam bank, and when I called him in close and the sheep broke in the other direction, he crossed.

He was happier in his Improver run. I concentrated on not bossing him around too much, and while our run was messy and not high scoring (32) , at least we got a score, which (as Marianne pointed out) put us in the top 25% of the field.

Encourage winners, Mick Martin with Boylee Stella (Boylee Barney x Boylee Salt), with R holding Mick's hand




Stella's litter sister, and my Esme's mum, Boylee Ella


Rick Janitz's Jandoree DotCom (Boylee Syd x Boylee Elly)

Novice- judged by Germaine Seymour
1) Tony Boyle Bellview Dale (collie) 65
2) Marianne Rogers Christies Cocoacina (collie) 64
3) Phil Dorrell Ramulam Patch (NZHDxcollie) 60
4) Bernie Jones Bellview Teddy (collie) 59
5) Andrew Gorton Boylee Ella (collie) 54

Badgingarra Taff (Dajara Tosh x Grassvalley Sam)


It's always hard to get a decent photo of Boylee Speck (Bill's litter sister- Boylee Pepper x Boylee Creamy)- she's usually hiding behind a blade of grass


See- she does have legs!


Hayden Harries with Mac's Magic (Boylee Fred x Christies Demhi)


Hayden is still recovering from a nasty car accident, not long after Magic suffered her own major leg injury, but they are getting on with it very effectively




Olboa Ben (Kiwi Knight x Boylee Kelly) on Hayden's "wheelchair"

Improver- judged by Richard McGuire
1) Ivan Solomon Perangery Sasha (collie) 69
2) Ivan Solomon Perangery Beck (collie) 66
3) Tony Boyle Boylee Mustard (collie) 64
4) Jenny Nolan Faraway Titch (collie) 60
=5) Marianne Rogers Bellview Obie/Bernie (collie) 56
=5) Jenny Atherton Badgingarra Tony (kelpie) 56

Hudson's Tasha


Badgingarra DotCom (Princes Tom x Grassvalley Sam)


Rocky Chick (Nolans Roy x Rocky Bear)


Sarah Somers, one of the few handlers to make it to the pen, with Willeen Archie (Nolans Jim x Burndale Mary)

Open- judged by Nick Webb
1) Ivan Solomon Perangery Jill (collie) 73 + 56 = 129
=2) Ivan Solomon Perangery Sasha (collie, only 19mo) 59 + 67 = 126
=2) Gordon Curtis Binnaburra Tuff (kelpie) 55 + 71 = 126
4) Grant Cooke Grassvalley Tod (collie) 60 + 59 = 119
5) Ray Sutherland Swagman Cyndy (collie) 71 + 42 = 113
6) Wayne Hall Boylee Wal (collie) 57 + 53 = 110
7) Ivan Solomon Perangery Danny (collie) 68 + 27 = 95
8) Grant Cooke Pendalup Candy (collie) 50 + 38 = 88
9) Peter Gorman El Shamah Ellie (collie) 55 + 26 = 81
10) Jenny Nolan Grassvalley Ella (collie) 65 + Scr = 65
11) Jenny Atherton Badgingarra DotCom (kelpie) 60 + X = 60
12) Ivan Solomon Perangery Beck (collie) 51 + R = 51
13) Ray Sutherland Christies Tammy (collie) 50 + X = 50

Open winner, Ivan Solomon with Perangery Jill (Perangery Tom x Christies Chloe)


Perangery Danny (Boylee Doug x Perangery Jill)




Danny was unlucky with this one obnoxious sheep in the final- he did some brilliant work to keep it out of the dam, but it cost him major points and time




El Shamah Ellie (Rosedale Capper x Reidville Midge), WA 3Sheep Dog of the Year, who will be representing WA along with P. Jill at the next Supreme


Grassvalley Tod (Princes Tom x Grassvalley Lisa)


Princes Casper (Wynella Digger x Granan Blondie)


Boylee Wal (Avalon Bandit x Boylee Creamy)


Grant Cooke and Pendalup Candy (Braiston Don x El Shamah Ellie)




Nick Webb and Morillo Toby (Morillo Marcus x Glenromian Chloe)






Haka Bill (Alroy Kevin x Ivanhoe Jessica)

Patron's Trophy (best aggregate of 2 scores)
- Marianne Rogers with Bellview Obie (aka Bernie) and Ivan Solomon with Perangery Beck.

Our Farmboy enjoyed the weekend away.
He ran free,


worked some dogs,






flirted madly with the ladies,




and fought off the paparazzi.

Ongerup 3 Sheep Trial, 31st July - 2nd August

Ongerup would have to be one of my favourite trials. It's not point-scoring, so the atmosphere is relaxed, the scenery is beautiful, the catering (thanks to Elizabeth and James) is fabulous and the sheep are traditionally difficult, which I always enjoy. And it's only two hours from home.

This year we made it for all three days, and were surprised to find a really high entry for what is usually a small trial. The weather was absolutely beautiful: literally freezing at night, T shirts and mild sunburn during the day.




It really was the weekend of the baby dogs: baby puppies, baby dogs doing well early in their trialling career (despite very challenging sheep), and quite a few of Fred's babies, all grown up.

Some of the highlights of the weekend for me:
- Mike Scott and Tig, immigrants from ISDS trialling in the UK, penning three times in three runs
- Mike and Badger, Tig's daughter, having three good runs including a very efficient pen- and only 16 months old
- Germaine Seymour's Euroa Nan, just started in her trialling career, with a brilliant run in the Open- steering through obstacles like an old hand
- Karyn Buller's young kelpie Badgingarra Barney (Badgingarra KB x Badgingarra Lace) with another great run to take 2nd place in the Novice
- Elizabeth Badger's Boylee Clancy, completely settled and happy in his new home, with their first pen

We had a great trial. Not necessarily the best results, but some really nice work from everyone. R penned with Sally on 78 to make the top 12 in the Open, Murphy and Bella both did some very nice work on difficult sheep, and Fred had the very flighty sheep walking like lambs in his Open run, but were unlucky with the first obstacle and timed out. Even Fly had a bit of a win- she tends to panic with very runny sheep, so we didn't expect much, but she picked them up well and brought them down the ground with quiet control. R retired early in all runs when she was still holding it together. She still sticks terribly on her clockwise cast though.

Our Fly


My dogs- well, we had fun. Pinky still won't come around off-balance when she thinks the sheep will take off (which these ones definitely would), and when I call her to me and then give her a flank, she shoots to the head, which caused us a cross or two. Definitely more work needed there. But she tried hard, so I was pleased. Queani was unfit, having just come out of season. Her first run was fairly average, her second was a total disaster when the sheep took off in two directions and she crossed. But she was stopping a little better, and her pick-ups were nice. She actually worked fairly well in the Open, but started limping as we walked to the pen, so I retired. I think she may have pulled a shoulder muscle.

Bill ran! I taped his broken toe so he couldn't splay it on the stony ground, and despite having come straight off six weeks rest and being at least a few kilograms overweight, he worked really well and tried his guts out. We penned in the Novice with the fastest time of the weekend (6.15 on a 12 minute course) but only scored 40-something, and penned again in the Open with a 78 to make the top 12. My favourite run, though, was the Improver. He picked the sheep up quietly and brought them down well, but just out of the D one crazy little hogget started breaking madly across the ground. Bill blocked and blocked, and then had to rework these three almost unworkable sheep back down the ground. I got him to bark and hustle, which isn't exactly orthodox but was fairly effective, and then when he started reworking them they stuck together better. We made it to the race, but that one little hogget just wouldn't cooperate and we timed out. As soon as the siren sounded, Bill flew in and nailed the difficult sheep on the nose. I don't think we got much of a score, but it was pure Bilby and I loved it.

Keen spectators: Torbay Badger (Fred x Tig), Tig, and Mike Scott


Torbay Badger, fetching them down the ground

Novice
1) Tim Foster Linthorpe Grace (collie) 83
2) Karyn Buller Badgingarra Barney (kelpie) 79
3) Sarah Somers Willeen Skye (collie) 64
4) Ivan Solomon Perangery Beck (collie) 63
5) Nan Lloyd Christies Driftz (collie) 61

Sarah Somers' Willeen Skye


James McGowen's 14mo kelpie, Binnaburra Kiwi, in her first trial


Boylee Clancy (Bellview Dale x Boylee Salt)


Linthorpe Wocka (Boylee Fred x Crowesdale Rose)






Linthorpe Percy (also Boylee Fred x Crowesdale Rose)

Improver
1) Ivan Solomon Perangery Beck (collie) 86
2) Scott Welke Badgingarra Doug (collie) 82
3) Sarah Somers Willeen Skye (collie) 79
4) Scott Welke Grassvalley Becky (collie x kelpie) 77
5) Tim Foster Boylee Minnie (collie) 72

Grassvalley Becky (collie x kelpie- Grassvalley Tod x Binnaburra Suzie)


Boylee Minnie (Dajara Woody x Boylee Sweetpea)


Linthorpe Shandy (Boylee Fred x Crowesdale Rose- littermate to Wocka and Percy)

Open
1) Ivan Solomon Perangery Jill (collie) 93 9:34
2) Ivan Solomon Perangery Danny (collie) 89 9:55
3) Nick Webb Morillo Bailey (collie) 88 8:22
4) Ivan Solomon Perangery Beck (collie) 87 9:41
= 5) Peter Gorman El Shamah Ellie (collie) 82 6:58
= 5) Grant Cooke Grassvalley Brook (collie) 82 7:57
= 5) Ivan Solomon Perangery Sasha (collie) 82 10:38
= 8) Gordon Curtis Nolan's Minnie (collie) 79 8:59
= 8) Wayne Hall Hudson's Tash (collie) 79 9:18
= 8) Scott Welke Grassvalley Becky (collie x kelpie) 79 no pen
= 11) S. Weaver Boylee Bill (collie) 78 8:23
= 11) Richard McGuire Ivanhoe Sally (collie) 78 11:20
= 11) Germaine Seymour Euroa Nan (collie) 78 11:50

Sunday morning emerged from thick fog, which lasted for hours after the sun was well risen, and due to the high entries the first runs of the morning were run in fairly poor visibility. Fortunately the judge, Wayne could see everything, and the dogs didn't seem to have any problems, but at times the sheep were peering around looking for the dog.





One of the early runs of the day- I think it's Willeen Skye?


Fortunately the fog did eventually clear into another bright warm day.

Germaine Seymour's Euroa Nan (Stoneridge Harry x Glenview Ruby)


Grant Cooke's Grassvalley Tod (Princes Tom x Grassvalley Lisa)


Richard McGuire's Ivanhoe Sally (Paton's Blaze x Woady Yallock Floss)


Grant Cooke's Pendalup Candy (Braiston Don x El Shamah Ellie)




Wayne Hall with Boylee Wal ( Avalon Bandit x Boylee Creamy)




One of Tony Boyle's recent litters. There are three or four pups from this litter available at the moment, basically for the price of their shots, so if anyone fancies a pretty cream/white border collie boy, line bred on Boylee Creamy, drop me a line and I'll put you onto Tony.



Nan Lloyd's new baby, Ramulam Pixel (Ramulam Feathers x Pomanda Lily)


Scott Welke's collie-kelpie cross pup (by Grassvalley Tod)- blue!



And after the trial, mucking around, one of Fred's granddaughters, Tim Foster's Linthorpe Stella (Linthorpe Percy x Linthorpe Grace), full-on and sheep obsessed but very promising at 11 months:






Best baby of the weekend:

I don't know for certain that heaven exists, but if it does, I'm pretty sure I'm going to find it beside a white clay dam on a mallee-fringed plain, the sky stretching above like an azure eternity, two black dogs with their tails in the air and my two year old child, warm sun on his face and the wind combing his hair like a mother's hand as he hurls himself into my arms.