This was the first sheepdog trial to be held at the Dowerin Field Day- an unofficial 3sheep trial run over two days midweek. There were a fairly small group of triallers, as expected, but enough entries that the Improver and Open classes had to be run together to finish the trial in two days.
We weren't going to go to Dowerin- there's a heap of farmwork to catch up on: lamb marking, fertiliser spreading, fencing, spraying breaks, crutching, and probably lots of other bits and pieces. But neither R or I had ever been to Dowerin before, and as it happened I had to go to Perth for a scan on Tuesday anyway, so the extra drive to Dowerin was only a couple of hours. Me? On my own? No BabyJ, no responsibility, free to do my own thing for two whole days? I haven't been away from BabyJ for that long since he was born. Could we cope? And what would I drive? R wouldn't be able to get BabyJ around safely in the single cab ute...
After some debate, there was an emotional parting of loved ones and I took off for Dowerin with R's Landcruiser and his favourite dog, while he wrung his hands and whimpered a bit and then got on with cleaning the house, running the farm and caring for the toddler, like the good man he is.
Misty morning Thursday, dogs among the wildflowers (and yes, I know that's actually radish, but I was in a glass-half-full kind of mood)
So at dawn on Wednesday, I was rolling toward Northam, the wind in my hair, entranced by the apricot sky rising above the cloud-swaddled Avon Valley and the solitude. Yep- just me, a little bunch of dogs, and the open road. No-one else changing the radio station or suggesting alternative routes or eating all the M & Ms. Through Goomalling ("The Place of Possums") and into Tin Dog town, where the Field Day is the big event of the year.
The Tin Dog
The road to the trial ground
Dowerin Field Day is a big event for anywhere, really: the biggest farm machinery exhibition in the state, and it draws people from all over the Wheatbelt as well as Perth and more farflung places. I felt slightly guilty that R and BabyJ, who would really have appreciated the vast array of big noisy things as well as the tents and tables full of little fiddly tooly things, were missing out. Whole stands devoted to seeding tines and fencing wire! Totally wasted on me. But I soothed the guilt by taking lots of random photos of unidentifiable equipment.
From the field: tractors galore
All day spraying demos
Big tractors, big augers, more big tractors
Big boomsprays
Big harvesters
Big... silage harvesting thingies
I'm not even going to pretend I know what this is
My current ovine crush: Afrinos
All day spinal injuries in the making!
The trial itself was really well run. There weren't too many triallers, probably because it was a new event, an unofficial (non-point scoring) trial, and because this is a pretty busy time of year for sheep farmers, but there were enough entries that the Improver and Open classes had to be run as one to get everything finished in the two days.
Bill Trembath from SA judged all events, remaining friendly and cheerful all day, which was a fair effort. He was very complimentary about the quality of the local dogs, and it was nice to hear that he thinks WA triallers must be doing something right.
Binnaburra Maggie
The wheatbelt sunshine was a bit of a shock on Wednesday, and I managed to get a decent sunburn just in the morning, but it clouded over and blew up some wind on Thursday, which stirred the sheep up. Still, they were fabulous trial sheep: big fit hoggets that ran when they had the chance but didn't split and were very workable if the dogs were right. I think this was also helped by the size of the trial ground, which was fairly wide and gave the dogs and sheep room to work without the pressure or draw of fences.
The trial ground on Thursday morning
Getting the sheep in on Thursday
Dowerin Field Day Trial
August 26-27th 2009
Judged by Bill Trembath (SA)
Novice
1) Marianne Rogers Bellview Obie ("Bernie"- collie) 91 10:44
2) Jenny Nolan Faraway Titch (collie) 86 12:11
3) Sarah Somers Faraway Royal (collie) 84 7:30
4) Germaine Seymour Somerville Lucy (collie) 77 10:44
5) Rod Forsyth Binnaburra Wal (kelpie) 70 12:36
Euroa Nell
Marianne Rogers and Christies Cocoacina
Scruffy (I think she's Grassvalley breeding)
Neil Eastough working Scruffy
Olboa Jess
Improver
1) Jenny Nolan Faraway Quinn (collie) 87 8:43
2) Sarah Somers Faraway Lucy (collie) 81 9:55
3) Gordon Curtis Binnaburra Jess (kelpie) 79 10.09
4) Sam Weaver Daheim Queani (collie) 76 12.25
5) Sarah Somers Willeen Skye (collie) 75 ??time
Faraway Lucy
Sarah Somers and Faraway Lucy at the pen
Rocky Edge
Jenny Nolan and Rocky Edge at the race
Open
1) Ivan Solomon Perangery Jill (collie) 93 11:44
2) Grant Cooke Grassvalley Tod (collie) 91 12:45
3) Ivan Solomon Perangery Danny (collie) 84 no pen
4) Yvonne Haynes Boylee Ceilydh (collie) 81 12:11
5) Gordon Curtis Binnaburra Jess (kelpie) 79 10:09
Grassvalley Tod
Just 100m from the pen, as Tod was bringing the sheep to the pen, a real life medical evacuation
Grant Cooke and Tod penning despite the distraction
Perangery Beck
Ivan Solomon and Beck at the D- an almost flawless run until the bridge
Special Prizes
Aggregate: Marianne Rogers with Bellview Obie
Best Cast/Lift/Draw:
Novice- Peter Doherty with Ramulam Jen
Improver- Jenny Nolan with Nolan's Josie
Open- Grant Cooke with Grassvalley Brook
Best Handler or Best dog work on difficult sheep or something... I'm hopeless
Novice- Germaine Seymour with Somerville Lucy
Improver- Gordon Curtis with Binnaburra Jess
Open- Ray Sutherland with Christies Tammy
I think there was also a Best Novice Worker, which Peter Doherty might have won, but I've lost my notes on this and can't remember the rest, so hopefully Jenny N or someone else in the know might help me out... please?
Bellview Obie (Bernie)
I had a mixed event from a results perspective. I ran Queani early in both events, when the sheep were quiet and working really well, but she was like a shopping trolley with a dicky wheel- just wouldn't go one way. In the Novice she let the sheep drift halfway across the ground on the fetch, and while we got to the race, she just would not cover the back side, letting the sheep wander as far around there as they'd like. I tried to push her on that side, and she flew in and swiped badly. My immediate reaction was to give a threatening shout, but the bladder I'd forgotten to empty earlier gave a threatening shout of its own, and while I'd love to know how the judge would penalise a handler eliminating on the trial ground, we decided discretion was the better part of valour and retired (rapidly, in the direction of the loo).
Quean wasn't so bad in the Improver/Open- she still wouldn't properly cover the back side, but we got around the course in a reasonable fashion, and actually penned. She was working calmly and listening most of the time, and the sheep were a little more difficult than they had been earlier, so her 76 was the leading score in the Improver for the rest of the day. We did get beaten early on Thursday, but scraped in with 4th eventually.
Pinky was an embarrassment. Her first run went down the drain very early on when the sheep ran from the let-out across to the fence, where someone was walking, and I retired to help her get them. But the Improver was even worse- she stuck a bit on her cast, but eventually got behind them and just couldn't shift them. The sheep were standing up a bit more than they had the previous day, but weren't nasty by any means, and after a few feeble walk-ins they had her measure and just wouldn't walk off her. I waited it out as long as I could, and she did try, but when she started to stress badly and I was thoroughly humiliated, we retired. Plan for Pinky now is no more trialling for a year or so, just farm work, to see if she grows some spine. I have her entered in the States, and am still debating whether to scratch her. She's OK on the farm, and I won't mind not trialling her for a while, it'll give me the chance to get Trim or even Ziggy out there.
Bill was another disappointment. In his first run he was really half-arsed on the fetch, and we made it halfway around the course to score a 49, but it wasn't very good work. He kept looking at me for support and wouldn't walk up on the sheep at all. In his second run we were arguing again about him coming around on my side of the obstacle, and when I finally got him around, the sheep broke in the opposite direction and he crossed. That's the second time that's happened to us recently, and it wasn't totally comforting to see it happen to much better teams later on. Not really sure how to deal with this. I wasn't handling at all well overall, but it feels like Bill's leaving all the work to me, and it used to be teamwork with the two of us. I can't handle the responsibility all by myself!
The highlight of the trial for me was running Fred in the Open. I haven't worked Fred before- well, I did try to run him at Margaret River a couple of years ago, but R was there and Fred just wouldn't work for me. He will get the training sheep in for me at home, but only if R isn't around. He's not nasty about it like Charlie is, and I can't complain about the "one ma dog syndrome", because most of my dogs won't work for R, but I was a bit worried Fred wouldn't even cast for me.
I needn't have worried, because he was raring to go as soon as we arrived, fixated on the gate onto the ground, shooting up in the front seat of the ute with every starting bell and protesting every time I took another dog out to run. By the time our run came late on Thursday, he seemed pretty stiff, and ran out slowly. The sheep lifted well but the leader took off to the right and Freddy just didn't have the speed to catch them, though he tried. By the time we got them settled they were out past the bridge and swung around coming into the D. We carried the sheep straight up the ground, but just out of the lane most of the way. After that I don't think we did much wrong.
I wish I'd had a camera at the obstacles- Fred was absolutely in charge, but made an effort to let me feel included. I'd ask him to go back, and he'd glance at me out of the corner of his eye, without looking away from the sheep, and wag his tail, as though to say, "Nice idea, but try again." "Round, Fred!"- same response. "Walk up"- and "Yep, you got it!", he smiled, wagged his tail and walked straight up, and off rolled the sheep. I didn't handle him well, couldn't do the "Zzztt" noise R uses to reverse him, and we did have a few small breaks at the obstacles, but it was great fun working with a dog that knows so much more about sheep than I do. We ended up timing out after the bridge, but still got a 66, which wasn't too shabby considering.
Willeen Archie in the driver's seat
It's all too much for some (Boylee Broc)
I think I'll definitely be back next year. With or without the rest of our mob...
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