The Rest of the Story

Sally and I competed in the Double Lift portion of the District 1 Regional and lived to tell about it!  Yes we did.  I used every second of our thirty minutes.....and from there I am not sure what all I can say.  It was the best of times...it was yin and yang....good stuff, not so good stuff, great stuff and a heck of a lot going on in between.  So many times, I thought about leaving that post...we certainly did not keep the huge crowd on the edge of their seats....but then...heck....it was just me and my dog, a big field, 20 sheep...and a judge who would call me off it he felt like I should not be out there....so Sally and I kept going!

I'll just tell it...then sort it....the first outrun was to the right sending into a complicated mix of building, straw stack, and stuff making it very hard to see the sheep and I don't think one dog nailed it without some information from their handler. The team that ran just before me could not get to the first packet of sheep.....so I went onto the field with my sheep already good and set......and with only 10 minutes of pre-game under my belt.

Because I had sent right the day before......Sally was pretty sure she knew where the sheep were. Note to Sally.....they moved the set-out darlin'.....so she did a bit of crossing and running before she found the packet and brought them...missing the fetch panels by a tad.

It took me a bit to get her off the first packet of sheep and looking back for her second set.  She gave me that sweet look-back and went off to her left.  I had great hope as it was looking good.....and by golly she came in under the darn sheep, skipping over their toes, and went off all over the field...running miles and miles.  After she settled down a little....I was able to pull her in and redirect her to the second group...being thankful that there are only 20 points to loose on that second outrun regardless of how silly my dog got.

The pull was very hard to the left on the second gather.  I was tickled with my girl...being able to put her in the pressure and not have her unwind. 

By the time I got the second group down the field....my first group had wandered over towards the exhaust.  I was thankful for Lana hazing the sheep and making them stay on the field!  Sally was able to put the 20 lambs together....bring them up and around the post....and onto the start of the drive.

I have to say...this was the most complicated work I have ever done.  20 hungry lambs.....wanting to graze and not thrilled about getting through the course that lay ahead of us.  I handled Sally in a way I felt would help her best with these sheep....I flanked her a lot...trying to not let any sub-packet of sheep stop to graze.  It was a good plan for the most part....we hit our first drive panel, accomplished a decent cross drive...

                          

and skimmed the second drive panel but pushed them past to bring them at a clip to the shed ring.

Our shed was pretty darn okay.....my best attempt at an international shed to date! 

We timed out just as Sally came in to take the five collared away. It felt so satisfying to have the group of five with their cute red collars all together even though we did not make it in time.

Sally and I ended up finishing in fifth place for the day.  Placement aside....there was so much I loved about the weekend.  First and best, my little dog wanted to run for me...she gave me her heart and tried to figure out what I was asking...that was priceless.  I also felt like I, in return, gave back things that I have been working on in myself.  Not making a big deal about things going wrong but instead putting them back together as quickly as possible and letting it go. 

Back to reality...today I go and gather all my trial goods from the field.  Then I pack and continue on to another trial with a reputation for being a GREAT one...Fire Ridge.  There I will run Sally and Nell on fine wool range ewes.....

Seize the Day!!!!

ps thanks to Cheryl for taking pictures....capturing my day forever!