On Sunday, Fleck and I participated in our first herding trial of the year. Ewesful Farm Dog 
Novice Trials. This is a trial series just for the novice or intermediate dog/handler teams. It was a full trial with many teams to watch and learn from through out the day. It was a beautiful sunny day but wow, was it hot. It topped out at 86 degrees! April in Northern Illinois – yikes!!!
The course was a gather, lift, fetch, turn around the post, wear/drive through panels, hold, pen, hold again, wear/drive through a y-chute and re-pen. Since there were many novice teams, the course was designed with many stops so we could settle the sheep, settle the dog and settle our nerves before continuing. To keep our focus on the sheep, we were given the option of 5 bonus points if we could identify our lead sheep. This was done in the middle of the run by calling out to the judge and pointing to your lead sheep.
Fleck did a nice job through the course but was excited and a bit pushy. We worked hard at settling the sheep and had a nice run. I especially liked how he handled the wear/fetch across the field to the y-chute. They really wanted to bolt down the field to the gate but he held them at a nice distance and they just walked through the chute. The picture above is this part of the course. The Y-chute is to the right of the picture so we're heading towards it with the big draw being down the field – opposite of the camera angle.
His competition run was nicely scored at 76 which earned us second place. The trial offered an additional 3 runs in a non-competing class but they were still run the same way. You were scored the same so it was like you had 4 trial runs. With the combination of heat and excitement, some dogs had trouble running this many times on the field, but Fleck took it in stride, improving a little each run. His scores were 87, 90.5 and 87. His 90.5 earned us first place in the class. This picture is of us collecting our prize.
I did have my Rose Quartz in my pocket, custom flower essence blend for focus and partnership (Fleck got some too) and essential oils for grounding and stress to keep my nerves take hold.
This trial was such a wonderful experience. We were all novice handlers or people just out of the novice class. There were lots of laughs, sharing of experiences, helping each other understand our runs and an overall good, supportive energy. We all wanted to have the best runs we could with our dogs – what ever that looked like. My "ah-ha" moment came after the trial when one of the course directors asked me why I was standing at the mouth of the Y-chute and didn't move. At other venues, you are required to stand by the mouth and cannot progress until all the stock exit the chute. I didn't realize I could move along side of the panel and help my dog. I was grateful this person pointed it out and won't make that mistake again. Helps to know the rules!
So our trialing year is off to a good start. Our next herding trial is in May. It is the 20th annual Land of Lincoln Border Collie Association Sheepdog Trial in Chillicothe, IL. I am the secretary for this club and it will be the first trial that I've done these duties for the club. Lots of work since every class has a waiting list and we were filled the very first day. Actually, every entry came post marked the same date! I'll be blogging about that big event but if you're near there, stop by and say hi. More info is on our club website of www.lolbca.com
Otherwise, happy herding until then!