May 5, 2008: Wales
We're coming to you from Wales now! Yep, almost two weeks ago we decided to move to Wales so we could trial all summer long and then head to the World Trial in September. We are now living 7 miles from the World Trial venue. Don't ask us where we live as we can't yet get our minds, let alone tongues, around Welsh! There seems to be a preponderance of consonants and a dearth of vowels.

We live on a farm with 500 beulah speckled face sheep and 30 simmental cows. Mike and Nora, who own the farm, are the nicest people you will ever meet. They are like our neighbours, Gwen and Stewart, in Scotland. We miss Gwen's baking deliveries on the quad bike and we admit it, we miss Stewart's jokes. But Nora is a superb cook too and we have already enjoyed her Welsh cakes, which are tasty little morsels. Very addictive! Mike is a sheepdog triallist and enthusiast, and already we have enjoyed several evenings up on the training field with his young ones - Mirk and Mist - and our crew - Sioux, Tina, Ace and Kenny. Everyone should had a Gwen, Stewart, Nora or Mike in their lives. They epitomize the true meaning of the phrase 'salt-of-the-earth.'

Of course we have been to some Welsh trials. Competing in a trial in Wales is like being in a running race in Kenya. There are many terrific handlers here, and many more women and younger handlers than we have seen anywhere. The trials are really friendly, although the competition fierce. The obligatory hot bacon rolls (and bacon and sausage ones as well) are available, and an ice-cream truck makes the rounds as well. The catering truck appears to be a favourite gathering spot to meet and greet friends.

The first trial we went to was Llangadog, which is about 10 miles away. The sheep were Nigel Watkins' sheep, the ones being used for the World Trial. They were excellent sheep, although a little challenging to shed. With one or two exceptions, the sheep gave the dogs and handlers every opportunity to perform well. With 96 dogs running, the judge was busy pulling a 12 hour shift! Brave man. Some of the big names in Welsh trialling were there: Meirion Jones (6th at last year's International Surpreme), I.B. Jones, Nigel Watkins, Paul Tomkins, Kevin Evans, David Evans, Calvin Jones, Ged Watson (OK, he's an Englishman who has 'defected ' to Wales), and others. It was a bit nerve-racking competing amongst these people for the first time but sometimes one just has to hold one's nose and jump. And jump we did.

Angie ran Meg and Roy, and Kelvin ran Blade. Although all of our dogs did not outrun well, which was a little surprising, they did pick up their sheep and make it around the course. Roy did best of the three, completing the shed before being called for standard. Blade and Meg were called for standard coming into the shedding ring. After 5 weeks off, it was good just to have the dogs back out competing. We all have some cobwebs to dust off and the dogs need to get fit again!

Yesterday we were at the Erwood trial. More big names. Angie ran Roy and Meg again, and either side of her runs was Richard Millichap (second in the 2007 International Surpreme) with his dogs Tweed and Jen. It was more exciting than daunting to be up against such classy handlers. Meg and Roy both ran well on the very tough sheep at this trial. The sheep were hard to hold at the setout with the setout folks doing their very best. Some packets just sprinted off down the hill. Almost all packets of sheep pulled heavily to the left side of the course, although sometimes only one or perhaps two sheep tried to make their escape while the other 2 or 3 stayed put. One of the hardest things was keeping any wayward sheep from making their exit. Roy and Meg both outran well and handled the sheep well around the course. There was no shed in this trial, but the chute proved to be a huge stumbling block for many, including Meg and Roy. Although both dogs tried their hearts out to get the sheep through the chute, the sheep just constantly broke to both sides of the chute. Sometimes one sheep would break right and the other 3 would go in the opposite direction so the dogs had to work hard to keep the sheep together. It was a true test of a dog's patience. Meg and Roy eventually timed out but Angie was pleased with both dogs. Angie came away muttering something about building a pen at home so she can practice penning!

The Welsh LOVE sheepdog trialling. There is a trial every weekend and in the summer months, one can go to a trial almost every day throughout the week and on weekends. For our first year of trialling, this is going to be baptism by fire.

If the Welsh like sheep dog trialling they like rugby even more. On Sundays (yes Sundays, Rugby is sacred in Wales) every playing field is teeming with youngsters striving to emulate the Welsh rugby team who are the current six nations champions (which they won in fine fashion beating every other team in the competition - the so-called 'grand slam'). Every village, no matter how small, has a rugby field albeit sometimes doubling as a grazing field for sheep. As New Zealanders we are expected to know every All Black (New Zealand rugby player) that has ever played the game. We are sorry to say that we are quite a let down in this regard. However, the one former All Black we do know is Warren Gatlin and that's lucky because he is the coach of the victorious Welsh rugby team.

While in Scotland we were constantly amazed at the work that was put into erecting and maintaining the rock walls (dykes) that weaved across the landscape. In Wales the dykes are replaced by equally amazing hedging. These hedges are not simply shrubs pruned to form a barrier. The process of hedging is an involved process of cutting and pruning that results in a number of limbs being trained to run horizontally along the hedge and creating an almost impermeable barrier for stock and a terrific windbreak. Shoots then sprout up from the horizontal limbs to flesh out the hedge. The hedges are often backed up by wire fenching running along both sides of the hedge meaning stock stay safely in the field they are supposed to. Hedges border the majority of the already extremely narrow country roads in Wales. What worries us is that the hedges have been recently pruned back, so once the spring and summer growth erupts, the roads will be even narrower. This will make for interesting driving (See pictures below).

The quiet country roads make extremely pleasant running, although we have been doing most of our running off-road. There is a forest about 3 miles from where we live and we have already been exploring through there. Bailey loves running in the forest. Jet and Blade have been out running with Kelvin most days, while Bailey likes Angie's more sedate pace. It is nice to finally be back running on a more consistent basis.

Next weekend we have two trials on one day. Yippee!!!!!

Welsh hedges

Country road up to our main training fields.