August 5, 2008: Just Ticking Along
What an exciting week we have had! Our work on the World Trial Souvenir Programme is just about complete and this week will see it off to the printer. Phew! That has been a project and a half. It started off as a "we'll do that as a wee sponsorship contribution to the event" and ended up being a really exciting - and much bigger - project than we could even have dreamed. It has been fun selecting photos to go in the programme and we had literally thousands to choose from. Sometimes having so much choice can make it more difficult to make decisions! But the space available on the page often decided the photo we could use. We sure hope people like the programme at the end of the day and if not, too bad - we do!

A bunch of us went down to the World Trial venue to map out where all the trade stands are to be located. Unfortunately we were deluged with torrential rain and ended up in a wee Welsh pub for a 'committee' meeting. At least we know where all the puddles will be if it rains during the World Trial - WHICH IT WON'T! Kelvin and Glenda Owen (main event organizer Meirion Owen's wife) managed to get down to the venue yesterday to accomplish the task of mapping out the activity arena (where all the fun stuff for spectators will be) and trade stands. They also measured the field where the final will be held. It looks like the final will have about a 425 yard outrun on a deceptively tricky course where the dog will lose sight of the sheep, at times, for parts of the outrun. It will be a good test for man/woman and beast. Cant' wait. Less than 6 weeks to go. We have thoroughly enjoyed working on the World Trial and it has made the move from Scotland to Wales well worthwhile. We sure loved Scotland and the people we worked with there, and it was very hard to leave but you don't often get a chance to work on a World Championship event in any sport, so one has to take the opportunities when they arise. What we will do after the World Trial is anyone's guess!

We have managed to get to two trials since last week's blog. The first one was on Saturday at Maestir Farm in Lampeter. Although we were planning a double-header that day at Lampeter and another trial at Newbridge-on Wye, Kelvin ate some raw string beans and paid the price! To anyone who doesn't know this...raw string beans can be poisonous. Kelvin found this out on Friday night after he ate too many beans although he's been eating raw string beans all his life. He was so sick that he had to stay home so Angie talked Mike (the owner of the farm where we live) into going to the Lampeter trial with her.

The Lampeter trial was on a fairly flat course although sending the dog to the left meant the dog was blind to the handler until the very top of the outrun. Angie ran Roy and Meg, while Mike ran Ness, his main work dog, and Floss. The sheep were wild! They were fast and bolted at any opportunity, and they knew exactly where the exhaust gate was. Trials at the moment consist of two different courses. There is the national course which is a regular trial course (outrun, lift, fetch, drive, shed and pen). Then there is the South Wales style course. This consists of an outrun, lift and fetch but instead of a drive, one has to put the sheep through a maltese cross and then into the pen. Wild sheep do not seem to be conducive to successful completion of the South Wales style course - except for the very skilled, the very lucky, or both! Angie was not brave enough to try the South Wales style.
Mike proved to be in the 'very skilled' category on the South Wales style and had an excellent run with Ness. Up until the time we left the trial, Mike had been the only person to successfully get sheep through both lanes of the maltese cross and while he got the sheep to the mouth of the pen, they defied penning! We have not heard any final results. Angie had a goodish run with Roy and a better run with Meg but could not complete the shed with either dog. She was pleased with how Meg worked.

Yesterday (Monday) we headed off to a trial at Builth Wells. That's about an hour from home. The course was terrific. A downhill outrun to start with and then uphill to the sheep. We got there in time to see the first run and see sheep flying! The first dog went out and the sheep literally flew down the fetch. Gulp! They galloped the 'drive' and then one bolted uphill and 3 bolted downhill and the game was over. At this point, one does wonder why one would get out of bed to attend trials. We must all be bonkers. It was with some trepidation that we stepped into the stock trailer to put our names down and pay our entry fees. But then Nigel Watkins stepped to the post with Floss. Nigel put on a superb display of handling and showed us all that even light sheep can be walked around a course. As our Louisiana friends would say in a very strong southern accent it was a 'mighty fine' performance. A champion performance and terrific to watch.

Angie ran Roy and Sioux, while Kelvin ran Blade and Tina. Roy had the best run and completed the course with a nice pen. Sioux, who is normally a very good outrunner, crossed on her outrun and she was retired after having a wee go at the drive. Kelvin's best run came with Tina who also completed the course, while Blade was retired after the drive when Kelvin missed the gates. Roy ended the day in second place behind Kevin Evans in the Novice national class. Novice National is a class for dogs that have never won an Open trial. However, we realized this morning that the Builth Wells trial classifies novice dogs as dogs that have not won OR placed second in an Open trial, and since Roy has finished 2nd in an Open trial, we called the trial organizers to have Roy removed from second place in that category (we had checked with event organizers BEFORE we entered). Darn!

The English National was held over the weekend. Roy's sire, Laddie, won the event, and Meg's litter sister, Fleece, was 5th. Terrific results. We are so pleased to see Fleece doing well. Fleece stayed with us in Canada until she was 10 months old and could travel to the UK. Angie started her so it is thrilling to see her doing so well. We look forward to seeing her run at the International in Wales in September. We didn't get to the English National this year so, sorry folks, no photos.

It's raining cats and dogs here again today! We are hoping summer gets to us in September. Off to more trials later this week.