My first trial

[kelpiegirl]

I know- I am thinking I should stop in just to mix the drinks, and be the rooting section

Julie

 

Ok, I can see this trialing is something I'd like, if it involves beer and mimosas!

[Guest pax]

True that! Also, any little tricks that you have to remember which flank is which will abandon you. For example, I think of Come Bye as "coming by like the hands of a clock". First time at the post, I tried to picture said clock and all I could envision was a digital flashing "12:00! 12:00!". Anyway, only other advice is be kind to your dog, be kinder to the sheep, and if it's not going that well, there is no shame in turning to the judge, saying "thank you" and then going to help your dog.

 

 

Ok, so now, just BECAUSE, that is what I am going to see as the sheep come down the field. Just a big flashing red 12:00! 12:00!. Well nevermind, maybe it'll act like a metronome for my breathing.

 

 

 

And Julie, no, you make perfect sense, Mark taught me this by giving me lambs vs old girls one day to pen. I had to back up to get the lambs to move. I had to move forward to get the old girls moving. Same kind of thing.

 

It would surprise me mightily if any a trial went off on the auld sode without a beer tent. Or hip flasks. We'd just be standing up (or falling over, depending) for a time hounoured tradtion, really.

 

[Katelynn & Gang]

Clue to remembering directional commands..... hold up both hands, and try and make a 'C' with your index finger and thumb. The hand that makes the 'C' is pointing come-bye.

 

LOL Already do that!

 

Katelynn

[Laurae]

I will add one more thing to remember, if you're anything like me--and that is to s-l-o-w down and take your time out there. I've only entered a few trials, and my worst problem by far has been that because I am so nervous, I do everything in double time. So my commands come out short and fast and my movements are jerky--which serves to speed up Taz (Taz, appropriately named, doesn't need speeding up) and encourage him to run even tighter (in one trial he did a perfect lollipop outrun--let's just say the sheep felt his pressure about .0004 seconds after he left my side). When I slow things down, he uses his brain and is actually quite stylish, but when I allow my nerves to speed things up, neither of us is thinking and blowing past everything is the order of the day--and our runs resemble 52-card pickup! So my novice advice is to try to be as deliberate as possible out there--it's one way to be proactive and concentrate on what you can control...

 

Of course, the speed factor may only be my problem, you may not have this issue at all--in which case you're already ahead of the game in my book

 

Good luck!!!

[Carson Crazies]

I've found it quite helpful (ok, imperative) to bring Beer I'm a big believer in the old 'liquid courage'

 

Someone told me this before my first trial... boy do I wish I'd listened. I had to settle for the liquor after my run, trying to sooth my complete and total humiliation. Yeah, nobody's watching but your friends... that is unless one of your sheep breaks off to go jump into a fence and subsequently gets her feet stuck. Let me tell you, it's an awfully long walk up to untangle a ewe from the fence in front of everyone. Of course my dog said, "Eh, well, we'll forget her!" and continued to bring me the sheep that cooperated. Oh yes, ego is best left at home.

[Bo Peep]

I had one dog that was pretty excited at trails. Sitting all day, waiting our turn, listening to the whistles, really got her worked up. So, right before we ran, I'd go to a out of the way spot and play frisbee with her and get her a little tired first. That way she wasn't so wound up when it was her turn to go.

[PSmitty]

Someone told me this before my first trial... boy do I wish I'd listened. I had to settle for the liquor after my run, trying to sooth my complete and total humiliation. Yeah, nobody's watching but your friends... that is unless one of your sheep breaks off to go jump into a fence and subsequently gets her feet stuck. Let me tell you, it's an awfully long walk up to untangle a ewe from the fence in front of everyone. Of course my dog said, "Eh, well, we'll forget her!" and continued to bring me the sheep that cooperated. Oh yes, ego is best left at home.

 

I just want to hug you after that, Laura!

 

Seriously, I like all this talk about liquid courage...I need that before agility trials, even, but for some stupid reason, it's frowned upon.

[Carson Crazies]

I just want to hug you after that, Laura!

 

Aw, thanks! At the time I sure could have used it. To make matters worse, several of us were tent camping, and big old me got the bright idea that I could just sleep on the ground in a sleeping bag. WRONG. Too much junk in the trunk makes for a very long and painful night. I ended up in the car at about 3am. It was certainly a memorable weekend.

[Kelliwic Border Collies]

right before we ran, I'd go to a out of the way spot and play frisbee with her and get her a little tired first. That way she wasn't so wound up when it was her turn to go.

 

I was in a small beginner-level trial last summer and I did this too, although with maybe 15 min breather after the play time. It seemed to help a little. I don't own sheep so we usually only work once or twice a week, which means they are often fairly jazzed when we first get out on the field.

 

Celia, see you there--I'll be cheering on friends and mustering up my courage to enter my first N-N trial (next month, I hope, if I don't chicken out)!

[Bill Fosher]

Clue to remembering directional commands..... hold up both hands, and try and make a 'C' with your index finger and thumb. The hand that makes the 'C' is pointing come-bye.

 

Provided you're looking at the back of your hands. And provided that the dog is on your side of the sheep.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

NONE of those tricks for remembering which side is which works for me. I have a form of dyslexia (well, it's not a form so much as a dysfunction in the same category) where I have problems relating what's in my brain to spatial relationships. I very, very seriously don't know my right from left, and if I'm really befuddled up and down, forwards and backwards start getting confused!

 

There's nothing to beat experience to get you calmed down and confident. I went for years and years totally hung up on my issues and finally one day I gave up. I went out there and told myself, I'm here to get sheep from point A to point B, I've done it a zillion times with this dog on this field, and if that's not good enough it's time to hang this up. Dang it, I won that day and the next day placed high enough to win the whole weekend.

 

Since then I've learned that if I'm focused on ME, that's a sure recipe for Hell in a Handbasket. If I stay focused on sheep and dog and doing the job, and giving BOTH of them what they need, I do so much better. The more I work on instinct, the less of a factor the right/left thing becomes. And if I work a dog that's got whistles, it's almost a non-issue - apparently the right side of my brain isn't affected. Weird, huh?

 

Good luck and have fun!

[Pipedream Farm]

CONGRATULATIONS TO CELIA & STARR

 

9th Place in PN with no pen on the rented commercial wool sheep

 

Mark

[Sue R]

Congratulations and I hate you already! Just kidding!

 

Best wishes!

[Guest pax]

 

What Mr Billadeau didn't tell you was I got that far on a gorgeous, gorgeous outrun that made my heart soar with joy. That beautiful clever dog.

 

Then I jammed her up at the pen and got her stomped, which freaked me out.

 

The middle was a pretty ok partnership.

 

 

 

 

 

I will come back this afternoon and tell all, but Paul is getting me back for me making him play Mr. Mary Poppins to the Tazmanian Devil this weekend by working my butt off this morning.

[PSmitty]

Yay, Celia & Starr! Way to go!

[Pipedream Farm]

Yes, Starr gave you a nice outrun until she overran and YOU brought her in for the lift & fetch. The two of you did a great job driving the sheep.

 

Lack of experience penning difficult sheep lead to too much pressure being applied to the sheep in the mouth of the pen and the resulting explosion. Which was followed by complements from the judge (and others) for your concern for the dog over the score.

 

Mark

[kelpiegirl]

Congratulations!!! Details, we want Details!!!!!!!!

Julie

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO CELIA & STARR

 

9th Place in PN with no pen on the rented commercial wool sheep

 

Mark

[airbear]

Congratulations on surviving your maiden voyage! Can't wait to hear the details.

[stockdogranch]

Good for you! Sorry I didn't get to post BEFORE the trial, but I would have added to try to remember that it's just another day of working your dog, just in a different place and different stock. And remember, you're here to have FUN! Of course, good beer is absolutely a neccesity!!!

A

[Guest pax]

Ok, so here it is...

 

First off, I google mapped Dave Fetterman's home address. And, those directions were wrong. There was a left hand turn with a right hand turns name on it. So we drove around beautiful downtown Whereevertheheckwewere and we pass a professional office with Mr. Fetterman's name on it, and I say to my husband, Well, we can't be TOO wrong". So we finally find the address and guess what? It's a house. A totally normal house on a street in a town.

 

Not a sheep in sight.

 

Duh.

 

So I whip out the puter and start pawing through stuff and come up with another address which we are actually able to find on a real, paper map. Whoobaby.

 

So let this be a lesson to you. Because I could have been half way to Alaska, instead of five minutes away. Duh!

 

Ok, that said...

 

We got there on Saturday afternoon and hung and watched everybody. I have to say that you dog trialling people are a lot more welcoming than your typical horse show crowd. Someone who knew my new puppy (but whom I don't know) walked up and told me I had a nice beagle. So I said "Thanks" because I have no clue who this guy and god forbid he's serious, right? "But he's not actually a bea...." and the guy starts laughing cause he's got me. I think everyone in the world knew my dog before me.

 

Also, I made a grab for Sue Asten's Brooke at one point because I thought she was Nash, escaped from the car. Poor Brooke. Random stranger lunging at her. They look a lot a like.

 

The sheep were rented from an Amish farmer and had never seen a dog. On Saturday, people were having a really, really hard time with them. There is something about watching everybody flub something that really takes the pressure off...with good dogs and good handlers having trouble, if I have trouble, well, it's to be expected, right? That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

 

I wasn't really nervous. I don't know why, I expected to be. The truth is, every time I take her out to do something I have this low level anxiety anyway, because I want to do the right thing by the dog and I'm sure half the time I'm not, by countermanding her when she's right or whatever.

 

And then I think that part of it might be that I have spent a long time in a show ring and I learned a long time ago that judging, any judging, no matter how good it is, is subjective. What matters is your progress on whatever you're working on. So I don't tend to stress over this competitive stuff. It is one of the reasons we do jumpers instead of hunters or dressage or equitation....it's completely performance based, so I guess that's where my focus lies. Getting better, tuning up.

 

Only, in my case, I need a LOT of tuning. I need a New York Philharmonic tuning.

 

I walked my poor dog to the post ON HER LEAD like a common cur. Because I forgot to take it off.

 

I sent her away because she likes it better and there was a natural bend in the field I thought would make a good outrun. Also, 'cause Mark said.* She was so lovely racing up that hill. Has anyone ever had their herding dog wear a camera? I actually looked to make sure people saw how lovely she was. Yes, I am a geek.

 

She overshot the sheep because I didn't call her in as fast as I should have done. So the lift was iffy. The fetch was perfectly straight and fine as frog's hair, but it was to the away side of the fetch panels...right church, wrong pew kind of thing.

 

I managed to remember which side of the post to drive to drive them round and she marched them right around and through the panels.

 

I was so busy admiring her, I forgot to go the the pen. And by the time I realized, I had to run and I mucked the whole thing up. The sheep got to circling and I had in my head I wasn't supposed to let her cross some invisible line (don't ask me to explain it, I can't) and so I kept sending her the wrong way.

 

So finally I thought, well, this is stupid, I've already blown these points, let me at least try to get these suckers in any way I can so she doesn't feel like we hosed it up...so I literally stopped what I was doing and took this giant deep breath and sent her around the other way.

 

And we *almost* had it and I thought it was going to be a gift from the penning faerie when I asked her to come bye instead of walk up and one of those sheep just got so wigged out she leapt out over the top of poor Starr, who was just trying to balance her own good sense and my stupidity, and that mad cow of a sheep landed on my poor girl.

 

It was on the opposite side of the pen from the spectator area, and people couldn't see well, so everybody assumed she had gripped, but she hadn't. In my head, I'm thinking, "spleen.ribs.spleen.ribs.spleen.ribs." and running to run my hands down her sides. I was freaked. She did what I asked. I asked a stupid thing. I feel bad about it.

 

Anyway, I dropped the rope to go over to her just as the judge called time.

 

And that was that. The bad part of trialing is it leaves you itching to just have another go and get it right, and you have to wait till you get home.

 

Now, my husband took a bunch of pics, which I will post in a few minutes, but I was trying to get it into a little slide show and it's not working quite right, so I need to fix that or upload all these to somewhere else, so I promise, I'm doing it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*After a very logical discussion about the pros and cons of each choice.

[PSmitty]

Thanks for sharing your experience, Celia! I felt like I was right there, almost. Sounds like a great first time out and I hope I can learn from your attitude when I'm trialing (in anything), because it's fantastic! I know this is just the start of many more good times to come. Congrats again!

[Black Watch Debatable]

Darn it...! Celia's great description made me totally eager to "just have another go and get it right"! Maybe the highest praise (or blame ) I can give her report is that I just mailed off entries for two trials. Thanks, Celia --- wish I could write so well.

[MickeyDogs]

Congrats, Celia, on your maiden voyage! Have you another trial lined up?

[Guest pax]

A few. Sperryville next weekend because I used to live there and have some friends down there. I can't wait. A whole long day of sheep and dogs and a whole long evening of friends I've really missed. I can't wait for Starr and Nash to see the river down there, the Thornton has a great swimming hole, Starr will love it, and it's right at the foot of my friend's hill.

Can you tell I'm a little excited?

 

And this week is Verna Kramme's, down near Charlottesville.

 

And then parts of June I really have to stop playing hookie and work some weekends so my sister doesn't feel like she's been abandoned. It's amazing how much value you gain when you've gone a bit astray.

 

 

 

 

And I've given up on these pictures. I am doing something wrong in the naming of the files and it's completely jammed up, and my resident IT geek is awol. The nerve.

[debp]

My husband and I will be at Sperryville trial - come say hi. He'll be the grill man cooking up lamb sausage and burgers - (the meat raised at Mount Vernon Farm where the trial is being held). I'll be holding sheep for the NN class, and we're both entered in several classes.

Should be a fun trial.

We're also going to Verna's this weekend. Her trials are always great - especially for those just starting out in trialing. She's a great trial hostess.