Mary Brighoff and Florida Trials

[Guest Penny Tose]

I am home from Florida and on the computer.

 

Sadly, Mary Brighoff fell gravely ill during the Florida trials and is in

the hospital there. Mark is keeping us updated over on the Border Collie

Boards.

 

Sandy and Quinn Tindal, Steve Nagel and Steve Skara (aided and abetted by

Cathy and Ed Balan), and Sherry Lee were all wonderful trial hosts with

interesting challenging courses. For example, Quinn devised a weeping chute.

It was two panels parallel, then a gap more than big enough for sheep to

escape, then two more parallel panels set wider than the first two. I don't know whether it was called weeping chute because sheep can (and did) weep through the gaps or because handlers weep or both. Another

example was the second novice-novice course at Sherry's devised by David

Saunders and Judith Kelly. It turned what might otherwise have been a border

collie version of the dreary AKC A course into a crowd pleaser by requiring

some obstacles be negotiated backwards, inventing some obstacles, and

requiring the handler to grab some corn halfway through the course to use

setting sheep on a pan before regathering them and penning into the exhaust. Both C-54 (Steve and Steve's) and Linden Hollow (Sherry's) had 400 plus yard outruns.

 

If you haven't broken the winter blahs by heading to the Florida trials in February before, put these trials on your calendar for next year.

 

Penny

[Guest stockdogpeep]

I shall Penny. Thanks

[Guest Penny Tose]

Two of the Florida trials have novice-novice, and those two are particularly appropriate for handlers just starting out trialing. At Tindals' and Sherry Lee's, the novice course is not run on the same field as other classes but in smaller, well-fenced areas where the potential for havoc is greatly reduced.

 

What I just wrote doesn't really apply to Jeff who has a nursery dog but I thought I might mention that the Florida trials are good spots to take the plunge.

 

Penny