Trial Class Scheduling

[NorthfieldNick]

This fall, I'm reviving the tradition of a Lopez Island SDT. We haven't had one here for 10 years, and while it won't be on the scale it used to be (not enough sheep for a double lift), it's a start!

 

I'd like some thoughts on scheduling. It'll be a 3-day trial, Sat-Sun-Mon, Sept 7-10 (the same weekend as Meeker). I'm using my flock and part of a friend's flock- 120 sheep or so total. I'll be using ewes and market lambs that were born in Jan-Feb. All of our sheep are worked regularly in groups of 20-150, but rarely, if ever, in groups of 4-5. The sheep are dog-broke, but they're not knee-knockers, and they are often challenging. We seem to have selected for tough, rowdy ewes... My ewes are not easy to shed or pen on any given day.

 

I'm planning on having Nov-Nov, Pro-Nov, Open, and maybe one Nursery run, if there are enough entries (and enough time). At other trials like mine, PN is usually a large class. It's a lot of travel to get here- it involves a ferry ride- so I'd like everyone to be able to run twice (except for the Nursery class- I'll just do that once). NN and Nursery will be limited to probably 10 runs, unless there is more space. That seems to be the norm for trials around here. I really don't know how many entries to expect- maybe 45 runs in PN & Open. That's based on the entries for trials around here when the weather is likely to be decent, which it should be then.

 

The field is a big, wide sloping hay field that will have been cut in July. I think there's room for at least a 350 yd outrun for open, and a decent drive. If I can arrange for round bales to be left on the field, I want to use them for the panels.

 

I was thinking of doing the schedule like the Vashon Island trial (another trial near here, on more-or-less the same scale) was last fall:

 

Sat: PN 1, NN 1, start PN 2, (NN 2?)

Sun: Finish PN 2, (NN 2 or Nursery), start Open 1

Mon: Finish Open 1, (Nursery ?), Open 2

 

This means that some dogs will run twice in one day, some won't. I didn't hear anyone complain about that at the Vashon trial. I tried to find out how people felt about that schedule, but I didn't get much feedback.

 

Camping and space for trailers is available at the trial field, and there are a zillion rentals here. Nothing is more than 20 minutes from anything here, either, so no place is very far from the field.

 

There will be cash, maybe prizes, for each class.

 

I'm totally open to rearranging the schedule- say, both PN classes on one day, having one Open class per day, etc. Opinions? Thoughts?

 

Thanks!

[MagRam]

This fall, I'm reviving the tradition of a Lopez Island SDT. We haven't had one here for 10 years, and while it won't be on the scale it used to be (not enough sheep for a double lift), it's a start!

 

I'd like some thoughts on scheduling. It'll be a 3-day trial, Sat-Sun-Mon, Sept 7-10 (the same weekend as Meeker). I'm using my flock and part of a friend's flock- 120 sheep or so total. I'll be using ewes and market lambs that were born in Jan-Feb. All of our sheep are worked regularly in groups of 20-150, but rarely, if ever, in groups of 4-5. The sheep are dog-broke, but they're not knee-knockers, and they are often challenging. We seem to have selected for tough, rowdy ewes... My ewes are not easy to shed or pen on any given day.

 

I'm planning on having Nov-Nov, Pro-Nov, Open, and maybe one Nursery run, if there are enough entries (and enough time). At other trials like mine, PN is usually a large class. It's a lot of travel to get here- it involves a ferry ride- so I'd like everyone to be able to run twice (except for the Nursery class- I'll just do that once). NN and Nursery will be limited to probably 10 runs, unless there is more space. That seems to be the norm for trials around here. I really don't know how many entries to expect- maybe 45 runs in PN & Open. That's based on the entries for trials around here when the weather is likely to be decent, which it should be then.

 

The field is a big, wide sloping hay field that will have been cut in July. I think there's room for at least a 350 yd outrun for open, and a decent drive. If I can arrange for round bales to be left on the field, I want to use them for the panels.

 

I was thinking of doing the schedule like the Vashon Island trial (another trial near here, on more-or-less the same scale) was last fall:

 

Sat: PN 1, NN 1, start PN 2, (NN 2?)

Sun: Finish PN 2, (NN 2 or Nursery), start Open 1

Mon: Finish Open 1, (Nursery ?), Open 2

 

This means that some dogs will run twice in one day, some won't. I didn't hear anyone complain about that at the Vashon trial. I tried to find out how people felt about that schedule, but I didn't get much feedback.

 

Camping and space for trailers is available at the trial field, and there are a zillion rentals here. Nothing is more than 20 minutes from anything here, either, so no place is very far from the field.

 

There will be cash, maybe prizes, for each class.

 

I'm totally open to rearranging the schedule- say, both PN classes on one day, having one Open class per day, etc. Opinions? Thoughts?

 

Thanks!

 

Random thoughts and you should probably get ideas from someone with much more experience than I. Also I most likely will not come to the trial as it is simply to far for me to travel.

 

With regard to Nursery - it is usually pretty easy to get two nursery runs in and this is something of a draw. One thing that is done often is to make the Pro Novice a combined Nursery/Pro-Novice - age qualified dogs run on the same course mixed into the same run order. They can either be judged Nursery only or for both Pro Novice and Nursery. If they want the run to count for both they simply pay a somewhat higher entry fee and the score counts for both. Sonoma does their PN run this way and very successfully.

 

Your proposed schedule seems to run from the Novice Classes to the more experienced classes. This can be rough on the novice class dogs if you are using difficult sheep (range ewes or only semi-dog broke sheep as you describe). Often it helps for the sheep to have been run by more experienced teams before the less experienced handler teams get them. That said - having only very recently moved to Open I always appreciated being able to run on the weekend when running Pro - Novice as the class order schedules are very often built around the Open class.

 

Mixing flocks for the sheep is a bit tricky. It can make for uneven groups. If some handlers get mixed sets from both groups the sheep may not want to stay together (although that could help with the shed). If the groups are not mixed then some handlers will get sheep from flock a and some from flock b. This could result in uneven sets and some handlers getting more favorable groups than others. Also at 120 sheep total and approximately 50 runs per day you will be re-running the sheep during the day. This is common although not ideal because the sheep will start to behave differently the more times they are re-run.

 

Anyway these are just random thought5s. You are to be applauded for stepping up and putting on a trial. Get lot's of help and have fun.