Thursday, October 14, 2004

In which we report upon Virginia, Part the First

 
I'm on the road right now, and (as usual) I'm behind in the blog. I'm not even going to attempt to catch everyone up on the events of the last month except in an unsatisfactory thirty-words-or-fewer manner: we competed in Fosterfields (our most local trial, 45 minutes from home) over Labor Day weekend, and we pretty much sucked and blew. The week after that we entered Green Lane Park (a trial only a couple of hours from us, in Pennsylvania) for only one day, since I had exciting ETS work to do at the College Board in New York the day before. (Don't these people realize that I have trials on my weekends? Sheesh.) We were solidly mediocre, not the worst but certainly not within placing range. And the weekend after that was the NEBCA novice finals: I didn't have an entry, but my friend Sally Molloy was in charge of the event, and I wanted to help her out. As usual, having a big project took over my life and brought out all my obsessive-compulsive tendencies, but on the whole I had fun with it, and I think we pulled off a nice event for everyone. The whole experience certainly gave me a lot of renewed respect for how hard trial managers work, and how much all of us who don't put on annual trials are really obligated to pitch in and help at the trials we enter as much as we can.

Right now I'm on vacation, going to a week of trials in Virginia (Edgeworth was last weekend, then I was at Barbara Ray's farm trial on Monday and Tuesday, and Lena Bailey's ABC Magazine trial will be this weekend. I'm crashing at my friend Eileen Stein's in Maryland on the extra days, so I don't have to wander the countryside aimlessly. I'll have a lesson with Alasdair MacRae on the Monday after Lena's trial, and then I'll head for home. Whew!) And so, a quick report before I hit the road again: Edgeworth once again proved to be the trial that defines what a sheepdog trial should be. There's no more beautiful setting, more challenging outrun, or more even sheep anywhere. Everything about the outrun is difficult for Phyl: she's had trouble stretching her outrun, and this outrun is 600+ yards; she normally has problems with hills even on short outruns, and this outrun is up a steep hill with three different crests that give a dog three different opportunities to cut in early. Last year she got up to the top after many whistles on the first day, and got completely lost on the second day. (Yes, I know that's backwards, but nothing in my life is ever coherent and logical.) This year she was much better: the first day I gave her about four whistles, and she probably only needed two of those. The second day I gave her one whistle as an insurance, and she might not have needed that at all. One of the most exciting things that's ever happened to me in sheepdogging was seeing Phyl at the top of the outrun on the second day, nice and deep and lifting her sheep. Just as thrilling was her fetch: she did nice fetches both days, but on the second day she really held them, with very little intervention from me. (She actually had a 19-9-17 on her outwork on the second day, with a pretty good drive as well--nice lines, we made the drive panels but blipped around the crossdrive panels. On the first day we made all three of our panels, but neither the outrun nor the fetch were as good as they were on the second day.) On both days, unfortunately, I completely blew it in the shedding ring: I just couldn't get a hole, so I have no idea whether Phyl would have come in well or not. It's becoming painfully obvious that I'm never going to get anywhere if I don't figure out this shedding thing: Phyl is working well right now and looking good, and the outrun is finally starting to come together. I've got to figure this out, somehow. I think for awhile I'll be doing splits and singles in my dreams (and I'm sure I'll be having considerably more success there than I'll be having in real life!).

After Edgeworth we spent a couple of days at Barbara Ray's farm trial, which was really lovely: her Big Bend Farm is gorgeous, and this trial (there were only about 12 people entered, with about 20 dogs among them) was intimate and friendly. We stayed at the beautiful Fort Lewis Lodge, and I can't recommend it more highly: spectacular setting, good dinners and breakfasts included in the price, and comfortable, attractive rooms. The trial itself was just a delight, although unfortunately for any hopes I had of placing, the 12 people entered included folks like Amanda Milliken, Werner Reitboeck, Dawn Boyce, Lyle Boyer, Dal Kratzer, Kate Ash, and Barbara Ray--I was so far the bottom of the barrel that I should have been assigned my very own barrel! Phyl worked well, but once again the shedding proved our bete noir. I worked on it a bit at Eileen's when I got back from the trial, but I'm starting to despair: I doubt I'll have much better shedding luck at Lena's trial this weekend, but I'm hoping to work on shedding with Alasdair at my lesson and then come home and attack the problem in earnest. I have to get better at this!

So that's all for now: in another hour or so I'll hit the road, and the whole adventure will start all over again. Please think good thoughts about nice big holes for us, and I promise to report promptly and tell you all how the story ended.





posted by Heather Nadelman