December 30, 2010: 2011 - Bring it on!

It is not often we are short for words when writing a blog. But in thinking back over the year, we are stumped. It’s simply been a bad year. Bring on 2011!

There were a few bright spots, and most of these were on the trial field. Thankfully! Where else would you want lady luck to be smiling on you but there?   OK, perhaps lady luck could smile on us elsewhere as well, but if this is all we’re going to get, we’ll take it!

The trialling highlights of the year for me were my girls – Meg and Sioux.

Meg’s run in the qualifying round of the Selattyn double fetch trial was simply superb. We only made the final by the skin of our teeth (I’ll spare you the details) but who would have thought we would have made any final of anything, least of all Selattyn?  I felt this was Meg’s best run of the year and perhaps her best run ever (other than her first trial win).  We didn’t fare so well in the final but I realized how much I – and Meg - love bigger, tougher courses. Now if only I could learn how to do an international shed! Sioux just missed the final on OLF. A shame really because I know this little speedster would love to have a bash at this double fetch. We’ll be back to have a go in 2011.

My girls were HOT, HOT, HOT at the Berriew trial. Sioux was outstanding (although I let her down at the pen). We finished 2nd one point behind Glyn Jones (!!) and Meg was 4th – 2 points back. WOW, now that was thrilling. Berriew has my vote for the best chocolate cake as well...and I was sent home with BBQ sausages and other goodies. I’ll be back there in 2011, that’s for sure.  

One of the wildest trials of the year was the Ellemford trial in Scotland where Sioux claimed 3rd place. OMG, the sheep were fast and furious. Sioux handled them like a pro and, although we made a complete pig’s ear of the pen, we finally got them in and out, and singled before time ran out on the clock. It wasn’t pretty!  This was possibly the best trialling day of the year. Bobby (Dalziel) and I went trialling together. We got up at the crack of dawn, hit three trials (with one of us scoring a top 6 placing in each one – him more than me, of course(!!) – although you can ask him about Ellemford and I bet he says he wasn’t there) and one fish and chip shop, and I listened to Bobby’s stories all day long. It was mega-FUN! Three trials in one day, and the fish and chips were good!!!

Sioux made her first double fetch final as well, at Llanarthne. We finished 2nd in the final, which was miraculous as we did not shed or pen. This was my shedding embarrassment of the year (or more accurately ‘one of my’ shedding disasters).  Enough said!  Sioux managed to put her nose in front of her mother again at the Hafod Bridge trial. This is a smaller trial but one we go to every year because of the people who host it. We love supporting this trial and this year Sioux won it for the second year in a row...just beating out Meg. Sioux’s sister, Tina, won this trial in 2008 so these sisters have kept the Hafod Bridge trophy in our house 3 years in a row.  Tina was not to be outdone either as she took home the cup at the Llanwrda trial with Kelvin.

Some other highlights were Jamie’s run on the first day at the Ettrick trials in Scotland. He was superb although we were narrowly pipped at the post by one of my heros, Mosse Magnusson! I finally won a trial with Jamie in 2010. YAY!  He’s not an easy dog to run and I have struggled with him a bit but we finally got that win! Two more highlights from Scotland were:

(1) scoring a ‘hat-trick’ with Sioux 1st, Meg 2nd and Jamie 3rd. Now that will likely never happen again!

(2) Bee starting her trialling career with gusto claiming 6 top-6 places from 10 starts in Open. These placings kicked her out of the nurseries but she got some valuable national qualifying points!

Perhaps the biggest highlight of the year was making the Welsh Team for the 2011 World Trial with Meg. By finishing 6th overall on Day 3 of the Welsh National, Meg qualified for the Welsh Team. Wow, am I proud of her!!!...but I would not say we had a stellar run at the National and I came off the field disappointed.  I am rarely disappointed in Meg and this was no exception...I was more disappointed in the way I handled her. My lack of experience was glaring and, in some ways, embarrassing! But you don’t get experience from not trying and I haven’t died of embarrassment (yet) so I will keep plugging away at learning how to handle this wonderful dog.  One thing I have learned is that it’s a heck of a long way between knowing how to train a dog and knowing how to handle one. And on both scores, I am still a novice!

Gosh, there were so many other highlights but I won’t bore you to tears.

There were some really low points to the year too. The death of Will Watkins just before Christmas really saddened us. Will was quite the character. He would come to visit us to see how our tup lambs were doing. Last year Will let us use his tup on some of our ewes. Our ewes spent about 6 weeks at Will’s place and were looked after so well I’m not sure they wanted to come home. We ended up with a couple of superb tup lambs which Will would periodically come to inspect. They passed muster for him! Of course Will would bring a dog with him to run and he expertly showed off just how well he could handle a dog; even a young one. He impressed many of our visitors and I am sure there are many people around the world who share our sorrow at losing Will. God bless you, Will.

Another lowpoint was my friend Rona losing her beloved Rose. Rose was a lovely bitch and I still see her in my mind’s eye the very first day I saw her competing at the Ettrick Trials. She was driving sheep across the brae with great skill. Impressive! I just had to go and ask about Rose, and I don’t think I stopped nagging Rona for a pup off her. It wasn’t to be.

Kelvin’s trial year was rudely interrupted by his job! I know many of you will know all about that. He is rebuilding his team and 2011 will see him running Tina and Bee as his top two. Blade is to be retired from competitions (except for an occasional appearance) and Liam is Kelvin’s youngster for the nurseries. Liam has been given a clean bill of health after his intestinal operation so he is now starting on sheep and showing lots of nice qualities. Hopefully Kelvin can get a clean bill of health in 2011 as well! His recent bout with meningitis was a bit scary but he is on the mend - slowly!

If you are wondering about the outcome of our Christmas Day run... I won! By default. ...a hollow victory. Kelvin was not well enough to participate so off I sneaked out with a few dogs in tow. The snow was deep and it was a heck of a trudge but we made it. I need to get fit again!

There! That’s enough to keep you bored until the next instalment. Happy 2011. May we all have oodles of fun and lots of laughter.