The 4th of July around our place can be pretty exciting so it was hard to pack up and leave knowing the party my little town likes to throw. We were well rewarded for our efforts though!
Jamie Spring (she lives north of me about 2 hours) and I took off on Thursday the 2nd and it was a LONG drive to Huntsville, UT! I think somehow when she and I travel together time must get lost somewhere. :-) Probably because we're gabbing so much we don't know where we are half the time.
The country is very green all the way from here through WY and into UT. There is so much grass and lots of hay being put up now. Huntsville is tucked into a little valley at the base of a ski resort. It's SO beautiful!!
Kelley Creek farm is a haven for dog people. It's literally built just for this kind of event. There are ponds that Brent designed and built that the dogs are free to play in. There is plenty of room to take them for good walks as well as loads of shade to park under or tie dogs under. It's just great! They also do a bang up job at hospitality. Patsy, Shauna and Carol keep everything running very smoothly.
So, for how our dogs ran. Jag was up 6th on Friday. He was listening good but after watching several runs where the sheep were really hard to move I thought I'd let him have them at the top a bit more. Mistake! I had a heck of a time keeping them slowed down enough to be manageable after that. They were just terrified of him. So, we ended up getting through the course but it wasn't real pretty. I think we were somewhere around 12th. Then Zac ran in the 25th spot. He was his usual steady, reliable self and ended up in 6th place. We had a big bobble on the crossdrive that cost us being up there higher. You couldn't see the dog and just barely see the sheep on the last half of the crossdrive. I gave a little flank at the wrong time and he took it so we missed the panel. Such is life.
Then Cash was up in the nursery. He ran like a champ all weekend and ended up winning both go's of the nursery. He still needs a little polish to be real competitive at the finals but I was pleased with him as this was only his 3rd field trial and 5th trial all together.
Jamie's more experienced dog is injured right now so she broke her pup (16 months) out for her first trial. Hope (Jag x Reece) did really well for her first trial. She ended up 2nd in the novice in the first go and 4th in the next go. She wasn't 100% sure about the set out crew but handled her sheep SO well. Jamie was thrilled with her and I'm loving to watch this whole litter of pups come on!
The second go of Open wasn't good for Jag. Just wasn't wanting to listen so I ran out and had a little meeting with him. Zac was really good in the heat. He was out of the money but had a really good run. There were just a LOT of really good runs that day.
Anyway, our trip was a success on many fronts and we love getting to travel together so you can't beat that! Our trials are next weekend so busy getting geared up for that.
