Washoe Valley Sheepdog Trial

If you are going to put on a first sheepdog trial, you might as well do it up right. That's what the folks did, who pulled together the Washoe Valley Sheepdog trial recently. Held just outside of Carson City, NV, it was a great venue. The trial field was a cow pasture with some green vegetation and not a sticker to be found, anywhere. It's true there were some clumps in the field but as long as you watched out for those, you were fine. It was so nice not to worry about foxtails, filaree or any of their nasty cousins. 

The sheep were Nevada range ewes, very fit, healthy, well fed, and super challenging. Every detail was looked after by the super trial hostesses and hosts. Water for the dogs was refreshed every so often, as was water for the sheep. A super handler's dinner was offered --with  music and cowboy poetry --, I am told, although I missed it in favor of visiting with long time Reno friends for dinner instead. It was great to see my old friends and the almost ten years that had somehow slipped away between our visits just melted as we walked down memory lane and enjoyed wonderful BBQ lamb.

There seemed to be so many volunteers at the trial, and no job was left undone.  I was super impressed by the support received by this trial.The trial field was just minutes away from Carson City so everything you needed was right there: food, gas, motel, shopping.

Coal and I had a decent run on Saturday and I had a lot of fun with it. He did an OK outrun and lift, and the fetch was a bit too fast but we made the fetch gates and got the sheep down the field. Our drive was all over the place, and not good...but we managed to get the sheep into the shedding ring before the timer went off. Whew! It was fun. Range ewes and Coal have never been a good combo...but we tried. Sunday's run was a different story;  I just could not get ahold of him, and after a crossover and missing the fetch gates, I RTed. Oh well, another day we will do better. It was still  a really fun trial and I am glad I went outside my comfort zone a little bit to get there. I've never seen Lake Tahoe and I drove by it on my way there. Lots of firsts for many, including moi. :) I am really hoping that this group can pull it together to have another trial in the future. I know that trials are SO much work...but it was all very much appreciated!