Autumn

A Change of Season

"Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile."

-William Cullen Bryant

     If wishes were horses...  this beggar would ride.  It has been an amazing trek down the unmarked pathway this year so far.  I was stressed and somewhat disappointed that I was tossed time wise back into the working world as harshly as I was.  Logging hours.  Covering about three full time jobs. Balancing work, home, and sheepdogging precariously.   It hasn't been bad at all.  It has been good.

     We now have a bit of lease property with a starter flock that we are trying to shape into the consistent animals desired for training/trialing.  I have not quite built my "Mecca", however I have acknowledged the resources that already existed in my own backyard.  Sandra built a stockyard on our back property that is amazing, for 'working' the sheep.  The ranch fields are just a small haul out away.  The Horned Toad flats are just a small haul out away when rattlesnake season has subsided.  Leased property is close in proximity to my work in case a lunch work is afforded.

     My time restriction has forced me to stay closer to home.  I have networked with some amazing people closer to the homestead that I most likely wouldn't have met or had the chance to work dogs with as much.  Blessings appear, they don't have to be sought.  I am supposed to stick close by for now.

 

 



     The dogs.  It is so amazing.  I don't just have a bordercollie that I am trying to do the right thing for.  I don't just have this feeling of "I am not a good enough human for this amazing dog" syndrome anymore.  I have inadvertently made a commitment to the breed, the working dog lines.  It is no longer about me, it really is about the dogs.  Most (all) of my decisions are now, what is best for the dogs?  It is not that big of a jump, my day job has always been, what is best for the dogs? That was a lifetime commitment I made about 20 years ago.  Now I have added sheepdogs to my journey, and I am in love with the magic it holds.

     I know that I am not the best handler on the planet.  I am, and will always be, still learning.  I don't suck anymore.  The whistle has been slow, but it's coming.  And my pack tries as hard as I do to understand the other half of the team.  I have so much more to learn from the elite handlers.  The set of spectacles they look out from is truly incredible.  I have come to the realization that I will never see from their vantage point.  I must see clearly through my own set of glasses.

     My homework is to decide what I can live with and what does not work for me.  To try to discard my cement laden sentimentality. Which, ultimately, will be my downfall and the hardest monkey to brush off my back.  I see more and more clearly the mistakes that I made with my previous young dogs and now what I need to accomplish to fill in those missing foundation blocks.  Hopefully learning not to make those particular mistakes again.

     I have gone to a few trials to participate.  Practicing my timing which is in much need of a metronome.  Not having the time to travel far it has been limited.  We have been running in PN, usually  graciously tacked at the beginning or the end of an open trial.  Fridays or Mondays, with travel time are hard to conjure.  I love the community.  Everyone has been so encouraging and supportive.  Pressing me to step out of my comfort zone.  I hate to tell them, that I have never been IN my comfort zone with this sport. 

     We made it to Soldier Hollow Classic to watch the showcase invitational sheepdog trial this year.  Yet again, I was awestruck!  I have watched the National Finals several times, but I had no concept that we had trials like this,  promoting the sport at an entirely different level.  Wow.  That is all I can say.  To be a part of this sport, what an honor.