2017 at a glance

     If last year was called ‘Live and Learn’, then I must call this year ‘Miles on the Tires’. 2017 is the Chinese year of the Red Fire Rooster. Boyo boy has it been a year for the border collies and I. It was a mix of circumstances that opened up doors than I bravely jumped through, not knowing the outcomes on the other side.

Bluegrass Classic, Soldier Hollow Classic, and the Belle Grove National Sheepdog Finals
were all new trials for our team this year.

Feist Hill Field
Sonoma Wine Country SDT

Feist and I started out the trial season strong
landing second on the Hill Field at the
Sonoma Wine Country SDT

The sheepdog team gained valuable experience at the scopey Zamora Hill SDT.
Both Tane' and Feist earning points toward the nationals.
Tane' putting together the smoothest and most timely pen on very
wiley range ewes.

Young Jag doing big chores.  Learning.

Somewhere between the vast hills of Zamora
and our Northern Nevada SDT, Tane' showed
up as part of the open team.
Running consistent in the NNV SDT
he was awarded High Combined.

Feist at our Northern Nevada SDT

Thanks to the imagination and fearless spirit of
Amanda Milliken, I accepted an offer to run
Monty in the Kentucky Bluegrass Classic SDT.
Monty the Great!!!

With Monty holding my hand, somehow we
landed in the DL on the final day.
Here we are working on my
first full international shed.

Bluegrass Classic
and I tasted my first
mint julep

80 Acres SDT
Kingston, ON
Feist

Canadian National Championship
 Feist and I completing our first International shed
and finishing off with
a sweet pen.

Third Place
Canadian Nationals

Due to a shift of circumstances
we were offered a last minute
invitation to the Soldier
Hollow Sheepdog Classic

Young Jag doing real work
and learning about
responsibility in Kingston, ON.

Feist wrapping the post
at the 2017 National Finals
Belle Grove Plantation, VA

Ending the season with three dogs 

finishing the course.

Monty, Jag, and Feist

End of trial season.
A moment of pastoral peace
in Kingston before flying
home to Nevada.

UC Hopland SDT
in the gorgeous Mendicino region
of California.  Feist, Monty and
young Tane' running exceptional.

     In the openfield sheepdog world, I have come to understand, that my knowledge and experience is just skimming the surface.  Suffice it to say that we have merely skipped a stone across the surface.  I have felt that I have been swimming in the deep end, so to say.  The amount to learn and experience is so vast.

     I do love this sport.  I have a passion to improve and learn something so impossibly challenging.  This year I have also learned that I must do it my own way.  With so many different styles and lines and techniques... I must hybridize and find what fits comfortably for myself and my dogs.  

     In my vision, it is not to "beat" others, but rather to develop to be the best teams that my dogs and I can be, at that given moment in time.  The focus must always be ' watch the sheep and trust your dog'.  My mechanics are to focus on what we have at that moment, (whether practice, work, or trial), not what we don't have. My sports history gives me a vision of how fairness and equality straight across the board is important in this sport, like all others. Many generations of western ranching, also reminds me that even though the sport is amazing, preserving the working BC is the MOST important aspect.  Communication and consistency is the key.

     And weirdly, even though I have only scratched the surface, my largest satisfaction is not the 'win' per se but rather the inspiration.  It is a tough sport.  I love that I am getting feed back from my contemporaries that my little ripple in the deep end has inspired them.  But that makes my heart happy, I hope we all do well.  There is no secret elixir or formula, you just have to go out and make your way.  Thus so many people call it your journey.

Cheers to 2018!