Handhills Border Collie News

Hanna (the pirate) has internet access...

On the road for 3 weeks, and 3 trials later, Norm and I are pretty positive that Hanna has been surfing the internet.

I posted Hanna for sale. On her sale page, I said she was a little sticky at the top, Hanna being sticky on the top was something that seemed to come overnight, and apparently it also left overnight, she ran like a top at the last 3 trials, Trailing of the Sheep, The Western Regionals, and Fire Ridge. All three featured really different sheep. She made the Double Lift at Fire Ridge.

I ran Hanna 7 times and she really never put a paw wrong. Don't get me wrong there were mistakes, but they were mine. So the big question now is, is Hanna, still for sale?

The answer, Maybe.............I left her up on the sale page just in case... She could be one of my blog followers!

Trailing of the Sheep

Speaking of the the last three trials, they were wonderful. The Trailing of the Sheep, put on by Don and Jeanie Helsley was the start of our big adventure. It was great weather and Don and Jeanie always do a good job. The set out was perfect,the sheep were rank and wild, but really nice to run on and even.........does that make sense?

Norman's Blaze was the hero of the trial for us. He was a non compete in the open, having only run a couple of times in the pro-novice, but he scored an 81. We were really proud of him. I think that would have put him in 3rd place. Gale and Hanna did great and ran well for me.

Don Helsley won the trial with his Tag, a very nice young dog!

The Western Regionals

Another great trial, put on by a great group of people, including the famous Alistair MacLean. No not MacRae, MacLean....same accent, different guy. Alistair and his group pulled out all the stops to make it a great trial, including wonderful prizes, they had 2 beautiful crooks and a handsome payout. The set out was once again perfect. The trial was on lambs, and, handled right, they were a pleasure.

Unfortunately Norm's Gwen was and is ill. He pulled her from the first trial, and didn't run her again the rest of the trip. That left him running his two young dogs, Jake and Blaze. Jake had a great run the first day, even with helicopters circling several times over his head, but DQ'd the second day. Blaze got a little funky in the outrun department, but ran great once he got his sheep. Blaze is easy to handle, like his sister Gale. Watching him made me more serious in my pursuit to steal him.

Gale and Hanna ran really well, they were steady and consistent.

Bill Orr and Boone won the double lift. Boone really showed his stuff.

We ended up in the local paper.....No crime was committed.

Fire Ridge

Fire Ridge was a great trial for us. Norm and I both made the double lift....kinda. The truth is, there were 63 dogs in the trial. In the average, I was dog # 10 with Hanna and # 11 with Gale. They took 10 back from the average and the winner from each day. Norman with Jake was the only one left to bump me. If he won the day, he would bump the leader of the day, since she was out of the average, and that would get both my dogs in. If he had a decent run, Gale would be out and he would bump Hanna too. No pressure. So he was laying down a smoker with Jake, he was at the drive away panel, missed the panel and drove back through it. He had 0 taken off of his out run, 0 taken off of his lift, 2 taken off of his fetch, 0 taken off of his pen, 0 taken off of his shed, but that whoops gave him 14 taken off of his drive. he still ended up with an 84, 3 points behind the leader, which put him second in the average, and sleeping on the couch.

Now here is where it got interesting. His really good friend, Don Helsley, who also made the double lift said he had to go home to pick up sheep for his sheep camp. That put me back in the double lift with Hanna, and Norman off the couch. Now that is a friend.

Jeanie Helsley ended up 3rd in the double lift. I was 7th with Hanna. Norm was 11th, his young dog got a little excited in the shedding ring and gripped off. The winner was Lynn Johnson. He did a really nice job and when he got done with his run his wife had little tears running down her cheeks. It was a beautiful sight.

A side note was Lanna Rowley's run. During her run, a wind storm came and blew over three porta potties. She hung in there and her dog did a brilliant look back. We never did look in the porta potties to see if anyone was in there. We all couldn't bear the thought. So if you notice any trialers missing, they just might be up at Fire Ridge clinging to life in a tipped over porta potty.

Our young dogs did a great job. Norman placed in the pro-novice with Meg and Ice. It was their first trial. My nursery dog, Jess, had a 76. I was really happy with her. Our friend Mary Ann Lindsay won the Novice. Congratulations to her!