Judged Arena trial

[Little Bo Boop]

We had a judged arena trial in College Station this weekend. It's been over 100 degrees most days here in Texas, so an air conditioned arena trial was most welcome.

 

I know arena trials get a bad rap, as being out of control rodeos, bad for the dogs, bad for the sheep...just plain bad ;-) Well here is an example of one of our Texas "rodeos" ;-) While it's true I much prefer field trials, when it's 100 degrees outside, I think arena trials are a nice alternative. This is Allen Mills, and his young dog Gael. She runs in Nursery and Open Ranch, and has been pretty successful in our field trials as well. Nice job at the pen I thought. The pen if you notice was only a three sided affair, no gate. It was interesting how it made the pen a little more difficult, as the sheep didn't seem to be as comfortable going in through the smaller opening.

 

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

The pen with no gate was used pretty often "way back then." I've often thought how cool it would be to bring it back as a regular thing, especially here in the East where the sheep can be easier to pen.

[jdarling]

Very cool. Thanks Betty for posting this. His whistles are very clear -- almost making me think of changing mine. And it seems to me he's just whistling through his teeth and not using an actual whistle. And if he is teeth whistling, he's quite talented to be able to whistle that cleanly. I think arena trials are a kick.

[Amelia]

Hello all. My only gripe with arena trials is sanctioning them, not having them or participating in them. And, if you're going to have a arena trial, by all means don't time it, judge it like this one. Allen makes a really nice run here. He read his sheep so well all the way around.

 

Isn't it funny how his dog ran straight up the middle of the arena? It's been my experience that running in an arena will do that to even a wide running dog. My Price is that and the first time I ran him at Calgary, he went straight up the middle. I had been warned about it by a hand who forgot more about trialling than I will ever know, and I discounted it. Boy was he right!

 

 

Here's another vid of Allen with his nursery dog, Sis. She's a Price daughter that was TSDA nursery dog of the year, year end nursery reserve champ and nursery triple crown winner.

[Little Bo Boop]

Well I won't get into an argument as to whether arena trials should be sanctioned or not. I think there are probably pros and cons on both sides of that issue...I'll let the powers that be decide that one ;-) I do agree that the judged arena trials are better though (I prefer them) but actually (at least here in Texas) the timed trials aren't that much different, good stockmanship still wins, in spite of being on the clock. A few of us were talking at this particular trial, and commenting on how, in the last couple of years, how it seems everyone has improved so much, even the novice handlers...you don't see any wrecks, no dogs hanging on sheep running down the arena. It was really nice to see.

 

Yep, Sis is a hell of a dog, and Allen is an amazing handler/trainer. I took that video (the one you posted) last year at the same trial. I think I have some of her running in field trials as well. She sure wins a lot of our $$$$$ wellexceptforthislasttrialwherestellabeather ;-) heeheee