We went to Colorado to visit our son and ran Rudy and Ben in the Open Class at the Four States Ag Expo in Cortez. Rudy strained a ligament on his first run on Friday so I scratched him from the rest of his runs. Ben was 1st on Friday and 2nd on Saturday to win the average. In the picture above, we are receiving the first place buckle from Carolyn Watson, the trial director. Now on to Houston on Saturday for the Lone Star Cattledog Futurity Super Futurity and Derby with Rudy and Slick and then on Sunday we'll run in the sheepdog trial with Ben, Rudy, Lee, and Bill. We'll leave on Wednesday for the NATIONAL CATTLEDOG FINALS in Green Forest, Arkansas.
THE HOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW AND RODEO SHEEPDOG TRIAL--HOUSTON, TX--A good sheepdog trial with a good crowd. Ben finished 2nd in the Open. Bill got 2 checks by finishing 3rd in the Open Ranch and 1st in the Nursery. The picture on the left is the Open placings with Wayne Elmore and Juce winning the Open. In the middle is the Open Ranch placers with Eleno Montemayor and Cooper winning 1st and the picture on the right is for the Nursery placings. Now to the USBCHA NATIONAL CATTLEDOG FINALS in Green Forest, Arkansas.
COLEMAN, OKLAHOMA--9/11/04--SUNDOWNER STOCKDOG ASSOCIATION TRIAL--We went for one day of the monthly weekend trial. The trial this month was held at the Gary Shipman ranch with an outrun and fetch into a pen to work some obstacles. The cattle were fresh black heifers. Ben won 1st in the Open with 33 dogs entered and Bill won 4th in the class of 20 for dogs 30 months and under(as of Jan. 1st.) They call this the Novice Class. Slick and Jodi both did well and ended up in a tie with several dogs for the last few placings but were bumped on the tie-breaker. Nothing for a month until we go back to the Sundowner.
2004 LONE STAR CATTLE DOG FUTURITY AND MATURITY
2004 LSCDF MATURITY FINALIST
BEN AND I WIN 4TH IN THE MATURITY
What a great 2004 Futurity and Maturity it was. We were a little disappointed not making the finals in the Futurity but we came close with Ty(owned by Kirby Elenburg) and Queen(owned by Bryan and Brad Elenburg and Mike Thornton) tying for 13th and 14th after 2 go-rounds and 63 dogs competing. We almost got in. Our good fortune came in the Maturity where Ben won 2nd in the long go-round competing against 51 dogs. We were 4th in the finals to finish 4th overall. Our next stop is back to Coleman, Oklahoma with Ben, Bill, and Slick(Kirby's dog) for the Sundowner Shootout on Nov. 12th-14th.
BEN WINS 2004 STATE CATTLEDOG FINALS
Twenty four Open dogs made a run at it but Ben came out on top as the winner of the Open Class at the Texas Cattledog Finals in Big Lake, Texas. He did it by winning 3rd in the 1st go-round and 2nd in the 2nd go-round. In the picture, I'm receiving the buckle for 1st place from the Association President, Richard Belvin. In the Pro-Novice Class, Slick(Kirby's dog) won the first go-round. In the second go, Jodi was second which slid her up to 3rd in the average in the Pro-Novice Class.
Ben Wins Average at 72 Ranch
The 72 Ranch, owned by Billy Martin and managed by Kris Larsen, hosted another great cattledog trial in their beautiful indoor cutting horse training arena. All black heifers made for challenging runs in all classes. On Saturday, with 19 dogs in the Open, Lee won 1st with Ben coming in 2nd. Lee beat Ben by 1 second. On Sunday, with 20 dogs competing in the Open, Ben won 1st and Bill won 2nd. Ben beat Bill by 1 second. That gave Ben the best 2 day combined score and made us the winner of an embroidered Carhart jacket, caps and dog food. We go back to Coleman, Oklahoma in 3 weeks.
BEN WINS THE RICHEST SHEEPDOG TRIAL IN NORTH AMERICA--$10,000 AT THE CALGARY STAMPEDE
What a great time we had at the World Stockdog Championship at the Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Seventy seven dogs went 2 go-rounds to make the top 15 finals. This is an arena sheepdog timed trial where everyone runs the designed course and the fastest one wins. In the finals, they only pay 2 places. First place gets $10,000 and 2nd gets $4000. Ben and Bill were my 2 entries. Bill finish 27th in the 1st go and in trying to make up some time, gripped at the pen in the 2nd go and was disqualified. Ben was behind Bill in the 1st go finishing 32nd with a 3:58 time in the 4 minutes they allowed. He also needed to make up some time and did so by winning 4th in the 2nd go-round with a 1:55. This put Ben and I twelveth in the top 15. The Finals is a clean slate finals where your first 2 times are dropped and the fastest time in the finals wins. We drew good sheep that would let us push on them without fighting. I shut the gate with 1:19 on the clock. Before my run, there had been a 1:37 from Gerald Bunny of Aladdin, Wyoming. Gerald came back with his second dog in the finals and tied himself with another 1:37. Last to go was Elvin Kopp of Alberta. Elvin had the fastest time of the entire trial with a 1:13 in the 2nd go-round so I knew with this dog he could beat me but I was at least 2nd. Elvin had a great run but shut the gate at 1:35 giving me the 1st place check and him 2nd. The Stampede treated all of the finalist to a very nice winter coat provided by their sponsors and I'll also receive a nice leather coat with some embroidering on it. We're going next to Wyoming for 7 cattledog trials sponsored by the Wyoming Stockdog Association.
'05 TRIALS IN WYOMING
Ben wins the buckle at Rawlins
Rock Springs wasn't kind to us again this year. At Rawlins, Ben was 4th in the Open and Reno won the Open Ranch Class. That evening they brought back the top 8 Open dogs in a sudden death run for the buckle. Ben and I were the fastest taking the Carbon County Fair Cattledog Trial buckle. (Lately Ben and I are liking the 'Sudden Death' format.) I'm receiving the buckle in the picture above from Clyde Johnson, manager of the TA Ranch in Saratoga, Wyoming. The TA was the sponsor of the buckle.
Calgary Stampede
We didn't repeat as last year's winners but we had our shot. This year we started with 78 dogs. After 2 go-rounds, Ben was 4th in the combined scores. The finals is a clean slate winner take all so our earlier scores only gave us the advantage of running later in the running order of the top 15. When I sent Ben on his outrun, the sheep waited until he got to about 10 o'clock and then broke for the exhaust gate. We couldn't get them stopped before they broke the pattern. We had to get them back on course which, in timing the video, cost us about 20 seconds. Those 20 seconds wouldn't have made us 1st but it would have made us 2nd. Second pays $4000. I've already worked out a plan to keep that from happening next year. I just wish next year would hurry up and get here. In the picture above, I'm standing with my friend Dennis Edwards of Sundance, Wyoming. Dennis finished 6th with Maggie and won the Sportsmanship award.
At the Star of Texas Sheepdog Trial in Austin, Ben won 1st in the Open and Mitch won 3rd in the Open. Angie won 3rd in the Open Ranch.
Everybody gets a check at the Ft. Worth Stock Show
Ft. Worth Stock Show Sheepdog Trial is always a lot of fun. I get to meet a lot of local people and we, the handlers, get to show off our dogs to people who live in my area. The trial runs for 2 days and is 2 separate trials. The first day was a little tough for us. Ben won the first go-round of the Open but you have to put 2 runs together to get a check and our 2nd run was too slow to keep us in the top 5 or 6. Mitch had a good second run but gripped out in the first go so had nothing to show for it. Angie however, put together 2 good runs to finish 3rd out of 25 Open Ranch entries. On the second day we came back with a little more luck running our way. Mitch won 2nd in the Open, Ben won 4th in the Open and Angie won 1st in the Open Ranch.
Highland Games in Helotes, Tx. A fun judged arena sheep trial. Ben was 3rd in the first Open Class and then came back to win 1st in the second Open. Mitch was 5th in the first Open and 3rd in the second run. Angie won the Nursery in both trials.
