Sunday, March 8, 2009

In Retrospect

Dianne's clinic was yesterday. An overview is already posted on the GSH blog, so I'll just talk about Cedar and what we learned and accomplished. I unfortunately forgot my camera, so I don't have anything to make this blog look more interesting. LOL.

We got the opportunity to work twice during the clinic. The first work was definitely not our best. The sheep were not good.... they were really light and would either run to one end of the field or the other. They weren't comfortable standing in the middle of the field. We never really got good control of them and as a whole the work was pretty messy. However, she did some really nice things that made it all okay, I think. Most importantly, she was trying to read her sheep and figure out how to move them calmly. They were a bit over our heads but she was totally trying to understand them. As a result, she stayed WAY off the sheep and didn't push on them hardly at all. HUGE for her. I walked away from the first work not entirely happy but with the feeling that things could have been a lot worse.

The second time was MUCH better. We worked out in Janie's big field (as opposed the the small, narrow one we had worked in before)and on some different sheep that were much less flighty. :) At first, Cedar was a bit pushy and not taking my "down" command, but I got in a really well-timed correction within the first couple of minutes. Dianne helped me move the sheep into a better position, and then we started to work on driving. Cedar did AWESOME! I am so excited at how well we did. I think that we are both starting to figure driving out a little better. She was actually listening to me and taking my commands. Again, huge for her. We drove around the field for about ten minutes or so, then quit. I wanted to stop on a good note.

Overall, I was extremely pleased with how she did at the clinic, considering it was a new place, on new sheep, and with an audience to boot! Thanks to Dianne for agreeing to do the clinic for GSH, and thanks to everyone that helped put it on! I had a great time.

And thank you, Cedar, for not making a complete ass out of me... I always try to do the same for you. :)

I can't wait to start Moss Man on sheep.... :D

1 comment:

JoeC said...

Very nice wifey, Moss looks cute!!