Held on 14th – 17th July 2022, at Esperence Clubs’s Pingelly ground.

Written by Nan Lloyd
Photos by Simon Wallace

This was the second trial for the year at Pingelly run by the Esperence club. This trial was run on a supreme course. Pingelly is a fairly central location and there was a good roll up of competitors.

The trial started at 12 pm Thursday, coinciding with some cold wet conditions which made life a little miserable. It fined up for Friday and Saturday, in fact becoming quite warm for a period in the afternoon. However the rain returned mid morning on Sunday and continued for the rest of the day, becoming bitterly cold as well.

The sheep for the novice were young Merinos. They were tricky to handle and caused some issues for most handlers. The same sheep were used for the improver event but they settled considerably on the second day, allowing competitors some more reasonable scores.

In the novice there were 52 entries with 14 scores and in the Improver 47 entries and 15 scores.

The open sheep were mixed aged Merino wethers, and they were some of the most difficult sheep many would have worked for a while. They could cover a lot of ground in a short space of time, often before the dog had a chance to get near them, sometimes splitting up as they went. They would not settle and were near impossible to keep on course. They were however, consistent for everyone, and certainly provided some entertainment and some challenges.

The gap was the most difficult obstacle, once they knew their way around it was then hard to persuade them to go through the middle. The pen also proved challenging, some people arriving there on a reasonable score only to run off many points trying to persuade the sheep to go in the pen and stay there.

From 77 runs in this event there were only 29 scores, which really tells the story. Despite the low scores it was a competitive enjoyable trial.

Encourage
Judged by Corey Rose

1	D Beard	Boonining Digit (K)
=2	C Neale	Amarillo Alfie
=2	G Chenik	Pilbarra Daley (K)

Novice
Judged by Tanya de Bijl

1	D Lacey	Akoonah Roxie	72
2	J Cornish	Bellview Bailey	58
3	D Lacey	Akoonah Lilly	43
=4	N Armstrong	Tumut Valley Roy (K)	42
=4	P Doherty	Ramulam Sixpence (K)	42
=4	N Kristiansen	Badgingarra Oscar	42
7	P Ostberg	Karridowns Zoftie	39
=8	N Kristiansen	Bagingarra Sir Ben	38
=8	T Boyle	Boylee Major	38
10	T Boyle	Boylee Whitie	35

Improver
Judged by Carolyn Bell

1	R Forsyth	Grassvalley Hazel	88
2	N Kristiansen	Bagingarra Sir Ben	79
3	R Forsyth	Barkervale Clark (K)	74
4	F Sutherland	Rocky Magpie	73
=5	G Curtis	Binaburra Buzz (K)	71
=5	N Lloyd	Binaburra Merlin (K)	71
=5	S Leaning	Yarrabee Jack (K)	71
8	D Davies	Marionvale Bella	65
9	T Boyle	Boylee Cournel	61
10	P Gorman	Pendalup Lucy	59

Open
Judged by Nan Lloyd

1	S Leaning	Marionvale Di	64	70	134
2	K Atherton	Ramulam Fella (K)	48	79	127
3	G Cooke	Grassvalley Bluey	59	64	123
4	P Gorman	Coshie’s Dusty	74	44	118
5	T de Bijl	Ramulam Secret (K)	62	38	100
6	N Armstrong	Yarralonga Scope (K)	46	52	98
7	Steve Wallace	Gibsons Sweep	69	28	97
8	D Lacey	Akoonah Blondie	65	28	93
9	C Rose	Boylee Pick	61	25	86
10	G Curtis	Ramulam Scotty (K)	64	RTD	64
11	N Kristiansen	Princes Delta	63	X	63
12	I Solomon	Perangerry Trish	58	RTD	58