ASDA Finals A Finale

Well the ASDA Finals are final. We had really good weather, unheard of in middle of October, but the weather gods were with us. I even brought out my famous pink shorts for the occasion. There may even be a picture later on of that one.

We had Novice, Intermediate, Nursery, Pro-Novice and Open running this weekend. Saturday and Sunday were the preliminaries, and Monday was the top 10 Pro-Novice and top 10 Open dogs.

In the Novice, it was a tight race between ASDA members Joey Swanson and Jerry Kurbatoff

Joey seemed unnerved by the pressure.

His calmness was possibly due to the new crook given to him by Wayne Roberts via Calvin Jones from Wales.

For being an old girl, Joy was a little on the muscle, but Joey did great, hitting his panels.
He was sooooo close getting the pen, they were almost all in, and then one decided to turn back on him. The lessons from Calvin Jones this summer definitely paid off.

Jerry Kurbatoff and his kelpie Jed showed his prowess at the event. Jerry showed his calmness as well.

Carol Nelson and Cal from Pink Mountain, BC, was one of the top 10 Open handlers. (Even though it looks like pink mountains in the background, it was really gravel hills).

Being a long, flat, narrow field, it was tricky to set up the double lift, but it was accomplished. All dogs found their second set of sheep, and more than half completed their shed. Their runs kept the judge busy trying to decipher what point to take out, and keep her itchy finger away from the horn (did I mention I judged the open this weekend?)

George and Kate showed the rest how to do it, by having the best run of the day.

The final winners were - Jerry Kurbatoff and Jed for Novice (a close second was Joey and Joy by 1 point), Doug Finseth and Meg for Intermediate, Pam Boring and Ben for Pro-Novice, Carol Nelson and Taff for Nursery (I'll put my two cents and say my Creed was second - have to work hard this winter to make him my second open dog), and George Stambulic and Kate won the big kahuna in Open.

Congratulations to all the winners, and good job ASDA board members for putting on the trial. Special thanks to Thad Buckler and Ian Zoerb for judging the other classes, thanks to all the buckle sponsors, and to UFA for lending out the panels.

Next trip - the Lloydminster, ASDA Arena Finals and Northlands triathlon to be held in the first part of November.