Sandhill Lea Trial

Here are some pix my traveling partner, Lynda took on the drive thru the beautiful Fraser Canyon. The salmon are running in record numbers so there were fishermen everywhere along the banks of the Fraser & Thompson rivers.
A threesome of kayakers take a break sitting on the rocks while our national railway heads to the coast. You can see how low the river is from the lines on the bank.
In the spring the water is above these rocks.
It is a beautiful scenic drive. I haven't been up this route in just over 10 years. I first traveled on it during construction in 1956 en route to our move to Bella Coola.
Starting at the end of the trial; Pro/Nov overall winners left to right; Lorne Landry(trial host & 3rd), judge Rob Lewis, Celeste Lacroix, Brian Nelson, Carol Nelson(no relation) and Tess Davidson.
Open overall: Ruedi, Rob, Carol, Lee, Gayle.
Owen, me & Marg watching before our P/N run.
dubbed the 'Rose Garden' after the first person to use this new addition to the Sandhill Lea Ranch buildings.
mandatory 'cuteness' picture; Dawn Pucci's daughter, Mari playing with Chance McLeod, a dwarf Border Collie.
our hard working crew at the set out pens; neighbors Judy & Maureen.
handler camp-city
the trial field looking up to set out. the road & terraine proved very tricky for a lot of dogs. The sheep are used to coming in at night up this road so they were very heavy to the exhaust to the right.
here is the flock grazing on Friday before the trial.
the exhaust and beautiful lake in the background taken from the spectator area.
our judge out sailing on Friday.
the Landry's house overlooking the lake and trial field.
Lynda's Lark spotting sheep before her P/N run.
Lee's Toss looking for sheep before her run.
Josh, Sam & Bruce exhausted sheep for us all weekend.
Blair and I in the shedding ring on Sunday. It started off raining and windy in the morning but cleared up by noon. Off & on clouds but quite nice when the sun came out. We timed out in the shed after getting a very nice pen.
handlers walking the course for P/N on Sat. morning. Novice ran first, followed by P/N at 10am; over 30 runs then 21 Open runs that finished JUST before dark at 8pm.
Lee & Jeb nailing a win in P/N.
Brian Epp with one of Blair's grand daughters making a good pen.
Margaret and Kane get their pen.
Lorne and Jace making a nice turn at the post for a placing in P/N.
Lynda's try making a tight turn at the post. Right behind Try and to the right was a little dip-ditch with some big rocks which made the turn very tricky.
Lynda shuts the gate at the pen. Yay Try - his best weekend to date!
What a fun weekend & great trial! I am happy with the progress my 2 young dogs are making and can see we have lots yet to work on. Blair had a good day but my handling cost him. He also needs a little 'come to jesus' meeting regarding what a steady whistle means and that pace on the fetch is not a 4-letter word to be avoided. ;-)
Most photos taken by Rose McLeod.