Author Nan Lloyd
Images by Nan Lloyd and Simon Wallace

This was Pingelly’s second arena trial for the year, hosted by the Esperence club.

Pingelly can be very chilly. The first day of the trial was windy and cold, and was followed by a a mild frost that night. The rest of the trial was cool but quite bearable although we did not see much sunshine the whole weekend. It started to rain a little towards the end of the open final, but held off until we were packed up and finished. It has been a very wet year, with waterlogged paddocks and impassable roads. One trialler could not get his bus off his property, and they managed to bog two vehicles at the rear of the trial grounds, one of them was a large tractor. One competitor could not attend as a tree fell on her caravan in a storm. After many dry years though no-one was complaining.

The sheep were something else. They were very difficult to pickup from the top of the ground, racing madly along the fence into the corner and sometimes over the fence. There were many crosses as the sheep were fast and could split if upset. The calmer smoother dogs fared a little better, the sheep did not like being pressured.

The sheep for novice and Improver where the same, and while they were reasonably workable on the first day they got progressively worse as the weekend wore on.

The open sheep were a different mob and were even more difficult. These also had a tendency to take on some dogs, particularly dogs that had too much breakout, allowing the sheep to take ground. Some sheep just stood and faced the dog at the obstacle, refusing to enter and splitting if pressured too much.

It was fun for the spectators, not so much for the competitors though.

At least we had the Pingelly Recreation and Cultural centre to have an evening meal and drink to find solace. Meals were lovely and the building is beautiful.

Novice had 38 runs with 17 scores. Improver had 42 runs and 11 scores. Open had 52 runs with 21 scores.

Novice – L-R Tanya Debijl – Daleview Wally 4th, Len Morton – Perengery Maude 3rd, Dave Lacey – Farnham Will 1st, Gordon Curtis – Kumbark Scotty 2nd, Nigel Armstrong – Tumutvalley Roy 5th.

Improver – L-R Gordon Curtis – Kumbark Scotty 6th, Steve Wallace – Gibsons Sweep1st, Ivan Solomon – Nolans Bart 2nd, Andrew Gorton – Olboa May 4th (Caroline Bell – Gibsons Smokey 3rd)

Open – L-R Tanya Debijl – Boylee Scout = 2nd, Winner Peter Gorman – Coshies Dustie, Nan Lloyd – Kumbark Lexie = 2nd and Dave Lacey – Akoonah Blondie = 4th.

Encourage Placings
Judged by Frank Sutherland

1	Nic Ford	Dryandra Thunderstruck
2	Rose Cassidy	Nolans Shona
3	Sarah De Beuger	Marionvale Possum (Kelpie)
4	Tara Herbert	Marionvale Tess (Kelpie)
5	Lilly Jennings	Marionvale Andy

Novice Placings
Judged by Yvonne Haynes

1	Dave Lacey	Farnham Will	84
2	Gordon Curtis	Kumbark Scotty (Kelpie)	79
3	Len Morton	Perengery Maude	72
4	Tanya DeBijl	Daleview Wally	69
5	Nigel Armstrong	Tumutvalley Roy	66
6	Steve Wallace	Gibsons Sweep	65
7	Tanya DeBijl	Jarrah (Kelpie)	61
8	Nan Lloyd	Kumbark Lexie (Kelpie)	59
9	Ivan Solomon	Nolans Bart	50
10	Pete Doherty	Ramulam Sixpence (Kelpie)	49

Improver Placings
Judged by Gibb MacDonald

1	Steve Wallace	Gibsons Sweep	70
2	Ivan Solomon	Nolans Bart	64
3	Caroline Bell	Gibsons Smokey	57
4	Andrew Gorton	Olboa May	56
5	Frank Sutherland	Rocky Nikki	53
6	Gordon Curtis	Kumbark Scotty (Kelpie)	49
7	Nigel Armstrong	Tumutvalley Roy (Kelpie)	46
8	Rick Janitz	Badgingarra Izzy	42
=9	Ken Atherton	Ramulam Charlie (Kelpie)	33
=9	Rose Cassidy	Nolans Shana	33

Open Placings
Judged by Gordon Curtis

1	Peter Gorman	Coshies Dusty	75	84	159
=2	Nan Lloyd	Kumbark Lexie (Kelpie)	80	77	157
=2	Tanya DeBijl	Boylee Scout	80	77	157
=4	Dave Lacey	Akoonah Blondie	74	48	122
=4	Frank Maynard	Akoonah Sherry	64	58	122
6	Andrew Gorton	Olboa May	82	34	116
7	Tanya DeBijl	Daleview Wally	63	23	86
8	Simon Leaning	Marionvale Di	81	X	81
9	Ivan Solomon	Perengery Fran	79	LS	79
10	Steve Wallace	Gibsons Sweep	78	LS	78
11	Dave Lacey	Akoonah Lady	73	LS	73
12	Ivan Solomon	Perengery Trish	58	RET	58