One scary thing, when you write as much to the list as I do about herding, is that people begin to think that I am an expert, and that Bryna must be a super herder. They seem to think this, even though lots of my stories include depiction of me falling on my rear in mud--or worse. Actually, what I feel like an expert on is not so much TQH (Total Quality Herding), as HWHF (Herding While Having Fun).
So just to make sure that you all get a more accurate impression of our abilities (HWHF), let me tell you what happened yesterday. Karen Norteman's idea of a really major tourist attraction in the DC area is called Watching Lynne and Bryna Herd. (No tickets or advance purchase required.) So we went for a lesson to Mary Brighoff's farm, where I had attended a clinic the weekend before. (We had our Easter lamb on the hoof, so to speak.)
If you saw my previous post about the clinic, you may remember that Mary has Barbados sheep, and I described them as "sticky." It turns out that after the sheep got used in the two 2-day clinics she ran, they were pretty antsy, and more like your basic Barbs that I had heard about but never worked before. Their flight zone was huge, though they were still attracted to the handler. There were several consequences of this situation.
First, Bryna's chasing instincts were really revved up. These sheep were fun, fun, fun! Second, I really had to work to keep Bryna back from them. Third, when I failed, Bryna split the stock quickly and easily. Mary wanted me to stop the action ASAP after such an event so as to avoid "rewarding" Bryna with a fun chase scene.
The more general consequences were that the 2 of us were making mistakes of timing and position that we had not made for several months. I inadvertently blocked Bryna many times, and failed to move to prevent her from closing in. We had to drop back to basics like circling and changing directions. It was the hottest day (about 65 degrees F, I would guess, and I could wear just a light t-shirt and jeans in the ring) that we had worked since October, so Bryna tired a bit quicker. The evidence of that was not that she dropped in a heap (NEVER!), but that her performance deteriorated. Mary said that sometimes Bryna was just chasing, rather than herding.
As we paused for breaks, Mary told us things that I already knew from working other sheep, but I just wasn't doing them quickly enough for this situation. (Argghh--move faster, feet!) One interesting insight she passed along was the following: as Bryna began to come around the sheep, it was clear that I saw that she was closing in, and I did move my body and my stock stick to correct it. However, she said that if I really concentrated, I might see that start to happen even earlier, and move to correct it even sooner that I was. Lots of dogs, she said, drop their tails, or lower their heads, or show other behaviors that suggest a "wahoo, here I come" event is about to happen. If I can spot that, then I can prevent it while Bryna is still thinking about it. I am definitely going to have to give that observation some serious thought.
Anyhow, it was not a disaster, but it was still a bit discouraging. Even so, it was good for us to work much more difficult sheep (difficult in their own way, anyhow), and we learned quite a bit. Sweet Pea was very tired, and I had to do so much work that I was more tired too. Nonetheless, I hugged her quite a bit when we finished our 2 sessions. We are going back next Sunday. We'll master those tricky Barbs yet.
Humble but still enjoying it,
Lynne (not an expert) and Bryna (but Mom, *I'm* pretty good!)