Rush of Swift Star Farm (+playlist)

Made a Video of Rush the other day. Weather has been all over the place and picked a miserable day outside to make this inside :)

Merry Christmas

Wishing the few people who are faithful to my Blog a
Very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful Healthy Happy New Year.

the fruit does not fall far from the tree

Through out Opal's training I could not help but notice how much like her mother Bracken, she is.
I recently thought it would be a good test for Opal to push the flock down off the hill where they had camped out since the recent snow. We had cumulative amounts in the one foot range give or take. At any rate it was chest deep to dogs and the sheep were happy just to loaf in one spot and have hay to eat. They had no interest in leaving that hilltop and had no reason other than a dog to convince them otherwise. It was also good for Opal to help keep sheep away from me while I supplement round bale feed with smaller square bales. We were in a cold deep dive. Temperatures averaging in the teens and low 20's during the day and single digits at night (though as I write this we are in an unusual warm snap, 60 today and in the 50's as I write this).
So after working Opal and videoing it I though "wouldn't it be neat to work Bracken and splice the works together to see how close they work alike" . I brought Bracken out and ran her through the pace.
She was happy to oblige . She still is pretty fit for an aged dog. A bit slower on outwork, maybe cutting the top off a bit at times. Her eyesight maybe not as sharp as in her younger years but still good enough. She loves farm work and it has been hard not to use her or my other two reliable workers, Spirit or Dream for sorting  out for breeding, ear tagging, worming, foot trimming or all the other tasks involved managing 100 + sheep.
I have been giving this work to Rush, Flint and recently most often to Opal.

So anyway here is the Video I put together of Opal and Bracken. I really was amazed when putting this together they work even more alike than I had imagined !

Thanksgiving song Parody

sung to Jim Hendrix Purple Haze

Turkey Haze

Turkey Haze all in my brain
Lately things just don't seem the same
Acting funny, but I don't know why
'scuse me while I grab another slice of pie

Turkey Haze all around
Don't know if I'm coming up or down
Am I happy or in Tryptophan misery?
What ever it is, that birds put a spell on me

Help me help me
oh no no ....no

yeah
Turkey Haze all in my eyes
don't know if it's day or night
You got me tired, tired out of my mind
Is it tomorrow or just the end of time?

Opal at two years old

Sorry the quality is so bad. I just don't know how to fix it or why it always looks too tiled when I transfer.

Training clinic with Michael Gallagher

Swift Star Farm hosted a clinic with Michael Gallagher.

Michael is from a small coastal village named Armoy in Northern Ireland . Both his Father and Uncle use, train and trial sheepdogs.
He has had many accomplishments in UK. Qualifying for to be on the Irish team on numerous occasion to run in the Supreme International Sheepdog Trial.
As well as winning the Supreme in 2010 with his talented Cap.

He has been in Canada and USA since spring ,staying with Amanda Milliken for now when he is not traveling to run his dogs, give clinics and lessons as well as Judge trials here and Canada.
He won the Kingston sheepdog trial this past August with his bitch Flo, beating close to 140 dogs entered.

He was very easy to work with, calming and accurate in his assessment of dogs . He used calm, quiet technique to get his point across as well as the training exercises he offered to help fix problems handers were addressing . It was great fun and I am glad to have hosted him here at Swift Star. I hope to have him back in the future.

I Will Remember You