Welcome

to the South of England Sheep Dog Trials web site.

Formerly run by The Sussex Sheepdog Society the site name has been changed to reflect that it is now sponsored in association with Romney Marsh and District, Thanet, and Cornwall Sheepdog Societies.

Find out about upcoming events all over the south of England in TRIALS and follow links in RESOURCES to the International Sheep Dog Society, Surrey Sheep Dog Society and other sites of interest.

For the casual visitor, sheepdog trials and their objectives are explained in ABOUT SSDS.

To submit your trial dates and information, trial results and to take advantage of the MARKETPLACE click HERE for the south east or HERE for the west country. Send us brief Trial reports which will then be found in Trials/Past Trials.

NEWS...

TRIAL UPDATES AND SOCIETY NEWS
Editor 08/01/2010
SUSSEX SHEEP DOG SOCIETY
An Extraordinary General Meeting was held on Friday Feb. 5th. Interested parties were invited to attend to attempt to resolve the dire situation in which the Society found itself.
There was a good turn out and having established that the majority of those present (just 1 dissenting vote) did not want to see the Society fold, and that there were persons present prepared to take on the task of running it, the meeting closed having elected a new committee with a full compliment of officers. Louise Amos is the new Chairman. The Secretary is Ruth Payton. Her telephone number, for contact with the Society, is 01892 610954.
We wish the new Committee the very best of luck and hope that they will be supported by all triallists so that the Society gets the best chance of getting back on it´s feet.

A DATE FOR THE DIARY!!!
GOLDEN CELEBRATION TRIAL will be held at Appledore on Sun. 23rd May to celebrate Dave Thompson´s 50th year of trialling.
We hope to make it a surprise so please keep it a secret from Dave.
Further details to follow.

THE ROMNEY MARSH AGM WAS HELD AFTER THE DECEMBER TRIAL ON 13/12/2009
At the AGM dates for 2010 Trials were decided as follows:-
20/06 RIGSHILL
04/07 CHILHAM CASTLE
08/08 RAWNIE FARM
05/09 SCOTNEY CASTLE
07/11 FORDCOMBE (TBC)
A further two Trials will be held (on the same day) in November, date and venue to be confirmed.

THANET SDS
held their AGM on SATURDAY 30th JANUARY 2010 at Godmersham Village Hall.
Provisional dates for Thanet Trials in 2010 are as follows:-
5th and 6th June
18th July
14th August
9th and 10th October.
Thanet will also take over the running of the EAST KENT PLOUGHING MATCH which will be held as usual on the last Wednesday in September. which this year is the 29th.

Full details for all the above Trials will be posted in TRIALS as and when they are recieved.

FOR RESULTS OF ROMNEY MARSH NURSERIES go to TRIALS/PAST TRIALS
click on the appropriate Trial and look in Details.

The Hidden Dangers of Dog Trialling. Written by Andrew Gorton
From our Australian correspondent 28/11/2009

There‘s a lot of positives about dog trialling …..and you would think that it was a pretty safe sort of sport to be involved in. This is why I feel the need to tell you all a little story to highlight the dangers of our chosen past time. …. it is perhaps not as safe as you think it is.

My story begins on a beautiful crisp but sunny Thursday morning when I left my farm at Wellington Mills (which is about half way between Donnybrook and Collie) for the sheep dog trials at the far off Mecca of Ballidu. Now I’m the sort of bloke that likes to take my time and enjoy the journey and I will usually find a quiet back way to travel if I can. It just so happens on this particular trip I chose a little gravel road that cuts through the bush between Williams and Pingelly. I have travelled this road on many occasion and one of the reasons I go this way is that it has a great spot just down a little track where there is a small stream and nice clearing to run your dogs and I have never seen anyone else there. So it is a great spot to sit back and have morning tea.

Now on this particular trip I had a litter of pups on board as well as the three older dogs, Boylee Ella and Grassvalley Tippy (the mum and dad of the pups) and a little cross bred bitch called Mac’s Jillee. Now Jillee is a little dog that thinks the whole world was created as a playground for her. She tackles everything she does with a youthful exuberance that must be seen to be believed.
Anyway, back to the story….. I’m driving down the road, head full of tactics for the upcoming trial, dreaming of the first and second placing I was sure to win …..when I spied the little track that leads to my oasis in the bush. Hard on the brakes I swung the Ute with the caravan in tow down the track. 50 m along I start to get the feeling I am on the wrong track ….100m…. 200m…. the track now narrowing and getting rougher by the meter. I now know I am definitely on the wrong track , and I’m thinking …..I must find somewhere to turn around. 300m….. 400m….. 500m down this track…... there must be somewhere just ahead to turn around. 600m…. 700m…. now the panic is starting to set in with the realization that I might just have to back the caravan all the way out of here…... when up ahead loomed ….not the nice gentle creek that I’m used to but a raging torrent of water, fast, furious and flowing about ten feet across…. and still nowhere to turn around.

I sat there in the Ute for a moment to assess the situation and came to the conclusion that while I was here I might as well make the most of it and let the dogs out and have a cuppa. Then I would nice and calmly back the 800m on this tiny, rough, winding, slippery, tree lined track ,so I could continue on my way.

Out I hop full of optimism. I let Ella, Tippy and Jillee out, open the cage with the six pups, put two on the ground, next two and then the last two ….only to turn around to find lying dead, not ten feet away , the biggest ,stinkiest ,slimiest , greenest ,kangaroo you have ever seen.
Now this is where the story really starts to go downhill. The pups who were about six weeks old had also discovered this wonderful putrid treasure and were busily chewing, eating, rolling and disappearing inside this great carcass. There was no way in the world they were coming away from such a giant gift from god…...but boy did it stink. I raced over and grabbed two, back into the cage they went ….back again with two more, but the last two seeing what had happened to their siblings had managed to extract a very large lump of yuk from inside the roo and disappear under the caravan with it …...and realizing that at any moment they may lose their precious gift were doing their best to eat it. The little buggers were right under the middle of the van …..just out of my reach. So there I was, lying flat on my back, stretched out under the van, and the only thing I could reach …...a part of the Yuk that they were devouring. I held my breath , grabbed hold and pulled…... but the little darlings were not for giving up. Anyway I was starting to win the battle and just about had them out when…... Jillee in all her exuberance, and her great willingness to share, presented fair in my face a rather large piece of this Yuk …...and it contained a healthy population of big fat white wiggly things. …. Well….. when it comes to maggots I haven’t got the strongest constitution and it didn’t take long before the breakfast I had had several hours before was sitting on the ground beside me. Now Jillee on seeing this, thought that as she had shared her meal with me that I was doing the same thing for her. So there I was, sitting in the dirt , one hand full of Yuk that two pups were pulling ferociously on….. the other hand trying to keep Jillee from recycling my breakfast …... and a beard full of stinky wigglers.

Now this is when Tippy comes flying past at break neck speed ….down the hill and launches himself from 15 feet away into the swirling mass of water. Well Tippy can’t swim, and much to his horror , when he landed he couldn’t touch the bottom. He only had time to let out one petrified yip and he was gone

Up I sprang….. last two pups into the box ….and off in search of Tip. I didn’t have to go far down stream when much to my relief I saw Tippy coming back towards me with a really big smile on his stupid face…….
….only problem was, he was on the other side….. and there was no way he was going to be convinced to come back across that creek.

This is where I was thankful we were out in the middle of nowhere because the sight of a rather large fat man in his y fronts, wading across a very cold stream ,carrying a Border Collie with a stupid grin on its face, is not something people should have to see.

Anyway the next hour or so was spent washing dogs, washing beards and washing me …. all in a freezing creek , whilst the whole time Ella was lying up on the bank with her front legs crossed and a very unimpressed frown on her face. ...(she has no sense of humour).

The van was backed out with surprising ease and we were on our way once more, perhaps just a little bit wiser and more cautious than when we left home that morning. So to triallers new and old, just remember— there are hidden dangers to sheep dog trialling.