Brita and the Herding Trial

She wasn’t herself during the practice the day before the trial and seemed to want to leave the pen and not herd so I put in an emergency call to Marilyn:

Me: tell her I know she can do the work and there will only be 3 sheep tomorrow.
Marilyn: is the trial at the same place you were today?
Me: yes.
Marilyn: she's showing me a hill – is it on a hill?
Me: there's a hill behind it and a road on top of the hill.
Marilyn: she's afraid that more sheep will come down the hill and surprise her.
Marilyn: she's telling me she can handle more than 3 sheep but doesn't want to be surprised.
Marilyn: is it a busy road
Me: Yes - Highway 10
Marilyn: I told her there were cars on the road and they would stay there.
Marilyn: she wants you to show her the top of the hill again tomorrow.
Me: No problem
Marilyn: did you show her today?
Me: yes we walked to a road under the highway and sat for a bit.
Me: tell her Bonnie's going to work her tomorrow.
Marilyn: she said good, she likes Bonnie. She said Bonnie's smart and explains everything very clearly. Not that you don't she said but Bonnie's really smart. You're fun.

Me: anything else she wants to tell me?
Marilyn: she said she wants water tomorrow.
Me: oh my gosh… she didn't have any today right away and it wasn't until later that I gave her some.
Marilyn: Ohhhh.. that's scary when that happens… lol

After the trial - Me: so.... she pulled it off and has her first leg of an HT. Is this what the hill looked like? (photo sent) At first she didn't want to herd and actually came to the judge as if to say I'll just stand by this lady thank you. Then Bonnie dropped the stick that's used, called her out and let her chase the sheep and then started directing her to the cones. The whole thing took less than 3 minutes and you are allowed 10 min. Behind where Bonnie is standing is more open space and I parked there overlooking the field so that's what she was watching all day and I took her to the other side of the road to show her there were no sheep.

Marilyn: That is SO weird! That's exactly what the hill looked like from her perspective! When you told me last night that it was by the side of the freeway, I was skeptical, because my impression of what the hill looked like and what a hill on the side of the highway would look like to me are two different things, but now that I see the pictures that's exactly what it looked like!