“It was the best of times –

It was the worse of times”. I would give “odds” anyone that has ever trialed has connected with that famous quote from “Tale of two cities”. Zamora was like “Tale of two cities” :@) The first trial had a totally different winner than the second – moral of the trial (or life) – never give up trying!

The weather was perfect (tad hot on Monday Nursery/PN day) which is always special at Zamora – because handlers can sit out to watch dogs crest 3 hills to find 4 sheep 700 yards away.  Outruns are dramatic enough but watching dogs trying to hold pressure and fetch down hill between two ridges – is seeing dog work at it’s finest. I think the main draw for Zamora is the course (of course :@) and dog work. Sure, handling always helps  – but I have always appreciated watching dogs handle sheep more than watching people handle them and you get to see that at this amazing hill trial.

Scores can be found here: 

As they say a picture is worth a thousand words … so here are a couple. One at a distance and one up close (well as close as you can get to 6-7 hundred yards).

  

Or if you appreciate the “printed word” more … here are a couple of newspaper articles:

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/10/5250408/past-never-far-away-in-bucolic.html

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/09/5250322/zamora.html

P.S.

We will “end it off” with more of the quote – sounds like dog trialing to me :@)

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way” …