Blog

Finally, it seems, the long dark months are over and it's time to get back on the field to catch up with fellow competitors and their sheepdogs.

Wales may be one of the most keenly contested areas to compete in the country, but very little takes place in winter.

In the summer it's not unusual to have more than 100 dogs running at a trial. I've often wondered why other parts of the country seem to hold more nurseries and even open trials in the winter, and Wales doesn't.

The Welsh counties play host to their nurseries and the hardy handlers among us venture to the nursery championships, but other than that it's all quiet on the trialling front.

If I'm honest, I'm a bit of a fair weather competitor. Even now, after more than a decade of travelling to sheepdog trials, I never seem to wear enough layers.

Maybe it's because I'm from Pembrokeshire that I'm always shocked by the chilly climes when we venture away from home.

As Dai Jones Llanilar commented at the recent indoor trial, as he was announcing Pembrokeshire competitor Stan Harden to the ring: "It's already summer down there boys."

Or maybe it's because when you have to leave home still blurry-eyed at the crack of dawn, you just don't know what the day's weather will bring.

Either way, come rain or shine, the prospect of returning to the trials scene is a time of eager anticipation when anything is possible.