About the trial: Our Trial dates for 2026 will be as follows.
Novice/Ranch
We will be holding a one-day Novice Ranch Day on Sunday July 12
There will be two rounds of Novice and two rounds of Ranch classes.
The Ranch class will be an outrun lift fetch and a one leg drive to the first panel and back to the pen, Outrun will be 200 yards
The Novice class will be Outrun lift fetch and a ware to the first drive panel back to the pen, Outrun will be 125 yards
Cost of each run for these classes will be $45 each run per dog.
You can enter 2 dogs per handler.
Trial entry will Open June 2nd and will close when full.
The Entry form will be posted here May 1st
There will be no refunds after June 22
Start time for this trial will be 8am handlers meeting
Our Judge for the day will be Jennifer Boznos
Jennifer is a very accomplished open handler competing at top level.
Jennifer has her own training school Call of the Wild she manages obedience classes and problem dogs of all breeds. Jennifer has her own farm and also does some instruction on herding lessons.
Please don’t hesitate to ask Jennifer a question if you are a first time trialist and unsure of anything on the day.
Open
The Open class will commence on Wednesday July 15th starting with Open 1
Thursday July 16 we will commence with open 1 to the end we will begin Open 2
Friday we will commence with Open 2 till the end
There will be a 2-dog limit in Open classes
Saturday July 18 will be our Pro Novice Nursery Day
We will run 2 rounds of Pro Novice and 2 rounds of Nursery both courses will be the same outrun lift fetch full cross drive and pen,
We are allowing you to enter both Nursery and Pro Novice this year unless we do get ridiculously oversubscribed so, please write a separate check for Nursey and Pro Novice runs limited to 2 dogs per handler.
Cost of each run will be:
Open Classes $75 each run per dog
Pro Novice and Nursery $50 each run per dog
Sunday July 19 will be our Double Lift Day
The open date for this trial will be June 9th and close when full waitlist will be kept
The entry form will be posted here and on the USBCHA Trials site May 1st
There will be no refunds after June 22
Start time for this trial will be 7am handlers meeting
Our Judge: Norman Close
Norman was raised on a mixed farm in Lancashire England and has been working with livestock all his life. In 1980 be immigrated to Alberta Canada to work as a herdsman and now resides in Viola Idaho with his wife Vickie, together they own Farm Diggity.
Norman is experienced in the trialing world of sheepdogs hosting several trials including the Canadian National Finals he has judged many of the trials in the US in Canada, including the Canadian National Finals and the US Finals three times.
July Trial at Irish Woods
Prior Winners 2025
OPEN 1
1st Jeanine Henigin & Coal
2nd Rose Anderson & Deri
3rd Tildon Kirby & Trudy
OPEN 2
1st Gordon Watt & Dude
2nd Robin French & Tink
3rd Samantha Jones & Ness
PRO-NOVICE
1st Chris Stapleton & Light
2nd Jeff Seeger & Brodie
3rd Kathy Knox & Bill
RANCH
1st Linda Gray & Bliss
2nd Becky Hansen & Hail
NURSERY 1
1st Tucker Benjamin & Lad
2nd Tildon Kirby & Lad
3rd Gordon Watt & Smokey
NURSERY 2
1st Jeanine Henigin & Coal
2nd Michael McNutt & Mickey
3rd Tildon Kirby & Lad
NOVICE NOVICE
1st Raana Gatza & Kip
High Combined Open - Annie O’Toole Memorial Trophy Winner
Jeanine Henigin & Coal
Double Lift Winner
Champion
Tildon Kirby & Trudy
Reserve Champion
Kay Stephens
Judge: Mark Day
