Strang Ranch

06/30/2024

Lots of fun things planned for July!

➡️Summer in the Rockies IV & V
➡️USPC Championships at the KY Horse Park
➡️Copper Penny II

📷Caspian &

06/27/2024

Happy horses happy kids

06/22/2024

Pony Club Rally day 1

06/17/2024

Grey horses were great in the hunter & eq ring this week

Pratt & Jackie
🥇 Marshall and Sterling Medal
🥇Champion 12-14 Eq
🥉 THIS Medal
4th Dorothy Roberts Medal
4th Col. Robertson Medal

Caspian & Avalon
🥉Col. Robertson Medal
4th in the Marshall and Sterling

06/17/2024

Liam & Rhea playing in the jumpers this week with great rounds in the .95m and 1.0m classes
🥇in the .95m
🥉in the .95 stake

06/17/2024

Lucky Boy & Caryn killed it in the jumper ring at Summer in the Rockies I this week!
🥇.75m Stake
🥈.85m Stake
🥈Reserve in the .75m

06/16/2024

Good boy Liam - clean and fast in .95

06/16/2024

Wins the .75 stake and second in the .85
Caryn killing it at show!

06/16/2024

Support team rocks

01/25/2024

Any horse peeps live anywhere near Horsepen Va?

01/03/2024

ISO Large pony or smaller horse for Kid coming out of school program. L or S but we need a trial. Perfect one is probably a quiet Large that does everything. WE trail ride, do some Pony Club cross country and show a bit. Not looking to make anything up, or finish anything. Been there and doing that please. Anything like this in Colorado or Thermal?

09/22/2023

The schwag has arrived!!!
4 days to kick off!!
Looking for help building the village Saturday afternoon and Sunday
Free Ranch CrossFit!!

09/19/2023

And it starts… ready set go
One week from today we begin the preliminary to determine the 2023 National Champion
Still some open volunteer slots
Carbondalesheepdogfinals.com
Usbcha National Finals Sheepdog Trials in Carbondale, CO.

09/13/2023

https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/2120192780112/false?fbclid=IwAR3Cpe9QLqFbVYhwhUW8XitMG3gd9sv6MGbxUiwpFq9L-WL8FOWUl8McZgs_aem_Ae7lc1T1Ci-4_z-ZkUbwZLu1X3s2R24I8ozZEMI0Cl5Y9CYYUVjZtFHjzHh0tf45V0Y

SignUp.com makes it easy to coordinate school events & classroom activities, fundraisers, snack schedules, potlucks & more!

09/05/2023

Check! Liquor license done ✔️
Ready set go here come the National Sheepdog finals at Strang Ranch

08/10/2023

Ok
- I need some help spreading the word.
The National Finals website address is
Carbondalesheepdogfinals.com
It has hotel, sponsorship, volunteer and vendor info
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!
There is not a link at the USBCHA site at the moment.

The National Sheep Dog Finals will be held in Carbondale, Colorado at Strang Ranch.

06/20/2023

Alasdair rarely posts on Facebook but he and I were caught in a downpour this morning and while sheltering from the storm, we got on the topic of stopping dogs at the top of the outrun.
We’ve heard there’s a small group of judges penalizing dogs at trials that stop at the top.
It’s something Alasdair and I do often and we believe it’s vital, never mind shouldn’t be penalized.
I asked him to write, as a shepherd, his thoughts——

When gathering on the highland hills with steep rock faces, deep sided Burns (creeks) with waterfalls and few crossing places, you needed either a lot of people walking in a staggered line or fewer people if they had good dogs.
The rule at these gatherings was that the less control you had on your dog, the less distance you were allowed to send them; some were never off the leash until the sheep were all bunched.
They used to put me in the difficult places because I could stop my dogs at a distance and keep them stopped, while the sheep negotiated the narrow sheep paths (trods) where it was too dangerous for people to walk on and sometimes even for sheep, but a dog could follow carefully or be stopped strategically, to give the sheep plenty time to find their own way.
If hurried, a lead sheep could slip and fall, the rest might, thinking it was safe, follow the lead sheep down a precipice and that was a disaster.

When doing pre lambing gathering in the highlands, I used to send my dogs out a lot further than most, to where the sheep could see the dog, and then I’d lie my dog down at the end of its outrun as some twin bearing ewes were weaker and couldn’t stand being pressured by a dog, no matter how gently approached.
If a shepherd could stop their dog and give the sheep plenty of time, the ewes would follow and try and keep with the others, safely navigating their way.
Too much dog or a dog getting too close, and you would have the healthy sheep run and when the weaker ewes couldn’t keep up with them, they would turn and face the dog, lie down or otherwise be unable to make it all the way to the sheep fank (working pens), which would then require shepherds to come back out again another day or maybe two days, to find those weaker ewes and try to bring them home. That could take days and was very costly in man hours when there was a lot of work on; time and daylight were precious commodities.
The importance of a stop at the end of an outrun was magnified in these situations.
If you couldn’t stop your dog, the farmers often said not to send your dog but walk up and down the hill, shout and whistle and try to help move them along the face of the hill yourself.
The farther away you could stop your dog, the more effective and efficient you could be.
A stop on the hill was worth its weight in gold in many situations.

It’s always been difficult to get a dog that could push heavy groups of sheep to be obedient at half a mile and also work out of sight by itself if required; all three things are necessary and all three important and to be encouraged, not penalized but to be bred for and displayed for future breeders at trials.

Stronger dogs, the ones that are especially effective on bigger and heavier groups, should often be stopped to make them more subtle lifting and prove to breeders they can be obedient at a distance.
The versatility of the working border collie is one of their most revered traits, their ability to work on their own and also to instantly take commands at a distance both important.

Hearing that there are a small group of politicians/judges penalizing a handler that stops their dog at trials at the end of an outrun, goes against a sought after and important quality, one that generations of hill shepherds and breeders of olde have strived for and greatly valued.
I for one, am not arrogant enough to think that I know better.

06/16/2023

So well said

Bill Steinkraus told THM in 1983: “I cannot stress too much the vital importance of restoring all aids to their normal state as soon as the horse has complied with them. Once the horse has gone forward, ease up on your driving aids; once it has shortened, open your fingers again enough to reward. It is very common to see exactly the opposite: the rider gets the horse to come back once, but never releases his closed fingers again, and spends the rest of the hour hanging in the horse’s mouth, or, having gotten the horse to go forward, spends the rest of the day with his legs stuck halfway through the horse. The reason you want your aids to be effective is so that you can teach the horse to respond to them more and more sensitively – and so that you can use them less and less."
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2021/08/four-showjumping-masters-part-2-william-steinkraus/

02/24/2023

02/09/2023

01/29/2023

$12345 — Freezers full!!~ near the Missouri Heights neighborhood in Carbondale, CO. Find items in Finds on Nextdoor - all listings are local.