Karara sheep dog trial on from today to Sunday
KARARA is a hub for sheep dog trials and there will be 235 dog-and-handler combinations in action this weekend.
The action started at 7am today and early tomorrow and Sunday.
There are 120 nominations in the open, 90 in novice and 25 in the encourage trial which will be held before the finals on Sunday.
Swan Creek handler Geoff Gibson will be at Karara with seven dogs straight after returning this week from the nationals in Northam, Western Australia. Gibson and his wife Rosemary drove a round trip of 10,000km to the nationals.
Gibson represented Queensland with Gibsons DJ and the combination was selected to represent Australia in next year's Trans Tasman competition in New Zealand.
Jim and Rhonda O'Connell from Winton will both compete at Karara five days after returning from Western Australia. Jim won an open trial at Wagin, Western Australia, with his dog Camara Collie.
The same combination will be one of the favourites in the open this weekend.
Ian Cullen is supplying the sheep for the weekend competition. Each combination has 15 minutes to complete the course in the open and 12 minutes on a smaller course in the novice.
Action will be on two courses at Karara.
