2017 Sundowner Futurity and Challenge

Every year November is a busy time of the year for us. Deer season is getting close and futurity training is getting down to the nitty gritty.

We ran a female pup that we bred and raised this year. Tess is sired by my Ace dog and out of my Dot female. We were anxious to get Tess in training but we were aware she had big shoes to fill. Ace and Dot both were past futurity dogs that we owned and ran with success but doesn't always mean that the offspring will benefit from successful parents!! To say we were excited was an understatement. 

Tess started strong out of the gate and was 2nd in the first round. It was her first time to town, first time away from home, and first time to be indoors. If the story of first sounds to good to be true than continue reading!! After winning day 2 we were setting in the cat bird seat first in the average. Day 3 brings the short round and as you can already guess. Tess was First. We were humbled by the win and even more humbled by the compliments of both Tess and her breeding.

Ace was entered in the Open Challenge and as luck would have it I'm sure I used up our luck in the futurity!! He had a good day one just came up short on day money. Day 2 was a much better day and moved us up to 5th in the average and qualified for the short go. The short go was another improvement and after the dust settled we ended up finishing 3rd in the average. A very pleasing ending to a rough start but that is trialing for you.

Blessed with another successful year of trialing, futurity success, and a busy year of training dogs. As always we are here to help train your next cowdog. Please feel free to call me with any questions.

Thanks Paul 

2017 Tulsa State Fair Futurity

We attended the Jack King Futurity this past fall and what an enjoyable trial it is. Cooler weather, great facility, and my favorite thing....FUTURITY!!
We had an exceptional trip with our futurity dogs. We were fortunate enough to win with a pup that we ran last fall at futurity. Jax was Reserve Champion last year and this year came away as the Champion.
Ace was entered in the open and had a really tough draw on day one but handled it good. Just not good enough to get a check. Day 2 was a little different with Ace winning the round and day money.

2014 Sundowner Futurity and Challenge

The Sundowner Futurity is the highlight of the year for me. I love taking a young dog that is fresh in training and competing.
This year at futurity I ran my female dog Dot. Dot is a nice little female that I hope can carry on the Gilbert breeding program. She is out of Gilbert's Nuge (Razor's Zack x Gilbert's Belle) and out of a Boomer x Zack female!! Dot had a tough calf the first day and missed getting 1 calf loaded by 1 second!!! She continued to move up in the average the next round and qualified for the finals in good shape. Dot won the final round and the Calcutta but at the end of the day the points missed in the first round cost her the 1st hole. I was extremely happy with Dot's runs and CAN NOT wait to breed her this spring. Dot reminds me so much of a female I had named Belle.......Big shoes to fill but I sure do like her.
I also ran Hoss in the futurity and open challenge. Hoss has had a special run this past year. Hoss won the futurity last year as a 14 month old pup, won the Jack King Futurity in Tulsa, and 3rd at the West Fork Challenge. I had him in training for a my good buddy Kirby Ellenburg. Hoss ran in 4 futurity events this past year and won 2 of them. At this years futurity Hoss qualified for the finals as a top 10 dog. He also qualified in the top 10 in the Open Challenge. Hoss handled really well be never had that great draw that is needed to get the big hole. I have really enjoyed having Hoss around and look for him to have success on Kirby's truck in the coming years. Hoss is sired by Gilbert's Badge owned by Kirby Ellenburg and out of a great Zack bred female owned by Brett Carter
I ran King in the open challenge this year as well. King is a past futurity champion and I can promise he's as tough as they come and strong on the front end. King qualified for the finals and ended up winning 3rd. King is sired by Ace and out of a Zack Female.

2014 Westfork Challenge

The Westfork Challenge was held this year in the famous Cowtown Coliseum in Ft Worth Texas as a part of the Red Stegall Cowboy weekend. There were 10 invitees and I was lucky enough to get the call. I ran a young dog "Hoss" that I had in training for futurity and we ended up placing 3rd!! I was at the trailer to load my cattle fast for a possible go round win and just had some tough luck. Hoss gathered them back and we got them loaded but was a little long to win first

Tulsa State Fair

We recently competed at the Tulsa State Fair and what a time we had!! This trial is special to me because of the name sake of the trial Mr. Jack King. Jack was there and we were thrilled to have dogs entered. We hauled Hoss for Kirby Ellenburg, Paul for Casey Wood, and our young female Dot to compete at the futurity. We also ran in the Team Challenge with Kirby and as always it was a pleasure to get to handle Spook.
The futurity was loaded full of great young dogs and the competition was fierce. After day one Hoss was setting 1st and Dot was setting 4th. Kirby and I were setting second in the Team Challenge after he ran Gilbert's Badge and I ran Gilbert's Spook.
 Day 2 brought out the best in everyone but at the end of the day Hoss was the Champion. He drew well both days and handled extremely nice. Dot had a nice draw as well both times but as the chips fell she ended up 4th. Kirby and I were able to hold on and win a 2nd in the Team Challenge.
We were excited for our dogs, our placings, and the buckles. But as I said at the beginning of this note the most satisfying was getting to win the futurity with Mr. Jack there.

Sundowner Stockdog Association Trial

In early September we hauled dogs to the Sundowner trial in Calera. I have 3 young dogs in training right now for the fall futurities and felt like it would do them some good to get off the place and expose them to the trial elements. I took Hoss for Kirby Ellenburg, Paul for Casey Wood, and my young female Dot and ran them in the Open. Hoss showed well but was a few out of the money. Paul had only been in training for 3 weeks and considering that he did good. Dot had a really good day and ended up 3rd in the open out of 25+ dogs!! We were excited for the dogs success

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