The First Collie Trial. 105 



distance from Rhiwlas by rail and road, and they stood the 

 two hundred and thirty mile journey very well. 



The earliest gathering ever held appears to have been 

 most successful and pleasant in every particular. There 

 was a good entry, including competitors from various parts 

 of the country, and the novelty of the thing and the excel- 

 lent work done by the shepherds' dogs appear to have 

 pleased the visitors immensely. May be it w r ould be well 

 here to mention the winner of chief honours. This was 

 Mr. James Thompson's Tweed, and the names of both the 

 owner and his dog convey their nationality. Tweed was so 

 good looking an animal that, after securing the competition, 

 he was awarded the special prize as the handsomest sheep 

 dog on the ground. The Field reporter at that time speaks 

 in high terms of Sam, a Northumberland dog " of the 

 Ridley stock," whose performances were excellent, but he 

 did not appear to be quite so well handled as the winner, 

 and Sam came but third. The general arrangements here 

 at this first meeting appear to have been very similar to 

 those continued since by the North-Western Trials Associa- 

 tion, and by others held at Oswestry, Llanberis, Silecroft, 

 and elsewhere. 



These arrangements are simplicity itself, and with two 

 or three good managers undertaking the work in hand, 

 the cost of the preliminaries is not great. In the first 

 instance, suitable ground is to be found. Of necessity 

 this need not be in one field, but must be of an extent 

 of say, extending in one direction about half to three- 

 quarters of a mile by about a quarter of a mile in 

 breadth. From a note made by me at the time, I find that 

 at the trials held at Gilsland, near Carlisle, in 1885 the 

 dogs had to drive their sheep something over 800 yards, 



