Even after securing 13 sheepdog trial championships, Alasdair MacRae's hands were shaking from the adrenaline.
He and his border collie, Tweed, scored nearly perfect on one of their Saturday runs at the four-day Russellville Happy Hollow Sheepdog Trial that drew roughly 65 competitors from across the nation and parts of Canada.
The pair had 10 minutes to skillfully herd a trio of crosshair sheep through the 40-acre course. Every contestant has 10 minutes to complete the course and starts each run with 100 points. With each mistake, the judge - who traveled from Scotland - docked them points.
Handlers stood at the head of the course several acres away from where the dog started driving the sheep through the course, and the handler used a whistle to communicate commands. The dogs had to drive the sheep straight through the middle of three open-fence panels situated in a wide triangular pattern. The dogs were then instructed to drive the sheep to their handler, cut one sheep out of the herd and then herd the three sheep into a small pen.
MacRae, 57, and his trim collie received an impressive 98 points for their run. They'd taken first, second and third place on Friday.
The Scottish Highlander moved to Missouri in 2005 and currently resides in Vichy, about 50 miles southeast of Jefferson City. When MacRae was 18 years old, he was a shepherd apprentice on a 1,500-acre farm in Laurencekirk, Scotland. It was during those two years that the sport became his passion. He'd never seen a border collie perform with such precision, and he started competing in sheepdog trials in 1979.
"It's who I am," he said, It's part of me. It's ingrained in me. I feel like I was born to do it. (When you're out there,) the pressure builds, and then there's this release of adrenaline. It feels like this was built into my DNA."
MacRae has owned seven generations of Tweed's ancestry. Tweed will be 3 years old next month, and this is his fourth open competition trial. The open trials are a step above the professional novice competitors, so the handlers and dogs at the Russellville trial are among the top competitors.
Jan Moore, of Sedalia, was helping run the competition, but she is also competing with her 4-year-old border collie, Speck. She and her husband live on a 138-acre farm where they raise cattle and sheep.
"I have sheep because I have border collies," she said - 10 of them, to be exact, and they compete in trials with five of her collies.
Moore has traveled to Colorado and Minnesota for the trials and has been competing for 10 to 15 years, she said.
"We first got border collies to work on the farm and to help with the cattle," she said. "Then you hear about the trials and think, 'Well my dog can do that' until you get them out there realize they need more training. You get addicted."
Collies have a natural instinct to herd animals and bring them to their handler. Training the collies to drive them through the course takes some fine-tuned training, but they're born with the natural instinct to do it, she said.
Moore said she's working with Speck on commands to lie down or slow down during the runs. Handlers often command their dogs to lie down so the sheep's nerves settle and are easier to steer. It's an area she plans on working on more during the winter. She recently moved to the open class competitions after competing as a professional novice for five or six years.
In September 2017, the national competition will be held in Virginia, so some of the competitors were working to build points at the Russellville trial to attend nationals.
MacRae encouraged anyone interested in the sheepdog trials to come out today for the last day of the competition. It's a fun, family atmosphere and anyone would be happy to explain the competition to a curious spectator.
The competition starts at 7:30 a.m. and will go well into the afternoon at 8115 Clibourn Road in Russellville.