Swifty

Two years since I brought Swifty home. ♡ From the moment my boss brought her to the farm as a tiny puppy, I had my eye on her. She just had that something special that drew me to her. She was confident, fast, surprisingly agile for a puppy - at about four months old she climbed out the half-open window of the work ute to join me and the huntaways moving cattle. I joked about stealing her to train for agility. 

When Swifty was about eleven months old, my boss had decided she was too "annoying," "destructive," and consistently "stirring up" the other older working dogs. Luckily for Swifty, the boss recognized this behavior as that of a bored, unfulfilled young working dog, and gave me the first choice to take her, or she would go to another farmer. There was no choice at all; it seemed Swifty was destined to be mine.

We had to start at the absolute basics. Swifty didn't know anything beyond sit and recall. She had to learn how to take food from my hand and play with toys. I picked her up on Friday morning, and Saturday afternoon she was meeting all my friends at agility club and being everyone's new bestie. Three days later we had a three hour round trip to collect a new trailer. She took everything in her stride. It was clear she had found her forever home. ♡ 

Fast forward two years. Swifty is now competing in Jumpers A and Novice/Intermediate with two wins to go to Senior. She started bikejoring this year and absolutely loves racing. She is so sweet and affectionate with people, making friends everywhere she goes. She absolutely loves a cuddle ♡ She has been my righthand girl for the last two seasons of calf rearing, the most incredible natural herder who knows exactly the level of push required for any job - from the tiniest calves needing to be guided back to their pen, to a pair of angry bulls having a standoff.

My beautiful, quirky, sometimes feral creature. My baby dog. If ever I believed in fate, it would be getting to take her home as mine after nine months of dreaming. 

Hence her registered name: Swift Hand Of Fate.

Life Updates #2

 Time for some life updates. Buckle in, it's not an easy read.

One year ago, I was fighting to keep Zuko, Annie, and her baby Oakley, trying desperately to find a place to live we could all be together after our landlord dropped the bombshell on us that we were not allowed to keep them on the property anymore. Two weeks later I would give in to the reality that Oakley was slowly killing his mother, with not enough feed in our single leased paddock for her to sustain herself and her baby, and no way to separate them for weaning, and I was forced to sell him for the cost of another week of hay for Annie and Zuko. The following morning, I would have Sparkie put down, at 15 years old, her quality of life fading so fast as her mind deteriorated. 

We would move to a new farm just four weeks later. Eight months later, someone attempted to steal Zuko and Annie in the night, resulting in Zuko being hit by a car. He was put down on the roadside. It has been just over two months since that day I got the text of my nightmares, that he was gone, and I've still not decided what choice to make about Annie. She deserves a companion; cows aren't designed for a solitary life. But after dedicating nearly ten years of my life to training a bovine for riding, just to continually have to say goodbye to them way before I was ready, I don't think I can make myself get another calf to start over. 

Shortly after losing Zuko, I quit my job. Again. There were a few reasons and it had been building up for a long time but now battling depression, I just couldn't face the prospect another calving season here under the same conditions I'd fought through last season. 

I had been on a waitlist for a koolie puppy in 2023, I waited for nearly a year, but a few weeks before they were born my living situation changed. I had to move back in with my parents where the rules on dogs were too strict to allow a new puppy. Fast forward to November last year, I put myself on a waitlist for a border collie puppy. But a few days before it was meant to be due, I was told the pregnancy hadn't taken. Three days and one impulsive, borderline depressed decision later, I brought home a nine week old border collie puppy from a local guy. Three months later it seems I made a good choice because Sketch has been the best thing to come out of recent events.

On the agility front, Swifty has won up to Intermediate and Jumpers A already, she is incredible. We also had our debut in bikejor racing last weekend which, while we were nowhere near winning anything, she put in a good effort and seemed to really enjoy herself so we will be doing more of that this winter. Skuggi is winding down his agility career, at 9.5 years old, he's still in great condition but it's time to ease back. He has been enjoying joining Swifty's bikejor trainings on the shorter runs.

And it seems I have a new job as a calf rearer, starting in August as per usual. Swifty will be returning to farm work with me, of course, and little Sketch will join us as much as possible. 

So that is my life at the moment and what's been going on. I don't know how many people even know this blog exists anymore but mostly, I just wanted to get my thoughts written out for the catharsis. It has been so hard. Constantly missing my friends in Canterbury since now I live 4+ hours away. It really feels so isolated down here. But with rental houses so expensive now, I am just stuck with going wherever my parents go.