2003 Sheepdog Judges
Sturgis, SD
Kent Kuykendall, Bobby Henderson, Angie Coker, and
Elvin Kopp
Angie Coker
Angie Coker was raised on a cattle ranch in central Oklahoma. She rode
cutting horses while attending college and received a degree in Animal
Science from Oklahoma State University. After graduation, she moved to a
cattle ranch in eastern Oklahoma and became interested in sheepdog trials.
She ran in her first novice trials in 1992 and by 1995 she had placed
two dogs in the top twenty in the National Nursery Finals. In 1997 she won
the National Nursery Finals with Sam and in 1998 she won the Nursery
Finals with Jen. In 1999, she was reserve with Sweep at the National Open
finals, and in 2000 won the National Open Finals with Sam with Sweep being
Reserve. Angie has many trial wins to her credit, including being either
winner or reserve at the difficult Meeker Challenge trial five times.
Angie is currently managing a 600 acre sheep, goat, and cattle operation
at Hidden Springs Ranch in Cranfill's Gap, Texas.
Elvin Kopp
Elvin lives in Westerose, Alberta, Canada, a town two hours north of
Calgary, with his wife, Jan, and their two children, Graham, 19 years old,
and Lindsey, 17 years old. They raise Purebred Red Angus Cattle; their
cattle operation consists of raising purebreds along with an annual summer
pasture program of 1800 yearlings. They also raise Registered Quarter
Horses and have such illustrious bloodlines as Peppy San Badger, Smart
Little Lena and Doc O'Lena; Elvin and Jan's daughter, Lindsey, competes in
cutting competitions with their horses.
In 1982, Elvin saw an ad for a three day Jack Knox Clinic and decided to
attend because he wanted to learn how to use dogs to help him in his daily
ranch operation. He was completely intrigued when he realized the
incredible capabilities of Border Collies and how they could be useful to
him on his ranch. After that clinic, Elvin was "hooked." When Elvin began
competing in Cattledog and Sheepdog Trials in 1983, he put a challenge to
himself to be equally as competitive in both. His trial record speaks for
how successful he was in meeting that challenge. For five years in a row,
Elvin and his dogs won the Canadian: Cattledog Handler of the Year,
Sheepdog Handler of the Year, Cattledog of the Year, Sheepdog of the Year
and Super Dog of the Year which is awarded to the handler and dog who had
the most points combined from both events. Elvin hasn't trialed very much
in the last seven years because his children were growing up, and he
wanted to focus on his family. Now that his children have grown, he plans
to start doing more trialing.
Kent Kuykendall
Kent has a life long association with Border Collies, establishing at
the early age of 13 his love for and success at dog trialing. Winning the
Novice Award at the Walnut Hall Trial in Kentucky was only the beginning
of his winning career. Kent 's part time need for strong, useable dogs in
his early years blossomed into a successful full time business. Kent along
with his wife Gwen breed, raise and train Border Collies for a variety of
purposes. Kent's major successes have been winning the 2000 National
Nursery Finals with his dog Dehl, winning the 1999 Reserve National title
with his dog Bill, the Purina Herding Dog Award in 1995 with Bill, and the
Working Border Collie Award in 2000, with Coon. Trial dogs have been a big
part of the business and while Kent has traveled across the United States
and Canada participating in sheepdog and cattledog trials he comes to this
years National Finals for a different reason, that being to sort out who
will be the next National Champion, a job he is looking forward to.
Bobby Henderson
Bobby Henderson has over thirty-five years shepherding experience and
he has been competing at sheepdog trials for almost as long. He has won
many open trails over the years in Scotland and particularly enjoys
bringing on his own young dogs through the nursery trial leagues and onto
the open trial circuit. He has won the Lanarkshire, Lothians and
Peebleshire Nursery League a total of fourteen times, coming second a
further six times, over the thirty years he has been competing at nursery
trials. Bobby has also represented Scotland at the International Sheepdog
Trial on nine occasions so far (competing with four different dogs). The
highlight of his trialing career, to date, occurred in 1998 when he became
the Supreme Champion at the International Sheepdog Trial, with Sweep
(having been Reserve Champion two years earlier with the same dog). He has
also judged extensively (including the Scottish National and International
Sheepdog Trials) and conducted trialing and judging clinics in the US,
Canada and Europe.
Four of Bobby's most successful dogs are Craig, Ross, Sweep and Slip, with
whom he has won the following major National and International honours:
Craig:
International Shepherds Champion in 1983
International Qualifying Winner in 1983
Driving Champion at the Scottish National Sheepdog Trials in 1985 and 1988
Ross:
Member of the Scottish Team at the International Sheepdog Trial in 1994
(where he came eighth overall) and also in 1996
Sweep:
Member of the Scottish Team at the International Sheepdog Trial in 1996
(where he was the Reserve Supreme Champion) and in 1998 (where he was the
Supreme Champion)
International Shepherds Champion 1998
International Qualifying Winner in 1998
Driving Champion at the Scottish National Sheepdog Trial in 1998
Slip:
Member of the Scottish Team at the International Sheepdog Trial in 1999
(where she came twelfth overall) and again in 2000
Shepherds Champion at the Scottish National Sheepdog Trial in 1999
Bobby continues to train and trial dogs and he intends to travel
extensively in the USA and Canada in 2003 - trialing, judging and
participating in training clinics
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