If you are interested in one of the pups please get in touch.
We are planning on mating FTAW Creechdale Phoebe of Amberquest in the spring.
If you are interested in one of the pups please get in touch.
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Nice days shooting over the spaniels today. Had to work hard for their finds but all four worked really well
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Yesterday I took part in the North West Counties Field Trials Association Novice Cocker Stake at Blenkinsopp Hall near Haltwhistle. Despite being in Cumbria, a so called local trial, it still took me 2 and a quarter hours to get there. The joys of living in the most inaccessible cul-de-sac in England!
I was out the door around 6:30am for a 9am meet, with the obligatory stop at Southwaite services for a coffee and bacon butty from Greggs before arriving at the meet point around 8:50am. Briefings and the raffle, which I didn’t win, were soon out of the way and we were back in the cars to make the short trip to the starting point of the trial. I was running at number 12 so thought I’d have quite a long wait, however, dogs number 2 and 4 hadn’t turned up so it wouldn’t be long before I was in. We started the trial in sieves with a rabbit and a few partridges getting up. The early dogs had quite long runs before we reached an area where there were 3 or 4 partridge pens which understandably meant there was a bit more game around. Dog number 10 was unfortunately put out, I think for failing to find a bird, and I was called over to run under Roy Ellershaw. It was a patch of dense sieves next to a partridge pen and I cast Fern off, immediately powering through with nose down and pace. She soon bumped two partridge up, one of which was shot approximately 20 yards away. It was a runner so Roy told me to send her almost immediately after the fall. She went out straight to it and picked it, she struggled slightly to find me in the number of bodies, or at least I though that’s what it was but more of that late, before delivering to hand. I cast her off again and she flushed another single partridge, sitting up whilst the gun on my right brought it down maybe 15 yards in front. Roy asked John Bailey who was judging the other side if he would like the retrieve as Wayne Parrington who was running under him needed one, so Fern sat patiently whilst that was brought back to hand. At this point Roy turned to me and asked which side of the bed I got out of this morning and I should go an buy a lottery ticket as all the other dogs had had long runs before their finds! I cast her off again and she flushed 3 partridge, two breaking right and one breaking left, both sides had shots, me and Fern focused on the one on the right which was missed, but it was the one that came down 40 yards to our left that we were to try and get. Neither me or the dog had seen it come down so I sent Fern back to try and get her on the right side of the wind, however she was pulling to the right towards another partridge pen. I stopped her and it took two redirections to the left before she was in the area, which to her credit as soon as she was she had it on the way back to me in no time at all. Frustratingly she circled me again before delivering, I couldn’t put my finger on why this was, she’s been fine in terms of delivering to hand. That was my run over under Roy and I was relieved to have got through it. Fern’s gears were continually going up and if she’d have had any more flushes I think I’d have struggled to hold her hunting, she’s a dog on the edge at times. The next few dogs again had relatively long runs, some going out for running in and failing on retrieves. It wasn’t too long before I was backing up prior to going in under John Bailey. Fran Ardley who was running before me had a long run before finally getting a flush on a rabbit and that was her run done, I was up!! I’ve entered a few trials now where John has been one of the judges, and I’ve never actually lasted long enough to get a run under him, something which I mentioned when I got called up. I let him know that I’d had three flushes and 2 retrieves under Roy and he jokingly put his book away and said “That’ll do you”. If only it was that easy! We were again in sieves, slightly less thick this time, and I thought it’d give Fern an opportunity to show herself a bit more and flow. As soon as I cast her off her nose was down, hunting with intent where the rabbit Fran had flushed had run through the sieves. We maybe hunted for a hundred yards or so before we came to the end of the sieve bed. It was lead on and a short walk over to another sieve bed to head back towards the partridge pens. We had another hunt of 200 yards or so as the only dog as there were only even numbered dogs left, all eyes were on us, before finally flushing a single partridge which was shot around 50 yards out to the left, which was also a runner. “Great” I thought to myself. I sent Fern back as she’d watched it away but pulled to the right towards a partridge pen with birds flapping around in. a quick redirect and she soon picked the bird and was on her way back. She stopped short and put the bird down. “Balls!” I thought to myself. A quick readjust and she came into me, but again circled me before delivering, what was she doing?!?!?! Handed the bird over to John and that was me done. I’d finished another trial, I was elated. Numbers 14 and 16 again had quite long runs before the trial was declared over, there was to be no run off and it was back to the vehicles for the presentations. I knew Fern had hunted very well, she was fast, thorough and kept her nose down with a nice action. However, her delivery had gone off the boil today and ultimately that cost me. If she’d have been clean with that I may have been up there. The dogs were read out from the winner first. 1st: Steve Winspear – Kiltonbeck Cooper 2nd: Simon Ryder – Clarburgh Ben 3rd: Wayne Parrington – Whitebeam Frost Pocket 4th: Hawksbeck Belle –John Park Certificates of Merit: Fran Ardley – Crimson Promise K Gaskell - Lisburn Judy Frances Brooks - Saxaphone Bounty Scott Mossop – Creechdale Phoebe of Amberquest GET IN THERE!!!!! I’d finally got an award. I had to help John out with reading the name out and he said I had to get it changed as it had taken him so long to write it out! I was over the moon. I’ve persevered with her and this is some reward for all the time, money and effort I’ve put into getting her this far. I spoke with Roy and John after the trial and they both couldn’t believe she was a bitch because of the power she has and said if the retrieves would have been clean I’d have been up there in the placings, probably not first as Steve Winspears dog was a cut above the rest from what I saw. The drive home was a happy one once again!! I’m starting to think that number 12 is my lucky number. I was number 12 when I got Guns Choice in the Gwynedd Trial a few weeks ago, I was number 12 yesterday, in my 12th trial with Fern, in December the 12th month of the year. I’m not one for being superstitious but I will now only be running if I’m number twelve in December trials haha! Last Tuesday I received a call from the secretary of the Tyne, Tees and Tweed Field Trial Association asking me whether I wanted to take a run in their open stake on Saturday the 15th. I’d put an entry in a few weeks ago as I heard they were low on dogs and was originally drawn at number 23 so wasn’t expecting it. After a few seconds deliberating it I agreed and said I’ll be there. After I got off the phone I thought “Oh Oh, what have I done?”
I called my shoot captain up to let him know that I wouldn’t be there on Saturday and he wished me good luck. The way I looked at it was that the trial was on a Saturday, so I didn’t have to take time off work, it was only 2 hours away so relatively close and that there was no pressure on me at all as a novice dog. Saturday came and I had a bit of a lie in, a 6:15am alarm, that’s unknown on a trial day!! I got the other dogs walked and fed, loaded up the car and made my way to the M6, up two junctions to Junction 38 and across to the Raby Estate. As I got closer and started to ascend, the clear sky quickly turned to a thick mist which made driving a bit perilous but I made it to the meeting point in good time. Some of the top guys were there Clulee, Openshaw, English, Scott, Skidmore etc and the nerves started to kick in. I gave Fern a bit of a blast on the grass to clean herself and stretch her legs before picking up my armband and waiting for the brief. Once the brief was over we were back in the cars and away to the ground where the trial was to be held. I was in at number 1, what a baptism of fire. An unqualified novice dog, who has only finished one trial opening up an open trial on an open bit of ground with the whole gallery able to see my run. Nervous? You betcha!!! I was in under Martin Smee and was starting on an uphill slope with bracken and sieves, ideal rabbit ground. I cast Fern off and away she went, taking in her ground with speed and investigating the cover. I had a stone wall on my right and quite a big gap before the gun on my left so was trying to keep her pattern wide whilst keeping control of her. In the end I took the decision to guide her around a little, going to where I thought game would be and this soon paid off. She indicated and two rabbits bolted from the sieves, the one that ran forward being shot by the gun on my right, I lost sight of the one on the left, but soon found out it’d been missed. “Send your dog” said Martin. Gave Fern a “Back” and away she went, straight on the line of the rabbit, winded it on the brow of a little hump and brought it straight back to hand. Relief. We carried on and a rabbit was shot on the left hand side. The dog was tried and failed so I was called over. I’d seen where it had bowled over and cast Fern out, maybe 35 yards out. She took a little bit of handling to get her to the patch of sieves where the rabbit had gone into and she made a thorough attempt of hunting it through but came back with nothing. Both judges went out and there was a hole on the edge of the sieves which the rabbit must have made it to. A short hunt followed before Martin said he’d seen enough and to call her up. I’d completed a run in an Open trial. I was chuffed. On my way out of the line Derek Lee commented on how well she’d gone, I thought she’d pulled me a little, but I’m still learning what the judges are looking for so I took his comment as a positive. I made it back to the gallery and breathed. Fern was sneezing constantly and I had to get Vicky Williams to help me pull a rush from up her nostril. I got a few comments off people in the gallery that she’d had a good run etc and I was on cloud nine. I knew it’d be a while before I was back in so got Fern’s coat on her and gave her some tit bits before her next run. The trial continued with some very good dog work. A few dogs went out for missing rabbits but overall the dog work was impressive to watch, Ian Openshaw and Eddie Scott pulling off excellent retrieves over a gulley within quick succession of eachother. Carl Colclough was in line at number 14, with Will Clulee backing up at 16 with FTCH Poolgreen Farlow Ben. I was bound to be in soon. Out came Carl and in went will and I was called over by the steward. We were now in heather on top of a hill and as Fern doesn’t work in heather too often I was a little apprehensive about how she’d go. Will pulled Ben up and I was in under Paul Matthews. I cast her off and she looked really nice, head down in the heather and moving with pace. I was happy with this as previously she had a tendency to bounce over the heather a little. It was a backwind beat so I was letting her go a little. In hindsight and speaking with Paul after the trial, I should have worked her on my right hand side a little more. I’d maybe hunted 30 yards when a loose covey of grouse got up between the two dogs. Fern bounced a couple of strides and sat. If I had the chance again I’d have blown my stop whistle as soon as they flushed, but with it being an open stake I think in my head I had it that I had to keep off the whistle as much as I could. She sat there watching the grouse away, I knew I was going out, but remained calm in the hope the judge had somehow missed it. I know Paul quite well and knew he’d be fair with me, and he came over and said call her up. I thanked him and went back to the gallery. Speaking to him after the trial he said she’d moved just a little too far which I can’t argue with in anyway. I’d have been more surprised if I’d have stayed in. On the whole I was happy with how she’d gone and she didn’t completely disgrace me in some top quality company. She hunted well, handled well and maybe with a bit more help from me we could have finished the 2nd run but these things happen. I got some good feedback from the judges, an A with a slight knock under Martin for how she handled when trying to find the rabbit that went to ground. Not a million miles away but the quality of the top dogs was evident and I don’t think many would argue with the dogs that finished in the awards. 1st – Ian Openshaw – FTCH Mallowdale Midge 2nd – Eddie Scott – Chyknell Golden Eagle 3rd – Ian English – FTCH Broadmeafarm Beau 4th and guns choice – Jason Croft – Wrenmarsh Sweet Lady Yesterday (27/10/14) I took part in my 10th trial with Fern, the Gwynedd Spaniel Club Novice Cocker stake on the Maer Shoot in Staffordshire. It was another early morning wakeup call at 4:30am, and a long trip down the M6 sat in rush hour traffic.
I arrived at Maer around 8:45am and collected my arm band from Jane the secretary, before getting my boots and jacket on before the brief. Simon Tyers and Kelly Ward were the judges for the day and we were swiftly on our way. I was drawn at number 12 so had quite a long wait. The early dogs started in a valley bottom with nettles, thistles and sieves scattered amongst the trees and it wasn’t long before they were into game. From this valley bottom, next up were two 8m wide field margins either side of a hedgerow which produced quite a bit of game for the dogs, with a couple of dogs going out for failing on a retrieve. The hedgerow carried on up a hill towards a narrow strip of woodland. It was here that I was called up to back up number 10. It was a nice bit of woodland with bramble and fallen trees, ideal spaniel ground and from the sounds of things there was plenty of game to be found judging by the number of shots going off. Number 10 was having a nice run and flushed a pheasant which was shot inside the wood but unfortunately the dog failed to pick it and I was in. Kelly Ward called me up and told me to wait as they were also changing dogs on the other side. As soon as we were ready to go I cast Fern off into some thick bramble and away we went. She was going really well, smashing into the bramble and taking a nice pattern either side towards the two guns. After approximately 50 yards I saw her up a gear again and went into some thick bramble, popped back out and sat. I knew she was indicating something and in she went again, this time producing a hen bird which went forward. I couldn’t believe it when the gun missed it and he apologised. In fairness he did drop a rather large branch which thankfully I wasn’t asked to pick!! We carried on and the cover in the bottom of the wood started to thing out under the pine trees and Fern started to take in a little more ground due to the lack of cover. As we came to the end of the wood Fern went out of the hedgerow into a field of mustard. I called her back but she couldn’t find a way back through the hedgerow due to the way it had been cut and laid. So it took a few whistles to get her back to me. Kelly told me to hold her there until the right hand side had caught up before we clambered through the hedge into the mustard field. At this point two shots rang out on the right hand side of the line and the dog and handler had gone back to try and pick a runner which had landed in the field and run back into the wood. A few minutes later and we were called over to try for the same bird. We got to the area where Simon was and he gave us a very vague mark of where the bird had come into the wood and were told to systematically hunt the area out to try for the bird. I cast Fern out and let her get on with it. She was hunting well and I cast her again in a different area, and again once more to cover a 180 degree circle. It was to no avail and Simon and Kelly walked out to try and find the bird. After a nervous few minutes they returned and I breathed a sigh of relief. We then went back out into the field of mustard and started to work down another field margin. Fern was smashing through the cover and it wasn’t long before she flushed two birds out of the end of the hedgerow, a cock bird being shot maybe 15 yards further on. She had sat steady and Kelly told me to send her. I thought this would be a straight out and back as the bird looked dead in the air. She immediately went to the area of the fall, however she was out of my sight in a bit of a dip, hidden by the edge of the hedge. The next minute 12 or more birds got up in all directions. I put the stop whistle in and she sat up, before I called her back into the area. Again she pulled forward and because I thought the bird was dead I called her back. Nothing. Kelly said call her up and the dog on the other side was tried. Also to no avail. We were then told that the bird had got up and ran into the field margin on the other side of a gateway, and if our dogs found it in that area (approx 5 yards from two fence posts) then we’d be out. “Great” I thought! We hunted the area through and Kelly said that’ll do, call her up and put your lead on. I thanked her and returned to the gallery to give Fern some water as she was shattered. Despite being the end of October it was still very warm. The two dogs carried on hunting down the hedgerow and after about 30 yards the dog on the right came back with a dead cock bird. Simon joked “Did I say 5 or 50 yards” which brought great amusement to the stewards and handlers! I looked across to Kelly and jokingly wiped my brow as a hint to how lucky I’d been!! The dogs carried on hunting the hedgerow and it was literally 5 minutes before I was called over to back up to Joe Shotton. This guy’s still going at the grand old age of 91 and it was a pleasure to watch him working his little golden dog. At the end of the hedgerow he was called across to the other side to try for a bird the other dog had failed on. He eventually reappeared around the end of the hedge with the bird after completing a successful eye wipe. That was Joes run done and I was back in. I had a small length of field margin and hedgerow to hunt before we moved ground into some thick, tall thistle like cover. Simon showed me where my beat was to be as we were going to come back down the other side of the cover. Fern again was going really nicely, crashing through the sieves and thistles and it wasn’t long before she flushed a cock bird which unfortunately didn’t present a shot. We carried on and it was obvious she was starting to tire a little, yet she still tried her best to push through the cover which was getting thicker still. All I needed was a retrieve. The next minute I heard a shot and looked up, Fern had sat two yards from me. A pigeon was spiralling down towards me and landed between me and the dog, that close that my coat was splattered with blood! Simon said it was too easy for my dog, and at two feet away from her I would agree haha, so the other dog was given the retrieve. I was impressed she’d remained steady to the fall of something so close. We hunted on, desperate for a retrieve, however game was not there and Simon called me up, saying we couldn’t run her into the ground. Relief, I’d finally finished my first field trial!! I was elated and went to the back of the gallery to make a fuss of Fern. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t have a retrieve as I was sure that I couldn’t receive any awards without testing the dog’s mouth. To be honest the rest of the trial was a bit of a blur as I was so happy to have finished. Once the trial was over and we’d made our way back to the cars we were called over to the lodge for the presentations. The awards are detailed below, however I was awarded Guns choice. I was chuffed, it was a little consolation for not being able to gain an award. All four guns came and spoke to me and commented on how well Fern had gone, and that she was unlucky not to have had a retrieve. The keeper then came over and said that if he’d have been shooting, she’d have been his pick too. Hearing that 5 guys liked the way she had gone was reassuring and made me even happier at finishing the trial. Kelly Ward also came over and said that I was only a retrieve away from gaining an award and to not give up on the dog as she’s going to win a trial soon. It was nice to hear this positive feedback and Kelly was open with her book, telling me I had an A? because of the lack of retrieve and also when Fern couldn’t get back through the hedge at the end of the wood. Simon had given me an A- so I wasn’t too far away, if only she’d picked the cock bird up, but with all the live birds getting up, I’m guessing there was a lot of scent about making it difficult for her to take a line. The journey home seemed a lot quicker this time around, and the feeling is definitely better than wondering what if, why etc like I had on my last 9 trials!! I’ve finally got a dog I which I can say is trained to Field Trial standard, which was the goal I set myself almost 3 years ago. Now it might well be time to end on a high! 1st: Not awarded 2nd: Whitebeam Frost Pocket – Wayne Parrington 3rd: Chyknell Pippet - Joe Shotton COM – Selwick Cove Sally – M Buckley Guns Choice – Creechdale Phoebe of Amberquest – Scott Mossop Yesterday (23/10/14) I took part in the Lothian and Borders Gundog Association Novice Cocker Field Trial. It was exactly one year to the day since I ran in my first ever field trial on the same ground 12 months ago. The weather was a little better this year, however it was still quite windy, but I’ll take that over the rain we had last year.
My alarm went off at 3:45am and I reluctantly got up and sorted the other dogs out before loading the car up and setting off at 4:30am to begin the near 4 hour drive to Cranshaws Estate, near Duns in the Scottish borders. The M6 was quiet at that time of the morning so I made good time (including a stop at Greggs for a bacon sarnie!) and arrived at the meeting place at 8:30. After a chat with some familiar and new faces, Frances Brooks called us over to go through the introductions etc. Judges were Alec Coutts and Ian English. Once the introductions were done we were straight into the trial in a sieve field, exactly the same ground as last yer. I was running at number 12, last year I was 13 and the field hadn’t yielded a large head of game the previous year, so I was expecting to run in the same sort of area as last time. However the early dogs were soon into game and with the strong wind, the dogs on the right hand side were having a lot of retrieves over a fence into woodland with standing bracken, proving to be testing conditions. A couple of dogs went out early for running in, and one for taking a little too long to pick up a hare, needing the handler to give it more encouragement than permissible. I was a bit worried about the hares as Fern was still yet to have seen/retrieved one. I was soon backing up Darren Skidmore who was running in a dense patch of tall bracken. His little dog flushed a single bird which was shot in the wood over the fence to his right. After lifting the dog over, it soon had the bird back to hand. Darren carried on hunting and a flush of about 10 birds emerged from the bracken, the gun swiftly taking down a cock bird, again in the wood. Alec Coutts shouted over to Ian English as to whether he wanted the retrieve, which he did, and Ray Whittam was called over. He again disappeared into the wood with his dog and emerged with the bird. That was Darrens run over and I was in. Alec said he was happy to let me work the ground between my two guns and take my time. We started in the tall bracken Darren had just finished in and worked up to a fencline where we were to pivot to our lefts as the line was doubling back on itself to work down the other side of the sieve field. Fern was going really nicely. She was taking in a lot of ground, maybe 15 yards both sides to each of my guns and was holding a nice flat pattern. She upped another gear when we entered some bracken and out popped a rabbit. She took a couple of paces to watch the rabbit around the side of the bracken and I instinctively shouted “Ey!” (training mode!) but she’d already sat up. I thought that was me out, and went to grab my lead out of my pocket, but either Alec hadn’t heard me or the luck of the gods was shining on me! The rabbit was missed and we were told to hunt on. Fern was pulling on the line of the rabbit and it took me a couple of recall whistles to get her back and hunting again. She soon put up a hare and sat as it was shot 20 yards out in a bit of a hollow. “Great” I thought, just what I wanted. She’d never seen a hare so I didn’t know what she’d do when I sent her for it. I cast her back and she went straight to the hare, at least she’d marked it. I winced as she got closer, I needn’t have worried, it was scooped up one the fly and she was on her way back. I was stood at the top of the hollow in sieves and bracken, and guess what? All the way back and she stopped two yards short and put it down. “pip pip” nothing “pip pip” nothing. “Sorry Scott, I’m going to have to put you out” said Alec. I said no problem, could I just try and get her to bring it into me so she doesn’t get away with it? Alec said that was fine. “Pip pip” and straight into hand with it!! I won’t type what I said!!!! Alec really liked how she was going and commented on how well she took in her ground and that it was good to see a dog hunting a wide flat pattern, she won’t find anything at your feet he said. I trudged back to the gallery where Davey Easman offered me a fiver for her. I very nearly took him up on the offer!!! I’d been lucky in my eyes not to go out when she took a couple of steps on the rabbit, and again when she pulled on the line of the rabbit that’d been missed. I just can’t believe she put the retrieve down again. Whether it’s fitness or not I’m not sure. However I got a hare dummy out when I got home and gave her 4 long retrieves with it and each one was to hand. Cockers!!! I didn’t hang around as I was in a sulk and had a 4 hour journey home to no doubt contemplate what to do next. I received the news that Ray Whittam had won, and then it was either Linda Hudson 2nd and Will Clulee 3rd (or the other way around) and Wayne Parrington 4th. Darren received a COM as did some others. I was back home around 3pm and started work in my new kennel, breaking dollops of concrete off the floor with a hammer before I start tiling. Perfect therapy for the way I was feeling! I have a trial on Monday at the Maer Shoot down in Staffordshire with her, and win, lose or draw that’s going to be my last trial. On Saturday I ran in the Gamekeepers National Association Novice Cocker trial on the Pentland Estate, Nr Penicuik, just south of Edinburgh. I was in at Number 2 so the usual nerves didn’t really have chance to kick in. A quick briefing from Greg Ford the steward and Martin Smee, one of the judges, and we were right into the trial adjacent to the farm yard where we had parked our cars.
My first run was under Kelly Ward and had the pleasant task of taking a strip of 4 foot high nettles through to a fence line, approx 30 metres or so. Kelly said just do your best to get through it and see what comes out. I cast Fern off into the nettles and it was obvious she didn’t want to get her nose down, despite that she was making an effort to hunt through it with a bit of pace, but nowhere near what I know she’s capable of. As we approached the end of the nettle bed, she flushed a number of pheasants, one of which was shot on the other side of the barbed wire fence in a patch of gorse about twenty yards away. Another was downed by the gun on the other side. Kelly told me to come forward a little and get Fern over the fence. I sent her out but she went a little out into the field, rather than going straight down the fence line. A redirect and she was into the gorse in the area where the gun had downed the bird. I left her to it and she soon appeared with the bird and delivered to hand. We all jumped over the fence and were into some thick standing bracken. Fern was making a nice job of hunting it thoroughly and was going nicely. She soon flushed a hen pheasant, which wasn’t shot at because it flew behind some tall gorse bushes. She sat steady to the flush, and after a short hunt Kelly told me “That’ll do” and my first run was done. On walking back to the gallery, I started to realise how painful my hands were after walking through the nettles - Ouch! The trial continued and our next run was in game crop/stubble type stuff into a headwind. I was backing up and the dog in before me was put out for moving on the flush, so I was in. We were heading towards a partridge pen, so I was expecting to come into some birds at some point. Fern evidently could smell the partridge in the pen on the pretty strong wind and needed a few “pip” reminders to stay within normal hunting range, but was going nicely. There was soon a flush of birds, loose from between me and the other handler. One bird was shot and Steve Winspear on my left was told to try his dog on it. It made the fall but after a number of attempts nothing came out. I was told to try Fern, who again went to the mark and I left her to it, redirecting her a couple of times when she pulled towards the partridge fluttering in the pen. She failed to find anything, so Martin and Kelly walked forward to check the area. I was a bit nervous at this point, but the gun next to me said it’d hit the deck and run straight away so not to worry. No bird was found, phew!!! Unfortunately both me and Steve then had to hunt through the last bit of cover where the shot bird had landed, we were both at risk of eye wiping ourselves here! Luckily there was no bird and we were told to put our leads on as we were going back to another part of the crop to continue our runs. We walked a long a stone wall adjacent to the field and lined out. There was a few metres of white grass before the cover started and as we set off I noticed a young poult bird clapped down in the grass. I put Fern onto it and as she went in to pick it up, I put the stop whistle in to prevent her from pegging it. I tried her again and the bird still didn’t move. This was happening literally two feet from both me and Martin, so he told me to get Fern to bring the bird in to hand. For whatever reason she wouldn’t pick it. I don’t know whether it was because I’d blown the stop whistle twice to prevent her from pegging or what. After a lot of thinking time spent bent over his stick, Martin said he was going to have to put me out. I said I can understand why, the dog hadn’t brought me the game back. He did say, and after speaking to him again after the trial, that it was a very difficult scenario to judge, one he’s never had before and probably won’t see again. The bird itself had a bare back and “bulgy eye” as Martin put it, and wasn’t right. Never mind, another weird scenario ends a trial for me and Fern. Only three dogs finished the trial and were awarded the following places. 1st : Fran Ardley – Golden Nectar (CSB) 2nd : Anita Jones – Episcopa Wonga 3rd : Steve Winspear – Kiltonbeck Cooper This was my second trial of the year at Stean, I’d gone out very quickly with Fern in the Tyne, Tees and Tweed Novice Cocker Stake at the start of July. She passed a young rabbit after about 30 yards of hunting so that was me out and on the way home.
This was the Muncaster Gundog Club Novice AV Stake and I was one of two cockers on the card. There were some familiar names on the card, including my two mates Ian Clarke and Paul Matthews (Yasker and Fusey) who’ve been brilliant with me as a new starter in terms of tips, advice and inviting me to training days. The conditions were pretty good; it was a lot cooler than I was expecting, but still relatively humid and overcast, with only a slight breeze. Remembering what I went out for on the same ground just a few weeks ago, I knew Fern’s ground treatment would have to be thorough and that proved to be the case, with a couple of the early dogs going out for missing game. Once we’d got the formalities out of the way, we were into the trial, Mick Huitson, with his dog which eventually got 2nd place started on the left at number 2, and was really nice to watch from the gallery. He had a few finds and a couple of retrieves, however Number 1, who’s name escapes me had a really long run. Mick’s run soon finished and the only other cocker in the stake was up next, so naturally I took an interest. It was going nicely, however it moved on the flush and he was out. As the dogs went in, many were being eliminated for pegging, the rabbits were sat incredibly tight. This did nothing to ease my nerves. As a newcomer to the sport, I’m learning all the time and I found it unsettling that these dogs, being run by some top spaniel men were finding it difficult, and up next was little old me with a cocker who had finished a trial. I was in at number 15 so I had quite a while before I was to run. I watched my two mates Yasker and Fusey go out and it was then that I was thinking that I’d do well to finish this trial. I watched on as number 11 went out for failure to find a rabbit that had found its way to the opening of a hole, and number 6 went out on the same retrieve. I was then backing up number 13 who went out for pegging and I thought to myself “This is going to be short and sweet”. I was in under Martin Smee first who put me at ease and explained where my beat was and told me to take my lead off. Fern sat waiting the click of my fingers whilst the lead went into my pocket, “Click” and she was off. She was going really well, I was holding her tight to make sure she never missed anything and taking my time to make sure she covered the whole beat. We were in thick sieves and she was flying about, suddenly she sat up. I looked, but nothing came out. I clicked her in again and she pushed a rabbit up and it was shot 20 yards or so in front by Ian Openshaw. I knew she wouldn’t have a perfect mark on it as the sieves were tall and thick. I sent her for it and she veered slightly to the left. Stopped her on the whistle and cast her right and she found it and the rabbit was soon back to hand. Relief! I cast her off again and she hunted for a little while before sitting up again, I saw a rabbit running forward through the sieves but nothing came out. I hunted her towards where I’d last seen it but there was a hole, so I assumed it had made ground. A few more yards of hunting and that was my first run done. I was chuffed at how she’d gone, and was relieved to get through the first run! I came back out and headed towards the gallery. Sarah my partner had come to watch, and it’s a bit of a joke between us now that I’ll never finish a trial. So I jokingly started to take my number off my arm, I saw her look up to the sky as if to say “Not again”. She was stood with Yasker and Fusey. Yasker was also stewarding, and so he had crossed me out in his book and gave me some stick when I told him I was just winding Sarah up. He was going to put me out anyway he said because he’d already scribbled over my number! I gave Fern a drink of water and a bit of mars bar cake in preparation for her next run, which I’d overestimated in terms of how quickly I’d be back in on the other side. There were only 3 odd numbered dogs left in, and 1 of them had finished their second run. I’d barely finished my Cornish pasty before I was back in. This time I was in under Bob Crowther who explained what he wanted to see. I cast Fern off and she was going even better than the first run. A loose rabbit was shot and she went out and picked it and brought it straight back. We carried on and she indicated again but nothing came out, there must have been something their just before. Anyway, we carried on and got to a sieve bed around an old broken building. A flush but it didn’t produce a shot, so we carried on. At this point I could see she was starting to slow down a bit and wasn’t keeping her nose down as much, and checking back on me, but suddenly she sat up and out came a rabbit. Simon Dixon shot it 20 yards front. I thought to myself, great, all she has to do is go out and pick this and that’ll probably be me done and I’ll have finished my first trial. “Send your dog” said Bob. Cast her out, a quickly redirect and she had it, “Get in there I thought”. She didn’t run back with her normal enthusiasm and I was stood in the middle of a patch of high thick sieves. She got to within two yards of me, put the rabbit down and stood over it panting. “Pip pip pip” She didn’t move. Gutted, that was me out. Thanked Bob who apologised, but I said there’s nothing to apologise for mate. Trudged back to the gallery and couldn’t believe it, within 2 seconds of probably finishing and she did that! Cockers!!!! The trial finished soon after that and Jim O’Connor had won with his springer, Mick Huitson 2nd and Nick Powell and Mick Walsh both got COMs. I chatted with Martin to get some feedback on my run after he asked “What the bloody hell happened to you?” He was really helpful and complementary, and said the only thing I got knocked on was keeping her too tight, he’d have liked to see her go a bit more. That’s my fault for being worried about missing game so I can work on that, I need to be more confident in her. He’d given me an A with a slight knock for ground treatment. I spoke with Bob and he’d said much the same and an A- was probably on the cards, thoughts echoed by Simon Dixon who was one of the guns on my second run. Simon has given me some stuff to work on, which is great. I really value his opinion; he’s a top bloke and trainer. I also need to work on the dogs’ fitness; it was evident that with a short turn around between runs she suffered a bit in a second run. So, despite going out again, on reflection there were a lot of positives, with good comments from both judges. My next trial is on the 3rd October so I’ve a couple of weeks to iron out a few little things and get her fitness up. Hopefully I’ll manage to finish on soon!!!! |
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