Rio Salado 2002 Spring Field Trial - Day 2

17 Sept 2002
     Shella and I arrived at the field grounds about 7:30. They were completing the Derby stake from yesterday. We had time to check on the status of the wrangler horse and visit a bit. I showed a few of the photos I took from yesterday to Kita Morris and Lynn Worth. I found out that the wrangler horse was missing a shoe and no one wanted to ride her for fear of breaking her feet off so she was unable to be reshod. Kita volunteered an easy shoe that could be used. So I groomed and saddled the horse. Kita came over and showed me how to put the easy boot on the hoof. It was a bit tricky as there were still nails from the lost shoe. But Kita managed quite well.
         The wrangler showed up with the "third" horse that the club had rented for me. The pinto he brought was quite a bit larger and looked hard to mount when handling a dog. So I decided to ride the horse with the easy boot. The wrangler said he called her Grandma because she was 28 years old. 
          I thought about changing to my saddle, but I wanted Shella to have a chance to ride and she is more comfortable in a western saddle. I let Grandma have a drink and rode up to the starting area to check the situation. They were about ready for the last brace of Derby. I rode that brace, but I haven't figured out what the judges are looking for in Derby. There was sometime waiting for judges to find horses, find a new bird planter (the bird planter for Derby was in the first brace of Gun Dog), etc. between Derby and Amateur Gun dog.
          I rode back to check in with Kita and Shella. Kita had dogs in braces 3 & 4. Shella and I decided to ride the first brace together. Shella has more western experience than walking horse experience, so I rode Kita's horse, Jenny and Shella rode Grandma. My only trouble is that Kita has much longer legs than I do and the stirrups don't shorten enough for me. Just as well that  I've plenty of practice riding without stirrups. Jenny gaits nicely, but I think her son, Joe might be even smoother. However Jenny has beautiful manners and a patient disposition. Shella and I let the horses have water, and rode up for the first brace - Mehagian's Emma Labelle Rebel (Emma) and Viesoo's Desert Dutchess SH (Dutchess).
          Shella and Grandma seemed to get along fine. The first time the gun went off, Grandma startled and walked/trotted off, but Shella got her in hand quickly. The horse Lynn was trying to judge from would NOT walk forward. So I offered Kita's horse, Jenny to Lynn and said I'd ride "Slowpoke". Actually Slowpoke did much better as a gallery horse as he could follow and did not have to be up front. Also one of the gunners, gave me a stick to enforce my views with Slowpoke. Slowpoke seemed to respond to the stick although I never actually hit him with it (I suspect he has experienced such before).
          The first two dogs ran and hunted ok, but I don't remember this brace very well. When we got back, Shella indicated that one brace was enough riding for her, so we rotated horses. I got Grandma back and handed Slowpoke over to someone else.
          I told folks Lynn would need a different horse starting at brace 3 as Kita would want to ride her own horse. Someone also indicated that Rita has said they could ride the horse I was riding for brace 6. I said that would be fine and that she could have Grandma when I got done with brace 5 as my dog was hunting in that brace.
          Brace two was Mehagian' Minka (Minka) and Vetelytars Rank Renegade Go (Rank) handled by Marge Mehagian & Mike Eisen respectively. Rank hunted with swift running and a crispness that had me taking notice. Mike and Rank handled several birds with style. Mike shows his dogs manners, by calling him or heeling him gently without collaring when a bird has been flushed and not shot. His dog returns to heel position and then hands over the birds and a few other things to show that Rank's manners are better than the minimal required. I'm thinking his brace mate made an error and was picked up. Toward the end of the brace, I only remember one dog, Rank
         In the last few minutes of the brace, Rank was hot on scent making game in some low weedy plants. Rank sniffed and area and then turned to check a new spot. Then a quail flew out that Rank did not seem to notice as he was still sniffing the other direction. There was some discussion as to who caused the bird to flush. Was it a wild flush?, did Rank bump it? Were the humans close enough to flush the bird? I think the bird probably did flush because Rank was in the area, but I don't think Rank bumped it. He clearly knew there was scent in the area, but did NOT have a fix on the bird. The bird waited until the predator (Rank) had moved away to flush. Rank did NOT bump the bird, but the bird left the area when the dog moved such as to give the bird some distance. The quail just took advantage of the space giving him a better chance of successful escape.
          Rusty (Harris Hawk) has learned that prey (rabbits and upland birds) will do this. She will often wait in an area after Farli and I leave. She is hoping the prey will move when it thinks that danger has passed and the ground predators have gone. This works often enough as the prey don't expect a hawk to be waiting behind after a dog and human leave.

          Brace 3, Mehagian's Desert Sun (Barkley) and Coppersage Winsong's Absolut (Dozer) handled by Tony Marley and Kita Morris respectively. Dozer hunted with more energy than Shasta had done the day before. The handlers were told to head for the saddle to the left of the thorn brush thicket. They did and veered a bit left of that. They may have been thinking that there were birds planted on the far hill. I had been watching and knew there were both chukar and quail in the thorn thicket and had not seen anyone go as far as the high spot to the left of the saddle to plant birds. The judges told the handlers to turn to the right so they'd go on the top of the hill above the thorn thicket. Dozer pointed about 50 ft away from the line of the thorn brush thicket as it merged into some rocky outcrops. Kita looked for birds to flush and kicked around in front of her dog, but staying with in about 20 ft of him. After looking unsuccessfully, she asked to relocate her dog. Dozer moved forward Kita looked again.
On the second reposition, Dozer was at the edge of the thorn thicket and Kita still looking. She moved up hill and the chukar was spotted on the run. The gunner moved with Kita as she ran to get the bird up There was some error, perhaps Dozer moved to see what Kita was doing, but did not actually break.
          None of the handlers really seemed to have scouts, so I had asked the marshal if she wanted help holding horses. So she had been moving to hold handler horses while I held the gunner's horses. It was nice to be useful as the only member of the gallery at this time. Kita mounted as did the gunners. The course continued up along this hill/ridge above the thorn thicket with the thicket on the right and some scattered larger brush to the left. There were two rocky outcrops as we continued west along the top of the hill. Dozer found another bird in one of these, but the gunner's did not shot this bird. I think Kita thought Dozer was out of the competition because of the move, but I later heard Al saying that she had a major fault, but was still under consideration.
          I told Kita what I had heard between braces as she switched dogs to run Shasta in brace 4 - Brace 4: Mehagian's Desert Fox (Fox) and CH Windsong's Cinnabar Hannah MH (Shasta) handled by Marge Mehagian and Kita Morris. One of the braces I did not get to see. 
          Farli's was 5th brace, so I wished Kita good luck and took Grandma back for some water and tied her up to get Farli ready to go. We fixed her a pick-me-up snack of honey/chicken water to make sure she stared well hydrated as it was so dry here. I walked her to let her stretch out and introduced her to Grandma. I had not checked my watch for the time, so we headed toward the start area. Shella held Grandma to allow me to wet Farli down in the water trough. Then Grandma had a nice drink and we went to the line. We were a bit early, but I really didn't feel like walking off else where. Farli was shaking in anticipation and ready to start _NOW_. She could smell birds from the puppy stake in progress and bird bags about. As the 4th brace returned, I mounted and Shella held Farli for the start. I talked to Farli from horse back and asked a few simple commands (sit, here) and she listened ok, so I guess the horse did not bother her too much. I had considered starting her and then mounting, but she seemed so eager to start, I was not as worried that she wouldn't hunt.
         Kita came riding back with Shasta and dismounted to get a line on Shasta. Jason was going to take Shasta back to her set up as I had asked Kita to ride as scout (mostly to hold the horse), but Jenny (who was supposed to be ground tied) had other ideas and walked on back toward her trailer, hay & son. So Kita said it looked like she wouldn't be riding the brace after all. Kita's trailer lights were not working properly and she
wanted to be off to make sure and get home before dark, so we said good-by and good luck to each other.
          Brace 5: Mehagian's Hans Von Hund SH (Hans) and Blackwood's Linden Farli JH NA NAJ (Farli) ran next. Shella walked Farli down the hill as the judges indicated and turned her loose when the judge said. Shella and I both said "dismissed", (her release word) and I added "Hunt 'em up". She
took off with drive and enthusiasm to hunt.
          Marge Mehagian had encouraged her puppy buyers to enter their dogs so their would be a major. We were braced with one of these dogs with Marge handling. He wanted to play a bit and Marge called him off a few times. Farli ignored him, but would have told him what for, is he had been too pushy. This is another area I'm not sure about. It seems that if Farli had told the dog off, because he had been bugging her, it could still look like she was attacking him. I'm glad he went on his way without Farli having to get forceful about it.
          Grandma walked out nicely so we covering the ground well. We walked quickly through the area that had been running with quail for the derby. I knew that chukar finds counted more (as they were the only ones used for retrieving) and wanted to head to were I knew the chukar had been found in earlier braces. Farli ran harder, with more drive today. I suspect her range was a bit larger, but I don't know if the horse had any influence or she was just stoked from yesterday and "knew the game" today. Yesterday she seemed to be pacing herself some. We typically hunt at least 2 hours and sometimes all day. Perhaps she realized from yesterday that she only had a half hour so she might as well run harder. It was fun to be able to see better and watch my dog more. She cast to one side or the other, heading for a patch of thorn brush, checking the down wind each and the heading for the next one. If I whistled for a turn during the approach to an objective, Farli would continue, check that spot and _then_ turn as requested. So I adjusted and only whistled immediately after she had checked a spot. I also found that she had no problem following hand signals with me on the horse.
          As we approached the hill with the thorn thicket from yesterday, I had my horse drift right, in that direction. The other braces had gone a bit more to the left in this area, but none had found birds to the left. Farli and Hans checked the near edge of the thicket, but initially found no birds. As we followed the edge of the thicket up the hill, Farli slammed on point near were Kita's dog Dozer had found a bird in his brace. I started looking about for the bird. I think Al Lucas (judge) spotted the bird first. Then I had to try and run to flush the critter on this pile of
rocks. We were about 50 ft or so when it finally flushed. The gunner had a good hit, just before the chukar flew behind more rocks. Farli started for the retrieve and I yelled "whoa". Al Lucas said I should have yelled "fetch" as it was iffy as to if I yelled or Farli moved first and I think he would have given Farli the benefit of the doubt. However that break and whoa disqualified us from a placement. Farli still had a nice retrieve.
          Al let us continue as a learning experience - after all the other dog was still down and working. We continued on, with the other dog team well ahead, but still easy to watch with the open country.
         Farli found another chukker on another out crop of rock and thorn brush. I walked my horse such that Farli could see us out of the corner of her eye if she chose and dismounted. I waited for someone to get close enough to hold the horse. Then walked up to Farli, looked for the bird and tried to flush it. The chukker just ran. Al let me heel Farli off and relocate Farli on the chukker. This time, I got the chukar to flush and the
gunner winged it. I sent Farli for the retrieve. Farli ran to retrieve and then pointed. Her body told me that the bird was either barely wounded or it was another bird. If we'd been hunting, I'd probably cautioned her to be steady called the hunters up for another shooting attempt. I was not sure what to do in a trial. First I said whoa, then I told her to fetch it up. Sometimes on pheasant she will stay steady and won't retrieve a healthy bird if told to fetch. This time she went forward to attempt the fetch and the bird flew off, I hollered "whoa" which she did. Al said she could have chased that chukar as I had told her fetch and that was what she was trying to do. I'm still a bit confused about what to do when your dog goes on point when sent to fetch.
          We continued on course, Farli hunted well, running to check each objective. She found a quail, which I managed to flush and fire the blank pistol. I asked Al how much time we had, as I wasn't going to get on the horse if we were almost done. We were, so I gave Farli a few more minutes and called her. She was a bit slow responding, but did come. I was trying to get a long line out and didn't pay attention. Farli used my distraction
to go back and play derby dog with the last birds she had found. I was whistled as loud as I could, but she was up wind and couldn't hear me. I started walking and leading the horse back toward her. She finally had chased all the birds and started hunting again - then she saw me and came. I'm glad she waited till after time was up to go nuts chasing birds.
          The gunner waited while I put the line on Farli and mounted, then he was off to get ready for the next brace. Farli was a bit skittish of the horse and kept trying to go wide. Several times she went on the opposite of the thorn brush and I was able to keep the line high enough to avoid entanglement. Twice the brush was taller and the line got caught. I was able to stop Grandma, turn her and walk back around to loose the line. But
poor Farli was slammed into the thorns on both occasions. I then remembered to use words rather than the line to control Farli and we managed to avoid further problems by asking Farli to heel. I also went to the top of the ridge to have each animal trot in their own tire track of the truck trail.
          When we got back, I dismounted and let another handler use Grandma for brace 6. I indicated that I'd get her back later and to tie her back at the wrangler's trailer if I was not back. Of course the handler was focusing more on her dog and getting ready than me. Brace 6 was Mehagian's J Elliott Cooper JH (Cooper) and Mehagian's AZ Rex (Rays) handled by Jim DeWoody and Amanda Lewis respectively.
          Shella was there and had watched from the ridge. We walked back with Farli, got lunch for us and made sure Farli ate and drank. It was chilly enough that we could close up the van and let Farli and Robbie loose in the van. We took all three dogs for a short walk, keeping Kukui on leash. Shella had decided to just run Kukui, so she would not stress about time conflicts between Robbie in VCA field tests and Kukui in Derby. I could have run Kukui, but not Robbie (he would have looked for his mom). But Shella decided she wanted to run Kukui.
          I noticed that Grandma was not back, but another wrangler horse was. I took that horse back in time for brace 7, so I could trade horses with who ever had Grandma. The other horse's saddle was man sized and the stirrups were well below my feet at their shortest, so I wanted Grandma back. I was able to swap and ride the last brace, Mehagian's Rocky Fencestar JH (Rocky) and Upwind Facsimile (Simmie) handled by Marge Mehagian and Pamela Buda.

          There was some down time then. They had one more brace of puppy to run. Then the VCA field test would start where the puppy stake had run and it was time to start Armature Walking Derby. There was not a specific order set for the field test that day. The bird steward was looking for a bird planter for derby. I said I could do it except I had a dog to run in the field test. He said to run my dog in the field test first as he was not ready for the Derby. As it was Derby started before the field test did. I signed up for brace two of the Field test in hopes that I would not miss
too much derby - I wanted to watch and learn.
          Somewhere along the line, placements for Gun Dog were announced. Mike Eisen's dog, Rank had earned first and Kita's dogs, Shasta & Dozer, placed 2nd and 3rd, but I forget the order. Fourth was with held. So Farli could have had her second placement if she'd held steady. Sigh. However I am still pleased with her performance on Sunday - overall, she did better the second day, with about a half minute of error. She needs more polish
and obedience and I need lots of work on my handling skills, but we had fun and learned. She will heel off with out being collared, but I need to pay attention, as she will slide off to hunt before I'm ready if I don't pay attention while I'm getting on the horse etc.

          For the field test, we started off in the same area as yesterday. Farli found several quail (left
          I put Farli in the van, loose with Robbie, got Grandma, let her have water and off to watch Derby. Mike Eisen was planting birds so I was not needed for anything. Lynn Worth and C. Smith were judging. Jason walked the braces to watch. I offered Jason Grandma to ride, but I guess Jason does not have much experience riding and he turned me down.
         It was nice to have Mike available to discuss the dogs with and ask questions. He was very patient. I think I will also find the time to go with Jeff Rhine (Robbie's litter brother's person) to Big Bear to train with Mike and some of the others.
          I found that I got the different Derby dogs mixed up in my head.Many ran with enthusiasm, hunted, found birds, pointed and chased. Some chased tweety birds, some did not. One ran very big and disappeared. It did not recall, or could not hear to recall when called. It did not seem hunt as much to me, but did run bigger than all the others. I could never have judged that stake. I'm glad Smitty and Lynn were stuck with that job - they have the knowledge and experience to deal with it. Overall it was a beautiful afternoon with good company, a nice horse and fun dogs to watch.

The last brace of the day was Kukui handled by Shella and ?? Al Lucas had the handlers walk down the hill a bit as the bird scent from the Field Test was beckoning them in the opposite direction of the course. When both handlers were ready the derby pups were off. The looked at each other, but both were too busy looking and running. Kukui stopped a few times to make sure that Shella was following. After that she ran and looked/sniffed to see what she'd find. She chased a few tweety birds which she chased with enthusiasm. After we reach the bottom of the slope and had gone a bit, she picked up a thorn in her right front paw. Smitty saw it first and suggested to Shella to check Kukui's feet. The thorn was small, but painful, in between the pads and took two searches to find and remove. She was ouchy, but continued running, looking and chasing. A bit later Kukui stopped on point for an solid find. Shella approached and Kukui flushed and chased.Shella fired the blank pistol immediately. Lynn explained that it is usually better to wait about 2 seconds and make sure the dogs are clear before firing. A poorly timed shot, too close to a dog can accidently cause a dog to become gun shy. The course turned to the right and up hill. Kukui found another thorn with her hind foot this time. Shella found a floret of thorns, but since Kukui had been keeping that foot clear of the ground it was not in deeply. As soon as the thorn was removd, Kukui took off with glee to find more birds.
          A bit further along, Kukui was well ahead and somewhat hard to see through the thorn brush. She slowed, looked like she might be interested in something, then continued and I couldn't see her. Shella moved to see around the brush and I did likewise (behind in the "gallery") we were able to see Kukui on a solid point. Shella moved closer and reported two birds. Kukui ran for the running birds. Kukui circled chasing running birds, pounced and missed several times and finally caught her quail. With Lynn's guidance, Shella encouraged Kukui to retrieve. Kukui carried the bird part way and dropped it, went back to get the bird again and played a bit. When Kukui brought the bird with in a few paces of Shella, Shella picked up the bird, Kukui went to find more interesting odors. Shella handed the quail to Lynn to pass along to Mike Eisen the bird planter. Shortly after time was called.
        Both Lynn and Smitty said nice things about Kukui. Mike had seen Kukui at a Junior Hunt test a few weeks ago, which I think was Kukui's first exposure to game birds. I have put a few pigeons out for her, but that is all. Kukui seems to like this game. Lynn had evaluated Kukui that morning for the VCA conformation certificate. She said Kukui had the makings of a dual... but she has been neutered. I talked to Mike Eisen about her and he liked her has well. Nice pup for the Arno and Sunshine's first Vizsla.

That was last brace of the day. We rode back, watered horses and untacked them. I tried to get the easy boot off to send to Kita and finally had to ask the wrangler for help. I helped the Wrangler load the horses in his trailer. Then went back to here the results of the Derby stake. There were several honorable mentions and four placements. Some were disappointed as there quite a few good dogs and not a way to recognize all of them. I rode all but one or two braces and I don't know how Lynn and Smitty could determine placements - Thank goodness there were experienced judges. I don't think that big running dog placed in Derby which I think puzzled some folks. But, it was not hunting as well as some of the other dogs, and is was not listening to its handler, so it seemed reasonable to me.

Ribbon Winners

02217AZ08unk.JPG	02217AZ09unk.JPG	02217AZ12unkwin.JPG
02217AZ18GunnerMarcMarlowe.JPG	02217AZ19DianeBlackwoodFarli1.JPG	02217AZ20DianeBlackwoodFarli2.JPG

Home|Previous Page|Next Page