Well, we started the Field Trial season this past weekend in the Hudson Valley area at the Lost Pond field trial grounds in Oxford, NY........... all I can say is that these grounds were phenomenal- beautifully maintained is a vast understatement.
The folks from the Hudson Valley Brittany Club were all real nice people. There were folks from as far away as South Carolina who came up to run their dogs on this property with the HVBC. A very well run trial and the weather (heat) broke late Friday night once the front moved through. It was 54 degrees at 6:30 Saturday morning and the rest of the weekend was pretty nice albeit for the brief shower that blew through on Saturday afternoon for about 40 minutes or so. But the heat was gone, and that is what everyone was worried about.
A very good caliber of dogs at this trial as well. Two or three pros were there with their strings as well as a bunch of top-notch amateurs with their dogs bringin' their "A" game.
My Katy dog ran real nice on Saturday in the Open Derby, paired with a fiery Brit- they both broke away hard and out of sight (I think that got everyone's attention). Katy stayed on the course with a couple nice moves around 10 minutes & again at 20. Then she got hung up on some old scent which seemed to get her a little squirrely on me. We got that straightened out and she finished to the front........... but- with NO finds! 
Sunday in the Amateur Walking Derby, Katy had payback on her mind. She was again braced with another Brit (a real nice lookin' & hard hunting dog) and they broke away hard. Katy handled great, used the wind, hit the huntable objecticves and finished with 3 finds, two really hard points & one of them after the judge allowed me to relocate her as the bird began to run after it had been pinned and I was attempting to produce it. Oh yeah- Katy also finished the AWD with a blue ribbon!
We've been training hard all summer, so I think Katy may have an advantage early this season over some dogs who weren't being conditioned as religiously through the all the heat we've had over the last 3 months. This advantage will wane as the season rolls on.
Katy actually ran MUCH bigger in the Open Derby on Saturday. I just love handling this little gyp off of horseback. It just wasn't in the cards for us on Saturday though- as the brace before us was halfway out, the front I mentioned came through real quick and soaked everything down pretty well. It took alot of the scent with it. As a result- by the time Katy ran, everything was freshly soaked & there wasn't alot of scent to get the dog's attention and pull them into "birdy" areas. They just kept running to the objectives until they were through the course. Oh well- win some, lose some. It was great to see Katy move that well off of horseback for me. Sunday certainly made up for Saturday though! 
Oh yeah- I almost came home with this awesome little pup that Deb Goodie had with her!
I'll be going back to Lost Pond next fall for sure- Katy really showed well on those grounds.
Rob |