🥂🏆🥂The Glorious Twelfth 🥂🏆🥂
We had the absolute privilege of holding our open field trial on stunning Roxby moor today, by kind permission of Mark Taylor and Roxby Estate.
It never passes us by, just how lucky we are to have access to such wonderful ground, but especially on the opening day of the season. Particularly so this year, as counts sadly have been so poor across the whole of the UK.
Despite this, every dog had birds on its beat and opportunity to show what they were made of!
Temperatures stayed kind, with the odd shower- however we had a water truck following behind in case of excess heat.
Thanks so much to our judges for the day- Mick Canham (A panel) Alan Parr (B Panel), our team of Guns- Andrew, Steve, Tristan and Andy, Chairend Charlie with his picking up dogs and Becky our fabulous red flag!
We wouldn’t be able to run these events without our Field Trial Secretary and Chief Steward extraordinaire Denise Rackstraw😁 keeping everyone smiling!
Massive congratulations to those in the awards! But also thank you to all of our competitors, it was a fabulous day in great company- absolutely fitting for such a special date.
Awards-
1st Sutchest Isla handled by Jim Bird
2nd Gilleyfield Blossom handled by Louise Holmes
3rd Sutchest Swartz Heidi handled by Jim Bird
CoM Theodore Bear handled by Nick Lambert
CoM Cadanbyrig Marin handled by Frances Smart
Guns award Ch Goosepoint Gloster Grebe (A.I.) JW handler Emily Hinchliff
Report written by Alan Parr (Judge)
I would like to thank the Norfolk and Suffolk HPR club for the invitation to judge their Open trial on 12th August at Roxby. And thank to Mark Taylor and the estate for letting us work on such a lovely moor. To Mick Canham for his company and wisdom making it a pleasure to judge with him. The ground was moorland so a mixture of heather and white grass, game on the day was grouse. The weather was kind with a good wind and a bit of rain to cool it down but it was still warm. We had 5 awards on the day a 1st 2nd 3rd and two coms.
1ST GSP No 5 Sutchest Isla handled by Jim Bird............
On the first run the handler and dog had a side wind from the right. The dog was cast to the left covering the far gun turning and working the wind and the ground towards the right hand guns. The dog came up on point and the guns moved into place the birds flushed about 10 yards from the dog which was steady to the shots, one of the birds was hit but flew on. The second run was with the same direction of wind with the dog and handler working as one, a bird was shot and the dog was asked to retrieve which was done with ease.
2nd GWP No 4 Gillyfield Blossom handled by Louside Holmes
The first run was with the right to left wind the the dog took the wind and made light work of the beat. The dog took a scent and pulled to the right and came up on point, but the birds were up and moving and lifted out of range. On the second run the dog worked with pace and soon came up on point on the left side of the beat, the dog was sent to flush which it did, the bird lifted and was shot and the dog was steady to the fall of the bird. The dog was sent for the retrieve down a slight dip from the handler so out of sight, the bird was located and delivered nicely to hand.
3rd GSP No10 Sutchest Swartz Heidi handled by Jim Bird
The 1st run the dog got out and covered a lot of ground, she came on point but the birds flushed a long way off, she carried on working, came up on point in front of us unfortunately the birds flushed no fault of the dog. On the 2nd run the dog hunted out well and came up on point, a bird flushed but was missed the dog acknowledged the shots. The dog was brought back in for a retrieve which was a blind with a mark given by the gun. The dog was sent and soon found the bird and delivered to hand.
Com No 9 GLP Cadanbryig Marin handled by Francis Smart
1st run the dog worked the wind well and pulled on to some scent and soon worked out that the birds had moved on. The dog worked on and came back up on point with it's head held high so we knew the bird(s) were some way in front, unfortunately the birds flushed a bit to far the guns had a couple of shots and the dog was steady. Second round the dog was brought in for a blind bird that had been shot, the dog found the bird and quickly delivered back to hand. The dog carried on working with pace till the end of the run.
Com No 3 HWV Theodore Bear handled by Nick Lambert
The dog made light work of the ground on the 1st run. It was indicating birds but was unable to get them to stop to point. Second round the dog took the wind and soon came up on point, the birds flushed about 9 yards in front of the dog who remained steady to the flush. A bird was shot and landed just over the farm track. The dog was sent, worked well, covering the area and came back with the bird to hand.
That was the end of the trial. I must thank Mark Taylor for putting us in the birds, I think we only had two runs with no birds out of the 22 runs. Would also like to thank the guns for their support and shooting well to get the birds on the ground. Thank you to all the committee members for their work to make sure the day was a success. And thanks to the competitors for accepting our decisions and making it a most enjoyable day
Alan Parr
B panel 3788
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