Field Trials, Honey Locust, and the Flu

It was an interesting weekend here in Kentucky as I was asked to judge a NBHA walking quail trial out at the Miller/Welch WMA which is only about 15 minutes from where I’m staying.  I even had enough time to ask Jack Harang to ship me my saddle which I had left in the trailer we hunt from when the drought got bad and I stopped make the 2 1/2 day drive from New Hampshire to Texas.  After about nine hours in the saddle both Saturday and Sunday I was pretty sore even with my own saddle.   I judged all the stakes except the open puppy and I ran Spot and Dot in that stake at the end of the day on Sunday.  It was like most field trials where some dogs have their day and put down really nice performances and others make mistakes.  Great group of people.  Spot, like his famous father Chase Hill’s Little Bud, showed that he may also be one of those dogs that can adapt to different types of trials and venues.  The grounds are big fields with long edges and to look good a dog has to stay on the edge.  Not only did he show he could take an edge but he really looked good doing it.  He’s not a huge dog but he’s big enough so that you can see him over the many hedgerows that are mowed in the fields.  From horseback the judges had an even better view than I did.  It was good that Derek Caudill of West Liberty, KY was on hand to see him go.  His own Bud Bro, the one I called Steve Jobs last summer, is down in Alabama with Scott Chaffee and will hopefully make onto Scott’s grouse dog string in the future.  Spot ran a consistent race and handled like he was on a string as I needed to turn him at times from quite a distance away.  He took first.

Wild Apple Spot On with a find out at the farm last week.

Dot got a small nick on her ear two weeks ago and it had opened both times I’d run her since then.  Derek glued it up on Saturday and it held Sunday and in a workout on Tuesday at the WMA.  It’s most likely she tore it on a Honey Locust Which have lethal looking thorns like the one pictured below.

This is on a full size tree some of the smaller ones in the pastures are even more lethal looking.

Now, I’m fighting something resembling the Flu (I’m in denial) and my temperature spiked at 102.4 on Monday night which is really high for me as I tend to run at a low normal temp of 96.8.  Ran dogs yesterday,  taking nap this afternoon then I’m going back out to the barn later to feed and do some yard work.  I should be far enough along the road to recovery to work dogs Thursday at the WMA.