Winners and Judges at Tortworth

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A light breeze to temper the sunshine was welcomed by dogs and humans, and made for a pleasantly warm spring day. Tortworth provides a vast area of woodland and a large lake with parkland and fields adjoining. Four tests were set for the morning with a walk-up after lunch. Six dogs ran in the Veteran and 17 in the Intermediate Test. The judges were Basil Smith and Kevin Harrison who, with a great team of helpers worked very hard to make the day a success.

The first test, judged by Kevin was a long mark saluted by shot at the narrower end of the lake, with Veterans having a mark on the water and Intermediates a mark across the lake. Some quite young dogs were entered for the Intermediate competition and unfortunately the swim proved too challenging for them.

The second test, judged by Basil, was a pick up in a very pretty glade. Four dummies were put out and Veterans were required to pick two, whilst the Intermediates had to find three. Nearly all dogs performed well on this test.

Kevin then judged a blind with a mark saluted by a shot, in a woodland area, the retrieves being on the far side of a ditch, while Basil had a double blind along a track in the woodland. Several dogs found the cover too enticing and handlers had difficulty keeping their dogs going out far enough in a straight line.

After lunch 3 Veterans and 9 Intermediates were taken through to a simple walk-up, with one marked retrieve in front, saluted by a shot.

The awards were presented by the landowner Mr Robert Morton.  We are grateful to Mr Morton for allowing us to use this beautiful estate once again.

Veteran Results  Standerwick Tankard to the winner

Intermediate Results The Peter Flack Memorial Salver to the winner

Winners and Judges Sarah Olner and Kelvin Selway at Farleigh Hungerford

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Border Counties and Cotswold returned to Farleigh Hungerford for the Open Test, held by kind invitation of Robin Totterman and kind permission of keeper Martin Mitchell.  The day started with a walk-up, followed by a diagonal blind across grassland, the third test was a mark in woodland, followed by a blind beyond the original fall area, many dogs struggled here as they did not want to hunt beyond the area of the mark. Test 4 was a blind across the lake, with a distraction thrown into the water before the dog was sent. Test 5 was a hunting exercise in woodland, with three out of four unseen dummies to be retrieved. Some dogs who were not accustomed to hunting on their own struggled here.  The final test was a longish marked retrieve on grassland which caused no problems.  The gamekeeperMartin Mitchell and a colleague watched the dogs throughout the day especially on test three and awarded "Guns Choice", a very good bottle of malt whisky to Jonny Morris's Crown Wood Woody. A run off was required to separate third, fourth and COM.

Award winners at the Novice

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Border Counties and Cotswold held a Novice Test at Waterley Bottom, by kind invitation of Mr and Mrs Ken Brown. Our judges were Dr A Graham and Mrs L Pittaway, each judging 2 tests and then coming together for a walk-up after a short break. The first 2 tests consisted of a double marked retrieve, and a mark followed by a blind in cover crop. The next 2 tests comprised a blind across a field into the edge of a wood and a picking up exercise, where a mark had to be remembered and retrieved after walking on and picking a blind. After the break, the judges came together for a walk-up on the side of a hill in long grass, each dog having 2 retrieves, one in front of the line and one crossing. The retrieves were quite difficult and the dogs demonstrated a high standard of work, this was commented on by the judges at the end of the day. The winning dogs were all very worthy of their awards.

Our Puppy and Novice Dog/Novice Handler tests were held in the wonderful setting of Ladyswood Shooting School by kind permission of Michael and Karen Pinker.

On a beautiful morning, Judges Helen Cripps and Karen Pinker made a start with the two puppy classes the first test being a walk to heel culminating in a mark into long grass. Next came a blind in a partly fenced mini coppice approached by a mown track, and then a hunt up in a shaded woodland glade requiring two dummies from 4 to be picked. The water test next caused no major problems, all successfully entering and retrieving. The final test was a double mark in woodland which saw the only zero of the whole morning. In all, an impressive group of pups.

Managing to get an early start, the Novice Dog/Novice Handler commenced with a mark into a mini coppice. The entrance gap into the coppice at the end of a mown track proved a problem for some, with inexperience already starting to show. A double mark in woodland followed, again causing handler problems but the next test, a hunt up picking two of three dummies showed no major problem. However, the water test comprising a blind along a nearby track to be picked before the mark onto the pond, caused many headaches for the handlers with some dogs leaping straight into the water. Just to prove it could be done, some dogs scored high marks. The day ended with a simple walk up through long grass.

We had a great atmosphere and it was very reassuring to have so many positive comments from handlers and spectators alike.

Puppy at Ladyswood

Puppy/special puppy award winners

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Judges - Helen Cripps and Karen Pinker

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Judges - Helen Cripps and Karen Pinker, Mike Pinker and award winners

Our last test of the year was our annual Novice and Open Walked-Up Test, held for the first time at Priors Norton near Gloucester.  The tests were run on Field Trial lines, with Iris Wright doing an excellent job calling the shots to her efficient team of dummy throwers, which kept judges Arlene White and Nick Rees and the competitors on their toes.

Unfortunately, in the novice test four dogs were lost on a retrieve through quite a thick hedge.  For those who had  failed for one reason or another, the line carried on giving everyone at least three retrieves while the judges were making up their books at the end of the second round.

The Open competitors were taken through a patch of long grass, where a few went out for poor marking, then the line carried on with crossed retrieves over a long ditch.  Three dogs were taken through for a final round, including Frank Wright's dog Milheath Grannom, which had to be withdrawn after hitting the ditch awkwardly on the previous retrieve.  Thankfully, the injury was not serious and he was over it after a couple of days rest.  Congratulations must go to Anne Colley who swept the board by winning both tests with her two dogs.

Walked up Novice award winners

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Novice Results

Walked up Open award winners and judges

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Judges - Arlene White and Nick Rees