Holkham Hall 25th & 26th July 2015
Our Team for the Holkham Country Fair Open working Test were Rowan Allen, Mick Elsey and Chris Airey.
Well done team on coming 4th
Thank you to the Norfolk Gundog Club who organised the event, a very smooth and well organised two days with some good tests for the dogs and handlers.
Day 1 started drizzly, which stopped as the tests started, and made it nice and fresh for the dogs. There were three tests, all on this side of the lake. The first test was a mark over two sets of sheep hurdles into the long grass for the first dog, the second dog had a mark memory across the water in the long grass and the third dog had a blind over the sheep hurdles in the same area as dog one. The team all succeeded well, which settled everyone's nerves, and Chris scoring a maximum 20 points.
The running order was then reversed for test 2. This was a straight mark about 150 yards through the long grass into some cut brashings, however the first dog was sent for a blind retrieve half way down towards the mark, into some other brashings, the “stop whistle” was the key element to success in this test. The second dog then was sent for the original mark, and our team coped well with this, as several dogs copied the first dog and stopped short where the blind had been placed. The third dog then had a blind in more brashings behind a patch of thistles, behind a tree so the handler could not see their dog working.
For the final test of the day, the order was changed again and our team were first to go. This test consisted of three blinds, two on the edge of the lake where the handlers could not see their dogs, and the third at the far end of the arena. Our team completed all the exercises successfully.
Day 2 began with a walk up, dog one had a mark behind, the walk up continued and the second dog had a mark by the edge of the water, and the third retrieve was a mark over the sheep hurdles, all dogs did well, with Mick and Rowan both scoring the maximum points. The order was reversed for the second test which was a hunt up exercise, four dummies were placed under a tree, then shots were fired near the water which pulled the dogs away from the tree, but our team all handled their dogs well, with Rowan scoring full marks again.
After a break for lunch, the top six teams, including URC Essex Area were taken over to the other side of the lake for the final test. There was a mock drive with lots of shots and three blinds were placed into the brashings just along the fence line in front of the spectators. The dogs were then sent down the bank, across the lake, then a long run through the long grass to the area you had been sent. Our team all succeeded but Rowan again achieved top marks.
The teams returned and we were informed a run off was required for 4th place, with just one dog from the team, it was agreed that Rowan would do this as he had been the strongest dog in our team. The run off was a straight mark from a launcher, the judges could not decide which was the better retrieve, so they repeated the exercise with a longer mark, again from the spectators view it was hard to decide, but the judges made a choice.
The prizes were then awarded, and the team were both surprised and delighted to discover they took 4th place. One happy team, which was well deserved.
Cath Elsey