02/20/2017
Stephen Bell
Halftime Report
Keeping the long held tradition, there will be no dogs running on Sundays at the Ames Plantation. So with this break in the action, we will review this past week’s performances.
Of the twenty-four who ran this past week, there have been five contestants who have completed a three hour run, with three on the morning course and two on the afternoon course. The morning course has produced a greater number of birds, with twenty clean finds by the morning contestants compared to eleven by the afternoon contestants. The birds on the afternoon course may just be a little more wily though, since that course has also had eleven unproductive points.
The five contestants who finished three hours are: Coldwater Thunder, Dominator’s Rebel Heir, Dunn’s Tried N’True, True Confidence, and Walnut Tree Fred. All of their performances are fairly equal so far, and you can see the details on the brace by brace synopsis.
The other nineteen dogs who ran this past week are no longer in contention, and that includes the past year’s champion. Since he was the only returning past champion this year, there will not be a repeat champion this time.
A reminder for those who may not be familiar with these mid-trial reports, these bird scores are not like a score in a ball game. The judges may select any dog as the winner for one singularity exceptional piece of bird work, and still much more is considered, such as stamina, gait, and manners. There is no way to measure what they have seen, until the winner’s announcement is made. For all their time in the saddle, a hardy thank you is due to the judges this year: Jim Crouse of Dixon, Kentucky; Doug Vaughn of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada; and Jadie Rayfield of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
This year’s official report in the American Field will again be written up by William Smith, of Moscow, Tennessee. His entertaining prose and sense of detail presents the happenings of the trial in a manner that can not be conveyed in these daily reports.
Brad Harter of Pleasant Hill Productions will again be making a video document of the trial. He is ably assisted by Larry Garner, both gentleman are also sponsors of the trial. Additional still photography is made by Ames Plantation’s Jamie Evans, who with his wife Dee also maintain the website and this face book page. Vera Courtney is the last but not least of this team, she rides the “road gallery”, and captures much of the personality of this event.
Also in the saddle for the duration of the trial are the marshals, Bryan Braddock, Chris Weatherly, and Dr. Rick Carlisle. They and their team of assistants deserve praise for keeping up with the mounted gallery among a host of other tasks required of them.
The Barn Crew are often the earliest folks to arrive and the busiest. They are: Albert Jenkins, Robert Polk, Mark Yearwood, Roberto Garza, Stephen McKeen, Devin Kee, and James Marrow. Several sponsors enable this team: Hendrix Farms donates two tons of all grain horse feed for the Ames’ horses, Spalding Laboratories donates their fly predators and bye bye odor products to make the horse barn a pleasant place, and Doug McKenzie of Predator Management Solutions comes each year to control the vermin on the courses.
Over at the Ruben Rhea Clubhouse, Jimmy Simons is up early to make the morning's coffee. He is then joined by a team of Ladies from the surrounding communities of Hickory Valley, La Grange, Bolivar, Saulsbury, Grand Valley Estates, and Grand Junction, who are the hostesses who greet the visitors with their home made treats. The First Baptist Church sponsors the sausage biscuit breakfast each morning.
Catherine Bowling Dean of “Me and My Tea Room” provides the catered lunches at Bryan Hall each day.
We would like to thank the following sponsors and hope that you support their businesses for their efforts here:
First on this list are always the dog food companies who make monetary contributions to defray the expense of the trial. They each do much more, too.
Purina hosts the "Kick Off" dinner each year. They provide an original oil painting by Ross B. Young of the winner and a year's supply of their ProPlan feed to the owner of the winning dog. Their souvenir caps are cherished by all the owners, handlers, and scouts.
Sportsman's Pride hosts the "Everyone's Invited" dinner on Monday (tomorrow) night. They supply a year's worth of their Pro 30/20 feed to the winning handler. All of the officials of the trial sport the custom outerwear that they provide, and they, too, give out souvenir caps.
And the saddle makers have been busy with this years awards, too. The owner of the winning dog will receive a specially engraved Montreal Royal Trooper saddle with saddle bags, breast strap, and bridle from Tucker Trail Saddles. And the owner will also receive a limited edition M & W Elite Troopers saddle from the National Bridle Shop. The winning handler will receive a specially-made troopers saddle from the Jack Haggis Saddlery. The winning scout receive a specially made Christie Enterprises trooper saddle, given in the memory of Dr. Douglas Guthrie by Ray Black. The 5 Star Equine Products company will provide the saddle pads for all, and the Texas HayNet company will provide feed bags and hay nets to all.
The winning owner, handler, and scout will receive a Garmin Astro 320 receiver and T5 tracking collar. Garmin provides the National Championship Club with the 4 tracking units used in competition. The winning handler will also receive a TriTronics Pro EXP Remote Trainer and G3 Bark Limiter from the Garmin company, and a SportDog SD 1825 trainer from Gun Dog Supply.
Some other takeaways for the winners are the commemorative hat pins from John and Susan Ivester, and the video copies of the running recorded by Brad Harter for Pleasant Hill Productions. The winning handler is awarded a supplemental $2000 by the Bank of Fayette County.
