Dull threatening rain but warm.
The Triangle.
Roxy ran for no more than seven minutes before she had her find. The cock ran off the covey and flushed but the young birds were just beyond, six I believe, and she produced them in two groups. I ran Jalad here but he had no bird.
Cow Hill.
I hadn’t the gate shut before Chris was on point. He was staunch as you like and produced his bird with some style. Then Chris did some I hadn’t seen him, or any dog do before. While working he feathered up on point and a lark flushed so he worked on. He actually did two things for the first time the other being that he missed birds. After working on from the feathering up he bumped a pair but it was his reaction that was interesting. He ran back down wind about thirty yards to where he had feathered up and pointed again, eventually producing a single. It was as if bumping the pair made him realise that he had made a mistake when he feathered up???????? You give me another explanation.
Basso.
I took Basso to a place I don’t know the name of. It is high grass, mid thigh, with the odd patch of heather which you can’t really see until you are in them. I wanted a bird for him but I was prepared to settle for the good run I got especially as he had a nonproductive in the middle and he carried on in good fashion after it.
The Liffey head.
Threatening rain in between the showers some of them heavy.
Chris.
This time last year I had serious doubts if we would ever get Chris to handle in the context of an Irish Trial. Well he is handling and he is running nice lines but we need a bit of the badness back. Today he only got the one run and probably because he was terribly one sided and he need a pee before he got going. After that it was pretty good quartering but just short of the mark.
Jalad.
I think Jalad was put down three times and while he ran well enough and quartered well enough he displayed a tendency to back cast on the left. As we worked the whole day on a slight right handed cheek wind this was understandable, especially as he was unlucky enough to hit banks that exacerbated his tendency to turn back but back casting is an anathema to me and I fully understood why he was eliminated.
Roxy.
Roxy was nearly back to her imperious best. She had several runs and boy did she cover some ground but she was difficult to handle and basically refused to turn. The one saving grace was that she was quartering flat but very very wide. Maybe 500 yards either side. The judges were obviously seeing something they liked, probably her drive, blistering pace and flat quartering but eventually the lost their patience with her intransigence and she was eliminated. The last time I cast her off she got on to some sort of line and I probably would have been all right had I been able to drop her but to misquote Maggie Thatcher ” The lady isn’t for turning.” I fully expect to find her in season when I go out to feed this evening.
I took all the dogs except Judy and Tam and used the new tent for the first time. Need chairs, something to set hot things on in the tent and a big sail bag for the tent itself. You would nearly need to iron it to get it into the original bag with ease. Coco and Lucky seemed to enjoy themselves but I had to keep them apart as they want to play all the time. Only problem is tha Coco is so big and powerful I don’t want him to hurt Lucky again. I was watching one day when Lucky ended up with a wound just because he thumped Coco in the mouth with his paw and got cut for his pains. I was able to give Coco a spin on the heather and boy can he can gallop and Lucky pleased me when he got a gallop as well. They both need more one on one as they tend to look to other dogs for fun and not me.
Kippure.
Chris.
I thought he just about did OK but the judges obviously didn’t as he didn’t get another run. We ran with the winner and Chris had a back on the setter’s snipe find. Lines were good and handled easily but same as Saturday we need a bit of that badness back and it won’t come back while he’s sitting in the kennel so “To the hill.”
Roxy.
Basically the same as Saturday. A bit wild but quartering well and hunting hard. These judges were less inclined to put up with her waywardness and she only got the one run.
I gave both Coco and Lucky a bit of a skip on the heather and they made a good fist of it.
I don’t think I was ever before glad not to make the second round. You know the way Johnny Wilkinson stands with the knees bent before he takes a conversion. I just might not have been as upright as him by the end of this trial. It took me till this evening, Monday 3rd, at 21:00 to manage to get my legs flat on the floor. It wasn’t easy.
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