[Ettinsmoor]

Feeling really down in the dumps today. I have been out training this morning and Darcy is so ready to go, really on the button, but the draws that I have had back so far I am about one hundred and ninety ninth on the list (well not quite that bad but I did say down in the dumps ).

I am just about to sit down with all the paperwork, envelopes and stamps and enter a whole lot more, but I just know that the ONE RUN that I do get will be just when she comes in season .

Just looking for a bit of sympathy really .

 

[EJW]

May I suggest a holiday in Belgium – They start early there! :wink:

John

 

[Claire_and_Willow]

No advice just though id offer a huge and a cup of tea!

*hug*

 

[tjlab]

If you want me to look after the others while you pop off to Belgium then fetch them down!!! :wink: :wink:

Come on cheer up, one day soon you will get your chance, fingers crossed.

Trace x

 

[Diana]

Jill, complete sympathy from me. Just got my first draw back today for SEGS and am number 21 so not a great chance at this time of year to imagine that many pull outs. better than being number 199 like you (grin) but not far off! ;-)

To be honest every draw I open I never quite know if I want to see myself as number 1 or number 100 more .... ;-) ;-) I'm a complex creature ;-)

Di

 

[Ettinsmoor]

Well it was actually 25 and then 41 (but it feels like 199 :wink: ).

I am taking comfort from the fact that it may be the one and only time I am nestled comfortably next to Ricky Moloney though .

See I have found a positive .

 

[Diana]

Biggest sulk ever.... ;-) he is MINE..... ;-) ;-)

(The fact he remembers me only as 'the woman with the little chocolate who couldn't jump the stock fencing' probably doesn't do my cause any good....)

Hoping your next SAE back through the post brings you better luck, Jill.

Di

 

[Dave79]

May I suggest a holiday in Belgium – They start early there!

John

Well, you're always welcome off course, but we only got around 12 open trials troughout the entire season so getting a run might not necessarily be easier.

Dave

 

[Eshiels]

Well I have my first run on the 12th September, and fingers crossed for a couple more later in the season.

Best of luck to one and all this season.

Ian

 

[Zensmum]

Well I must say that I am very pleased that my interests lie with working trials . Put in an entry and you get a run . It must make life really difficult at times in gundog trialling ((( lots of sympathy ))) hope that helps !

How is it the these big NAMES in gundogs are mentioned time after time in different trials ? Is there some sort of prioritisation or is everyone open to the say draw system ?

 

[Diana]

" How is it the these big NAMES in gundogs are mentioned time after time in different trials ? Is there some sort of prioritisation or is everyone open to the say draw system ? "



Chuckle. Ummmm..... over to someone else..... ;-) ;-) ;-)

Di

PS - Although to be more sensible, the big names will be members of every club in the country sometimes, and members do get preference in the draw over non members so that will go some way to explaining.

 

[barney2007]

Funnily enough Zensmum this came up in a conversation only the other day with someone local to me whose interest lies in trialing spaniels . He asked if I trialed my labs. At the moment, that's a 'no' but maybe one day. I was wished 'lots of luck', not with actually competing but getting a run. He said the whole field trial world is based on nepotism with the lab world being worse than spaniels. In fact he wouldn't have another lab because of it! He went onto say many other things such as how dogs are picked on the back of their kennel name as it is in the interest of those involved to propagate the further success of the affix and how it is 'who you know' etc.

He also said that lab field trials had become so far removed from the 'real thing' that they were a joke these days and at least spaniel trialing still replicated a fairly real environment.

I just thought he was having a bad day/had a major axe to grind but, maybe there is somehting in this?...... 8O

Someone please reply and set the record straight, as what I personally currently know about field trials I could write on the back of a pea!

 

[Diana]

Blimey! Did that bloke lose his wife to an A panel judge or something....?? !!!!!

His comments sound just like the sort of people who moan and moan about the showring and how only the 'names' win and how 'such and such could show a three legged donkey and still win'... etc etc

Like most extreme points of view from bitter people, they probably are based in some truth with some formed from personal experience and some formed from tittle tattle, and sitting around after a rubbish day when the dog didn't go well chatting to other people who'd had a rubbish day who's dogs ALSO didn't go well ;-)

The big names live only trialling for many months of the year. They put in nominations to every club in the country. They travel the length and breadth and many are either retired, do 'dogs' as their full time job of work or have extremely flexiable working hours. Therefore they get everywhere. They probably don't put in any more nominations proportionately than the rest of us mere mortals, but if they put in 100 and get 30 runs, and I put in 20 and get 8 runs it all slices down the same way really...

The birds fall where the birds fall. YES its up to the judge if he sends someone or not and for which bird, but I believe that the fact the big names have dogs that tend to go beautifully under most circumstances, makes for a lot of jealousy and back biting.

I'm not nieve or stupid. I'm sure sh*t goes on. But by god its exaggerated sometimes!

Di

 

[Diana]

The *other* thing about getting runs is this. If trialling is your first life priority for x amount of months of the year, money is little object and you don't have a job to beg time off from, and a secretary rings the night before to offer you a run... you can immaediately take it.

The REST of us with commitments, jobs and limited funds may well not be able to get a day off that late on and have to turn it down. You cannot book 20 days holiday INCASE you get a run, and then either cancel or waste them all by not. So mere mortals will ALWAYS have a disadvantage in number of runs they can take up at the last minute where as those living it, can take up every run offered even at ten PM the night before sometimes!

Di

 

[barney2007]

Thanks Di. Appreciate the replies. I can see that by being available 24/7 would make a difference.

I remember now, thanks to your post above, some of the things what he believed made lab "Field Trials a joke". Those were such things as having a dog run over shot game in a field to retrieve a specific bird a Judge asked for or ignoring a 'runner'. Things he said that you wouldn't do on a real days shooting. There was more but can't remember at the mo.

Anyway the above is going off topic, apologies. I don't know if the way Field Trials are run have changed in recent years, or how draws are made. Maybe the former another topic for discussion one day.

I can't run in field trials as I don't have a dog good enough but I hope one day I will. I'd rather not hear things that I did the other day as I enjoy this Sport, very much.

Mindst you, he also said Working Tests were 'a waste of time' too. So not sure what he expects me to do with my labs outside the picking up season.... I love Working Tests. I've always found Working tests to give an extremely fair appraisal of a dogs working ability. He said we are all producing 'robots' by running and training for such things.

Goodness, writing this down really has made me think that perhaps he has an axe to grind somewhere down the line.....

 

[Diana]

.......... Or maybe should take up extreme stamp collecting or something and leave us and our sports the hell alone!....
;-)

Di

 

[JohnW]

I would also say that it would be easier to get a run with an open dog than a novice, simply because there are far less of them. And of course, if you are a really good handler and get your dog out of novice after the first trial or two then you are going to get the runs. (so to speak!! )

Regards John

 

[Diana]

John funnily enough I've found the opposite chatting to Open people. That quite often you can have 80 - 150 nominations for an Open, where as your average Novice you tend to see between 25 and 40.

Most clubs run two novices, or one and an all aged, but only one open too which of course doesn't tend to help either.... I just have a strong feeling its harder to get Open runs in relaity than Novice.

Di

 

[MattA99]

Trust me its much harder to get Open runs!!! On top of the extra entrants there tend to be a lot less people pull out of open trials, and people will make more effort to attend. Many novice dogs will be pulled out of trials either for being not ready / good enough or having won out of novice.

Novice runs seem tricky early in the season, and appear slightly unobtainable the first few times an unsuccessful draw drops through the post. However sooner or later the runs come through. you can only be unlucky in a draw so many times. Its easy to look at a draw and spot all the 'big names' that may have got a run in a particular trial. However if you look down the list you will equally see 'big names' down at 80th reserve nowhere near a run!

I'm not naive enough to believe that everything is always perfect. However in my experience the issues seem to be greatly exaggerated. If you enter enough trials you will get runs. If your dog is good enough then sooner or later you will win. If you consistently come out with a decent dog then sooner or later you will be asked to judge.

I'm judging my first trials this year (three of them) so it would be nice to see some forum members getting a run!

Matt

 

[Diana]

Which clubs Matt? Congratulations!
Di