I sit here typing with Champagne flute on my mouse mat and a sense of such pride I can’t tell you.
URC Bucks Area Open Test
Mayridge Farm, Englefield Estate, Theale by Kind Permission of Sir William Benyon
Judges: Peter Scott, Carol Buckland, Rosemary Ryder
1st: Diana Stevens – Bedgebrook Never Say Never to Wylanbriar (FT CH Bedgebrook Excalibur x Mansengreen Hobby of Bedgebrook) 05.05.09 LRD
2nd: Karen McCarthy – FT CH Castlemans Running Game (Canburne Fennel of Lafayette x Castlemans Classic Mood) 17.03.03 GRD
3rd: Ian Ford – Tayfordwoods Twist of Lemon (Waterfords Envoy of Heathergaye x Logansmore Samba) 20.08.07 LRB
4th: Derick Buckland – Norlands Pintail (Longcopse Storm x Tibea Rosalee of Norlands) 29.03.02 LRB
COM: Wendy Glue – Incas first Whip (Eclipse Firefly x Sherston Sarah) 19.03.05 – LRD
COM: Sue Berman – Suthcharic Inti (Jagdens Jude x Dipplelodge Rossetti) 09.04.05 – LRB
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We travelled ‘up north’ to the heady heights of Buckinghamshire to a beautiful ground I had never been to before and a really strong field of 40 runners.
What happened. WE ONLY DAMN WON!!!! 
Skips about, punches air, whoops a bit, then settles down and gets all serious
The day was SERIOUSLY windy. Which never helps anything when working a dog. The wind swirled and whirled and I’m not going to lie, some of the tests took quite some handling. Brilliant to see Ian, jenny parker (Jen-D) and many other friends there ‘away’ from home!
Five tests in the order we did them:
Test 3: Mark on the water at about 20 yards, requiring the dog to push through a hedge then be self employed to find the dummy on the lake. Then about a 100 yard blind to three small trees down a grass ride at the side of the lake.
Fish did it nicely, going first dog of the day, but was given a wrong mark by the judge on the blind because of a misunderstanding, so got a bit messy when he was begging me to believe him it was somewhere else when holding him in another area… finally had his way, picked and judge adjusted score accordingly Fish 15 Bondy nice clean job for 20.
Test 2: Double mark. Down a steep hill, mark one falling about 50 yards away in swirling wind, the second about 80 yards over the brow of a hill infront of a wood.
Fish picked first well, struggled with second, I called him up. So 0. Bondy worked nicely, first bosh, bosh. Second required a bit of handling for a 18.
Test Three. Oh God. A serious serious test. As tests go it was a maker or breaker. It threw a lot of zeros and the howling gale out on the field didn’t help anyone!
Started from behind a partially opened 5 bar gate. Shot to a post of the guns left at about 80 yards. Shot to a post to the guns right about 150 yards. You are told there is a dead bird at the 80 yard post and a runner at the 150 yard post. however because of the mad mad weather conditions he really didn’t mind which we picked first. So completely unlike a shooting or trial day I sent for the dead bird first which was a do’able angle through the gate. few handles for Fish, single handle for Bondy and picked. Second one. Jesus. It was a STINKER. 150 yards directly into a howling gale. Fish struggled I’m not going to deny it. It was a journey of many handles and I was only not tempted to call him up because so so many had failed or had to handle for five to ten minutes to get the damn thing! Eventually I got him past the post and banged hi out into the open field behind where he hunted well and eventually picked. Bondy stepped up and picked the first nice as mentioned, then bless him, handled him round the damn gate, as required, then banged back into the wind for the full distance…. You know sometimes you can’t quite believe it… well I COULD, but it was possibly one of my prouder training momements ever known as I have worked on that endlessly as we lost a trial last winter to him not facing the wind. Fish pulled 15. Bondy the only 20 of the day on this test.
Test Four. Four dog walk up. Long grass field, 4 in line. Single mark about 80 yards in swirling gale. Both dogs picked clean. Bondy’s heelwork slightly better than Fish’s which can get a step wide when thistles are in ‘town’ He is his mothers child on that front Bondy 20. Fish 19.
Test Five: Blind with no shot through a wood. Nice test. Blind at a certain point clearly described to handler through a wood with many tracks and so on to veer off on. Both boys pretty equal. Fish picked on one stop whistle and hunt whistle, BUT hated the brambles on the way back and trotted through some of it. 19. Bondy was quick and keen but stopped slightly short and needed an extra push but didn’t give a rats arse about the prickles on way back. 19.
Ok, at a certain point I got a flutter in my stomach. It was then about holding it together. I REALLY wanted a card for the Meercat after such nice work, but hell, if we didn’t, we didn’t. I was so proud to get the win.
In the end? Well we scored 97 out of 100. The second place dog (did I mention it was a FT CH? Grin….) was on 91….
There are days that stay with you. This will stay with me. Thank you to those who made is poss. You KNOW who you are.
Thank you to the URC Bucks team for a fantastic, friendly, ‘against all odds with the weather’ kind of a day!
Di