1964-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1964 March Voice | Page 8

THE NATIONAL SHOOTING DOG FIELD TRIAL, C
Amateurs is held every year atJ^iurmnNSHIPS lor Professionals,
event, the NATIONAL FIELD TRIAL CHAMPIOi
'see getiy Bledsoe
is held each year at the same time at Grand Junction T
- Grand’ Junction'
reports on the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSH IF'in^
issue.
in her article "Mid-South Park In’ found elsewhere
READY TO GO ... 8 a.m. on a cold crisp, morning, and
dogs and field trial enthusiasts by the hundreds are waiting tor
the word “GO!”
walking horses
best at field tria
Dogs and horses seem to go together in the field. From the frontier
days of early America, these two trusted friends of man have provided
utility, companionship and entertainment for their grateful masters.
Together they form a team for the great outdoors. With a well-trained
dog to lead the way and a worthy mount to carry him, man has con­
quered the wilderness of this great country. Today the utility of both
the horse and the dog has changed, but man, in his unquenchable thirst
for adventure and excitement, has devised ways and means of again
thrust himself into the field with these two proven servants.
A sterling example of the lingering desire of the modern-day
“Daniel Boone” to head for the plains with his dog and his horse is the
National Shooting Dog Field Trials held every year at Union Springs,
Alabama. Here, on the 13,000 acre estate of manufacturer L. B. Maytag,
just 55 miles east of Montgomery, over 1,500 avid Bird Dog enthusiasts
gather to match their dogs against the toughest competition in the land.
For ten days, an entourage of sportsmen on horseback follows the dogs
""UUUT
. . . J.
warier, oi Columbia, S C and
Carrol Coburn, of Lexington, S. C., are mounted and ready to get
started on the days ride. These field trial enthusiasts represented
the Lexington Gun Dog Club.
8
from sun-up to sun-down. Each
brace, composed of two dogs, two
handlers, the judges and the mar­
shals, is followed by a surging
crowd averaging from 300 to 500
viewers on horseback. As the
galery tours the countryside all is
calm and serene until someone
yells “point . . . point” and the
mass breaks into the fastest and
most comfortable gaits their
mounts can handle. Everyone
wants to get up front to see the
action of a keen dog, standing
erect and motionless waiting for
his handler to come and flush the
birds that he knows are nearby.
The galery moves as close as the
Marshals will allow, the dog re­
mains motionless as his master
moves about in the bush, and then
• . . up they go . . . BANG! and the
rest is is up to the judges.
Our approach to the entire event
was to survey the type of horses
utilized for such field trials and
to spend a little time in the saddle.
We had heard that two-thirds of
the horses used are Walking Horses
and that the people who do not
VOICE OF THE TENNESSEE WALKING HORSE