Thread: NZ Pointer and Setter Nationals photos

As mentioned on the other thread the NZ Nationals were successfully held this weekend on Saturday and Sunday .
The turn out was the regular hard core field trailers that support and keep this fine sport going for betterment of the breeds they choose to run , and for fun!
We met at Rerewhikaitu school grounds at 8.30 am 20 min south of Rotorua and proceeded forward in convoy to a large Iwi owned farming block which to me was the best land I think I have run for a pointer and Setter trial . We walked from the race where our cars were parked and proceeded down the paddock for about 1000 yards to our starting point .

The trial was running as a brace with the dogs sent on different beats to quarter the land the best they could .We has a very strong cheek wind most of the day and all had to have multi layers as the wind chill started to cut into us very quickly and freeze our butts off.

The braces were working toward the spectator vehicles over the long undulating field which the judges used to their advantage to hide the first bird .The first bird must have been quite hard to find as from the cars we could not see the braces until they came over the top of the fields low apex -sadly the first 3 braces didn't get over that brow and were eliminated due to various problems around the traps .
The forth brace was my own and one of the most competitive if not the most competitive trialer in the country , Robin Gaskin .The dogs were cast and as usual mine was a little slow to find his stride so Robyns dog found first with my dog Inti backing with good manners. Off we went again with some good work and Inti finding the second with perfect trap work -steady to wing and shot and through to the second round .
Once the first round had finished we had five dogs to run off . Sadly for me my dog decided to take a lonnnngggg dump and by the time he finished Dave Sheely the eventual winners dog was on point .My dog ran forward toward Daves dog and the question was asked "will he back : to which I replied yes no problem and he did honor Dave's dogs point .Nice work both dogs .The judges then replaced Dave's dog with the by dog which proceeded to run the legs off my boy and got the find -me relegated to fifth place in the wash up .I was very happy with the result considering several years away from the trial scene.Dave Sheely IS 1st -Robyn Gaskin IS 2nd -Dale IS 3rd -Dave Sheely IS 4th and my dog Inti 5th .

Sunday arrived pissing down with Rain and we arrived at the NZ novice trial which any Pointer Setter dog can enter providing they have not won at champion level .The same dogs that beat me in 2nd and 3rd place were running today also so this would be interesting .The course was short open hilly paddock with trees and scrub to one side .Most dogs seemed to do ok but alot of whistle blowing and handling looses points .I had to blow miy whistle twice and it was obeyed instantly twice .Two good finds and very tidy manners around the traps saw me take first place with Robyn Gaskin . Not a bad weekend in all folks, In fact rather Tweed one could say !!!