Some newb trial questions....

[jimbo&rooster]

Ive got a trial prospect that I intend to start running in some Puppy, and derby stakes this spring, and as I look through the AKC website im a little confused.

First of all, is there some way that I can search for field trials and not have to weed through all of the beagle trials? or is that just the nature of the beast?

If a trial states that it is a 3day event does that just mean they are giving themselves some wiggle room to get things done or is it going to take 3 days?

And last but not least, even though puppy and derby stakes are walking im guessing its cool to bring my horse along and ride in the gallery for other stakes?

thanks
Jim

[dan v]

Yeah...beagle FT's are included in the search.

A 3 day event usually goes 3 days....perhaps not all of the third day though.

Puppy and derby stakes can be walking, or can be horseback. But Amateur Puppy and Amateur Derby are walking by definition. But yeah, bring the pony...as there will be a mounted gallery at a walking ft...unless the judges are walking...then nobody rides.

[Brushbustin Sporting Dogs]

You need to search the pointing breed field trials, when I look them up I never have to sort through beagle trials...

If they say they are 3 days they are 3 days, some start on friday. When the premium comes out you can see what runs when!

Where did you get the idea that puppy and derby were walking??

Yes take your horse and ride all day!!!

[Cajun Casey]

Most Amateur Puppy and Derby stakes are walking, even if the Opens for those classes are horseback. You may ride gallery if the judges ride, as stated. The best thing to do is find the clubs having trials and contact them to get on their premium e-mail lists. Just pick your state(s) and look at the trials for the past twelve months.

[jimbo&rooster]

You need to search the pointing breed field trials, when I look them up I never have to sort through beagle trials...

If they say they are 3 days they are 3 days, some start on friday. When the premium comes out you can see what runs when!

Where did you get the idea that puppy and derby were walking??

Yes take your horse and ride all day!!!

well the fact that most of the listings I have looked at said "walking" next to the amature puppy and derby listings.

Like the title says NEWB.

JIm

[Brittguy]

I may be wrong , but I thought Indiana had banned horseback trials on state property. If that is the case , maybe there is no mounted gallery.

[raven34]

Jim
Like casey said
he will be 6 m in January. If there are not any trials posted on AKC by the state you are searching. Bring up past 12 months. Contact the clubs find out if they are putting on a trial. Get their premium. On it it should tell you which day (or give you an idea) when Amateur walking Puppy and Open Puppy are running. Amateur is usually walking as stated for the pup /derby stakes. Open is usually horseback unless otherwise specified. Bring your horses, take your wife or father in law....watch lots of dogs and learn a ton.....

[jimbo&rooster]

Jim
Like casey said
he will be 6 m in January. If there are not any trials posted on AKC by the state you are searching. Bring up past 12 months. Contact the clubs find out if they are putting on a trial. Get their premium. On it it should tell you which day (or give you an idea) when Amateur walking Puppy and Open Puppy are running. Amateur is usually walking as stated for the pup /derby stakes. Open is usually horseback unless otherwise specified. Bring your horses, take your wife or father in law....watch lots of dogs and learn a ton.....

Thanks. Ive recruited my father in law for sure and my wife wants to go, but till she has this baby her sense of humor has gone down the tubes.... . Ill start looking at past trials and go from there.

Heck I may even have that nut job TWH ready to go by then She hasn't managed to unseat me since the first time. haha

thanks folks Ive got a hand full of FTs that I am looking at from Jan-March so Hopefully I can get some things going shortly

Jim

[Brushbustin Sporting Dogs]

I believe all amatuer juvenile stakes are walking but Open juvenile stakes are not unless noted as walking.

Good luck have fun!!

[RayGubernat]

I believe that AKC REQUIRES that the handlers MUST walk in all Am. Puppy and Am. Derby stakes(unless the handler is certified as being handicapped).

Also, you must get the premium from the club to find out the order of running because the AKC presents the stakes in every trial in the same order.

Dumb? Yep. Confusing? Yep. But that is the way they do it.

All they would need to do is to add a 2 character field to designate the running order of each stake and the stakes could be listed in the event search utility in the actual order they will be run.

I suppose that if you had A and B fields for stakes running simultaneously, you might need a 3 character field but that is it. I don't know why they don't implement such a trivial programming change.

The good news is that, more and more often, clubs have their premiums on line...making the AKC event search feature less and less relevant.
As has been mentioned,clubs generally run their trials on or about the same weekends, year after year. Most are run at the same venue as well. They also typically offer the same slate of stakes, in the same order.

Once you know the who, the when, where and how typically follow fairly easily.

RayG

[jcbuttry8]

Every club is different. Some are more on top of the game then others. Most all listed will have a contact point and a number. Give them a call. Especially those with no website listed. They will send you a premium generally by email. Remember that most premiums read "to follow". This is due to dogs might get picked up or not run at all. There is alot of sitting around at these trials so definitely bring the horse. I have been to trials that I called in and was told we would run at 12:30 and then put Kona on the line at 5:30 as the sun was heading down. Get good at it, and if you love it, then become a judge. Most of the problems at these trials is the limited number of judges and the fact that they also run dogs. So, the events may have to get pushed around due to a judge in one event has to run two dogs in another event on field two. So his event to judge gets pushed until he is done. It's really horrible. You have to sit around all day birddogs run a field and point and chase birds, and meet great people who have tons of experience to share with you

[dan v]

I believe that AKC REQUIRES that the handlers MUST walk in all Am. Puppy and Am. Derby stakes(unless the handler is certified as being handicapped).

Also, you must get the premium from the club to find out the order of running because the AKC presents the stakes in every trial in the same order.

Dumb? Yep. Confusing? Yep. But that is the way they do it.

All they would need to do is to add a 2 character field to designate the running order of each stake and the stakes could be listed in the event search utility in the actual order they will be run.

I suppose that if you had A and B fields for stakes running simultaneously, you might need a 3 character field but that is it. I don't know why they don't implement such a trivial programming change.


RayG

Ray.....that's pretty petty criticism....I guess the American Field website has AKC site beat hands down :roll: