Field Trials?

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reba
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Field Trials?

Post by reba » Sat Oct 31, 2015 7:34 am

I have never been to a field trial.

How long is a dog on the ground and how many miles does it run in a single brace?

Thank you.

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whatsnext
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Re: Field Trials?

Post by whatsnext » Sat Oct 31, 2015 8:15 am

most trials are either half an hour or an hour and how many miles depends on the individual dog.

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Gertie
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Re: Field Trials?

Post by Gertie » Sat Oct 31, 2015 10:48 am

Whatsnext nailed it on the times. Only exception might be puppy stakes (usually 15-20 min.). As far as distance covered, that will depend on the type of trial (AKC, AF, NSTRA), whether it's a walking trial or a horse-back trial, the type of stake (Shooting Dog/Gundog or All Age), and cover. I'd guess that an average distance for a 1 hour horseback Shooting Dog stake would be between 8-12 miles depending on the cover.

reba
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Re: Field Trials?

Post by reba » Sat Oct 31, 2015 4:36 pm

THANKS!

RayGubernat
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Re: Field Trials?

Post by RayGubernat » Sat Oct 31, 2015 5:50 pm

reba wrote:I have never been to a field trial.

How long is a dog on the ground and how many miles does it run in a single brace?

Thank you.
Reba -

The field trial participants follow a prescribed course...more or less. Two dogs, two handlers and judges. The length of time the brace of dogs is on the ground varies, as stated above. The handlers in a walking stake cover ground at a fairly brisk walking pace, probably about 2 1/2 MPH. A horseback stake proceeds (typically) at the flat walking pace of the horse which is about 5 MPH.

So a one hour horseback course is about 5-6 miles in length. The handlers and the judges traverse the course, so they go about 5-6 miles. The dogs will run and hunt to the left, to the right and to the front of the course, so they will put on a whole lot more miles than the handler. I would suspect that the typical AF horseback field trial dog is running at an average speed of about 10 - 15 miles per hour over that entire hour, but that is just a slightly educated guess. I would also suspect that a dog in a walking stake may run at a somewhat slower average pace than a horseback dog, but not all that much. I would guess that a good dog in an AF walking stake will average about 7- 8 MPH.

I would not doubt that with GPS technology, someone has done a track or two or more and has some actual data.

RayG

slistoe
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Re: Field Trials?

Post by slistoe » Sat Oct 31, 2015 10:20 pm

I did put the GPS to the courses around here for a few times. At the Chicken Championship the average travel speed of the horses was 6.5 mph. They would pick it up close to 10 mph when going to called point. The course length was right around 5 miles long. The fastest walker I timed on a dead head was around 15 mph down the flat gravel road - and the lady was drinking wine from her stem glass.

The single course 1/2 hour trials had a course length between 2 and 2.25 miles and a general travel speed of just under 6 mph. On the 1/2 walking courses the course length was 1.8 to 1.9 miles. Don't know about the walking speeds, but must have been close to 5 mph to get the course done.

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