With the help of Melissa Pearce and Rebecca Peters-Campbell we were able to capture some nice 6 week old shots of the the Zoiboyz "E" litter. This is a very consistant litter with a lot of very nice qualities and potential. You can see the puppies at www.zoiboyz.com.
KC Thompson
Tom Golcher
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
"E" litter 6-19
The last feeding at the "milk bar"
"my babies"
whispering future plans
Escape
some puppy kisses
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
2010 ASFA II – my thoughts
The Good
From the time we arrived to the time we left the many people putting on the 2010 ASFA II were kind, helpful, and in good spirits.
They had a very good handle on the parking and instructions for those that needed them.
The “Field Trial” signs were prominent to help guide us there.
Right in the center between the two fields sat a large tent that served well for a gathering place and awards place throughout the weekend.
Two large paddock tents were available to provide a shaded area and X-pens set up to display the draw and scores.
There seemed to be plenty of portable restrooms available with plenty of supplies throughout the weekend.
There was a water buffalo and a hose – more on this later.
There was a nice variety of venders including a food vender.
Inspections were done very efficiently. We can all learn from them.
During the trials the draw and scores were posted in very good time. When there were errors they were fixed in good time.
The Judges were very experienced.
The Lure Ops were some of the best in the country
The golf carts were life savers.
There was a Vet on site the entire time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! – This should be mandatory at each II
There was evident good organization in the planning and operating the trials.
The everyday food and drink prices were reasonable.
Plenty of Silkens for their first eligible II (of 14 eligible 11 were there) – also plenty of Whippets (4 flights)!!!
Thanks to Garret (Nada’s Son) there was plenty of help keeping generators running, jumping autos, fixing this and that.
The Bad
The water buffalo was not manned adequately and on occasion it would run out of water and was not filled promptly – making some hounds go without cool down water – mine included.
If I had not dumped the booze out of the wading pools there would have been only 1 pool for use in cooling the hounds down. (6 coming off the 2 fields and 6 going out) After I dumped the booze there were 3 available.
The paid for special dinner was not very good for the price paid. There were lots of complaints as to the quantity and quality of portions. They told me they ran out but had enough the next day for sandwiches. hmmm
Requests from the exhibitors to take a look at changing the field set up feel on deaf ears.
The Field Chairman did not think it unusual for the quantity of injuries taking place. He could have/ should have called a Field Committee meeting and at least discussed softening the boxes built in the course plan.
The Lure Ops could not see the entire course and when the weather went south they could only run the lure – they could not see the hounds.
Equipment problems extended the trial by hours. There was no emergency cut off to the power.
The Ugly
By my count between 30 and 40 percent of the entered hounds could not complete the II because of field related injuries.
During an electrical storm over the field and a torrential downpour, with the lure operator 15 feet in the air, the Field Chairman or the President of ASFA, did not temporarily clear the field for the safety of the people and hounds. We escaped tragedy.
Both fields were set up so that 90% of the run was not visible by the exhibitor. No-one travels hundreds or a thousand or more miles to not watch their hounds run. This also means that the Hunt Master could not see the course. How could the HM possibly been watching out for the safety of the hounds?
Overview
So another II is in the books. The best part of this II’s is meeting the folks that usually you only get to see their names on the discussion lists.
It should also be about the hounds too. But when you could not see any of the runs it is hard to say “wasn’t that a beautiful run”, “I am so glad I witnessed that”, “That is some great hounds running there”, “that dog really deserved the best in II” – but we saw none of that. A shame.
From the time we arrived to the time we left the many people putting on the 2010 ASFA II were kind, helpful, and in good spirits.
They had a very good handle on the parking and instructions for those that needed them.
The “Field Trial” signs were prominent to help guide us there.
Right in the center between the two fields sat a large tent that served well for a gathering place and awards place throughout the weekend.
Two large paddock tents were available to provide a shaded area and X-pens set up to display the draw and scores.
There seemed to be plenty of portable restrooms available with plenty of supplies throughout the weekend.
There was a water buffalo and a hose – more on this later.
There was a nice variety of venders including a food vender.
Inspections were done very efficiently. We can all learn from them.
During the trials the draw and scores were posted in very good time. When there were errors they were fixed in good time.
The Judges were very experienced.
The Lure Ops were some of the best in the country
The golf carts were life savers.
There was a Vet on site the entire time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! – This should be mandatory at each II
There was evident good organization in the planning and operating the trials.
The everyday food and drink prices were reasonable.
Plenty of Silkens for their first eligible II (of 14 eligible 11 were there) – also plenty of Whippets (4 flights)!!!
Thanks to Garret (Nada’s Son) there was plenty of help keeping generators running, jumping autos, fixing this and that.
The Bad
The water buffalo was not manned adequately and on occasion it would run out of water and was not filled promptly – making some hounds go without cool down water – mine included.
If I had not dumped the booze out of the wading pools there would have been only 1 pool for use in cooling the hounds down. (6 coming off the 2 fields and 6 going out) After I dumped the booze there were 3 available.
The paid for special dinner was not very good for the price paid. There were lots of complaints as to the quantity and quality of portions. They told me they ran out but had enough the next day for sandwiches. hmmm
Requests from the exhibitors to take a look at changing the field set up feel on deaf ears.
The Field Chairman did not think it unusual for the quantity of injuries taking place. He could have/ should have called a Field Committee meeting and at least discussed softening the boxes built in the course plan.
The Lure Ops could not see the entire course and when the weather went south they could only run the lure – they could not see the hounds.
Equipment problems extended the trial by hours. There was no emergency cut off to the power.
The Ugly
By my count between 30 and 40 percent of the entered hounds could not complete the II because of field related injuries.
During an electrical storm over the field and a torrential downpour, with the lure operator 15 feet in the air, the Field Chairman or the President of ASFA, did not temporarily clear the field for the safety of the people and hounds. We escaped tragedy.
Both fields were set up so that 90% of the run was not visible by the exhibitor. No-one travels hundreds or a thousand or more miles to not watch their hounds run. This also means that the Hunt Master could not see the course. How could the HM possibly been watching out for the safety of the hounds?
Overview
So another II is in the books. The best part of this II’s is meeting the folks that usually you only get to see their names on the discussion lists.
It should also be about the hounds too. But when you could not see any of the runs it is hard to say “wasn’t that a beautiful run”, “I am so glad I witnessed that”, “That is some great hounds running there”, “that dog really deserved the best in II” – but we saw none of that. A shame.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
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