Friday, February 6, 2009

It's All About The Chase.....


Nick, Rosie, and I spent the weekend before last lure coursing. The three of us really enjoy it for lots of reasons. First and foremost, I really like watching my pups run flat out as fast as they can and, well, I think they like doing the running. I love this picture taken by Uma Rapiti Photography of Nick. He appeared to be looking at the camera as he came in on the bag at the end of the course. I always like Lee’s pictures, but this one is a personality shot that I’ll always treasure.

We had a wonderful weekend. The trial was sponsored by the Southeastern Greyhound Club. Saturday, was an ASFA event. My hounds had a good day. Nick won open, defeating 3 other hounds. Rosie also took open, but it was a hollow victory as she was the only open Pharaoh running that day. Sunday, was the inaugural National Lure Coursing Club trial. The format of the trial was new. The hounds ran in braces and rather than tallying scores from two runs, winners were determined thru a modified double elimination format. I liked some things about this new format and didn’t like others, but all in all, it’s about the chase. The pups don’t know or care how or if they’re being scored. Also, instead of wearing blankets, the pups (at least the short haired breeds) wore wide red or white collars - much easier to deal with from a handler's perspective.

I’ve attached a slide show that I made comprised mostly of pictures from this trial as well as from the Winter Challenge at GANG Park in Calhoun, GA. That ASFA trial was a five day event that culminated on New Year’s Eve, and really tested the hounds’ endurance. We only made it to three of the 5 days. My hounds might have been able to handle five consecutive days of coursing, I couldn’t though.


5 comments:

Michelle said...

The slide show is awesome!! =)

Never Say Never Greyhounds said...

Love those action shots!

IHateToast said...

i love how the hind pawtoes curl. i never get used to those. they'll always make me giggle.

great shots.

Life With Dogs said...

Tremendous post - I could watch the slideshow all day.

Hiking Hounds said...

Great pictures! I am hoping we will get to go to a trial in a few weeks. So much fun!