The Boys of the Road

The boys of the road
Follow a circuit
That starts way up north
As summer is ending

They’ve been up there
Since mid July
Training young bird dogs
And young riding horses

Training the dogs to seek and point
Sharp tails Huns and pheasants
And to stay put when they fly
Despite their instinct to chase

Training the horses to neck rein
And ground tie
Be calm in a group
But not be herd bound

To canter and lope
Not to trot
To walk a hole in the wind
And fox trot

They work on farm and range land
Make friends with the locals
Then hold a first field trial
Before heading south

Week by week they compete
Down the continent
Where like-minded women and men
Hold trials on pheasants or quail ruffed grouse or woodcock

At Thanksgiving the twelve winningest dogs
Compete at Paducah three days round a plant
Processing uranium for peaceful uses we hope
Then they head south to warmer lands

With the new year things get serious
At the Georgia Derby All-Age and Shooting Dog Championships
Then the Florida All-Age Championship
The Continental Derby and All-Age Championships

Meanwhile at Hoffman and Ames and in Alabama and Georgia and Oklahoma and Mississippi
Other trials run

And in February at the Ames Plantation
It all comes together for forty or so
Qualified with two all-age wins of an hour
And the winner there is National Champion

When quail hunting season ends
Three great quail plantations open to trialers
Blue Springs Wildfair Nonami sometimes Nilo
For the Masters All-Age and Shooting Dog Championships

At the same time nearby
The Southeastern All-Age and Shooting Dog Championships go
On Chickasaw and another great plantation
And thus another field trial season ends

For three months they fish
Hunt turkeys and loaf
Then gather puppies and derbies
For the July trip back to the prairies

So it’s been
For more than a century
Will it continue?
We hope so