“Every dog has got a hole, and his handler has to hide it,” was a truism in the world of bird dog field trials.
This led to an experiment at the Deep South Open All-Age Championship, initiated by John Steed, owner of Fat Pine Plantation, venue of the Championship. Steed issued bodycams to each of the six mounted marshals he sponsored to ride throughout the Championship. Before the first breakaway, he met privately with the marshals.
“Boys, I do not care who wins this trial. But I want to record on your bodycams all the action that if watched by the judges in real-time could affect the outcome. This is an experiment. Please do not reveal to anyone that it is being conducted.”
Fifty dogs were entered. Not a large entry historically, but pretty good for the current state of the sport. As instructed, the marshals were diligent and rode to cover by video as much of the action as possible. Then John had all the bodycam footage professionally edited and put in lineal form so judges could view it and get a clear picture of most of the relevant action.
John was an old friend of Ben Reach. He decided to show the video first and only to Ben before presenting it to the AFTCA Trustees and other influential trialers. Ben watched it in his library-conference room with his pal Sam Nixon MD on a Friday afternoon.
Ben had a long history of riding and judging field trials. He knew from long experience all the tricks handlers and scouts performed to hide the holes of their dogs. John’s video footage revealed some of these tricks and holes. After watching the edited bodycam footage, Ben met with John Steed at his request.
“Ben, what do you think of this record of what really happens during a field trial and my proposal to record on video for review by the judges everything that happens during a trial before the judges announce a decision?”
Ben was silent three minutes. Then he said, “John, you do not understand the culture of field trials. Hiding holes from judges is part of the tradition of field trials. There is a saying, also part of the culture of the sport, “What the judges don’t see didn’t happen.”
“You can say that invites dishonesty and trickery. Maybe so. But scouts riding ahead of judges through woods or where the contour of the land hides them is a long tradition. Riding up your bracemate’s birds or riding his dog off is not acceptable and should not be condoned if observed. But those who do that will be punished by their competitors. My advice is, forget your crusade to clean up field trials.”
With that, Ben walked John Steed to the office door, shook his hand and wished him well.