Two handlers wake before dawn
And roll from their lumpy beds
In a field trial motel near the grounds
Their tasks for the day are a run-off
Then a two-hundred-mile-haul in their duallys pulling trailers
They wish the judges had flipped a coin
Given one the Championship, the other R-U Champ
But no, they must instead have this
Waste a day
And throw everyone’s plans in a mess
They grab a coffee in the office
Pay their room bills and roll the ten miles
Feed curry and saddle their mounts
And road their dogs to the line
Where their two scouts, two judges and two marshals wait
All mutter good mornings
The senior judge says “Let ‘em go”
Off they go
The scouts swing up in their saddles
Sixteen human eyes and sixteen equine ones follow two pointers
Eight bit chains rattle
Thirty two hooves stir the dust
And drum on the sand in rhythm
Two handler’s songs ring out across the rolling ground
Two pointers top the ridge ahead and disappear
One scout rides left, the other right
Disappear
Then turn their mounts toward the front
And drag the edges left and right
“Point” rings out from the left after 20 minutes
A judge and a marshal ride to the call of point
The handler whose scout has called does also
Then another call of point rings out to the right
And the other riders responded
Five minutes later two pistol shots crack close together in time
The two judges and their marshals
Ride back to the course path
Each judge has made a check mark in his book
Scribbled “25” beside the mark
The dogs are ahead reaching
Their handlers, following, raise their right arms
Signaling, “There he goes”
Twice more come calls of point for each dog
Twice more all is in order
At one-hour-twenty-minutes the judges confer and call time
Then ride out of earshot, dismount, take a leak and confer
The senior judge flips a quarter
The judges announce a Champion and a Runner-Up
Say, “It was real close”
The handlers call their owners on the ride back to headquarters
There a marshal hands purse checks to the handlers
The winning handler writes two checks-one to his scout-
one to the other handler-so the two purse checks are split even