Blog

The Plan

September 3, 2025 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
Ben Reach and Sam Nixon MD had long shared Ed Hale as a client-patient. They liked and admired him, but saw him as a victim of the ill effects of extreme wealth, especially in circumstances like Ed’s where there were three species of offspring—his, hers and theirs. Read more

The Hardest of Times

August 20, 2025 | Remembrances | Comments
My father’s life was a continuing battle with failure. He was sustained in his struggles by a sense of humor. Born in 1897 to an Appalachian farmer-livestock trader father and a direct descendant of Shawnee abductee Mary Draper Ingles mother, his formal education ended with high school, from which he did not graduate. In 1915 he bought in partnership a livery stable in Christiansburg, Virginia, its business ferrying drummers between the Cambria train depot and the hotel on Christiansburg’s courthouse square. Alas, Henry Ford’s Model T quickly felled it. Its assets were auctioned for creditors May 1, 1917 on the courthouse steps. Read more

Harley and Fred

August 11, 2025 | Short Stories | Comments
Harley had been a for-the-public trainer-handler thirty years. He’d had some good years, more not so good, when lack of talent or injury or illness of dogs in his string took their toll, or owners he’d counted on lost interest, or went broke, or died. Nothing surprised him anymore. But he still got a thrill when a puppy or derby in his kennel showed promise. That had kept him in the game. His income was meager, but he was frugal, so got by, if barely.  Read more

Last Brace

August 5, 2025 | Poetry | Comments
Well, he’d not a place Now down to last brace  Hadn’t paid entry fees  Couldn’t, less this one got one of three He was desperate  More than that  Out of place  Read more

Thoughts on the Southwestern Championship

July 22, 2025 | Commentary | Comments
There are no more storied or scenic prairie field trial grounds than the Johnson Ranches near Trail City, South Dakota, where the Southwestern Championship moved from Arkansas many years ago, thanks to Marshall Loftin who summer trained there more than three decades. Read more

The Hole

July 16, 2025 | Poetry | Comments
Every dog has got a hole The old wisdom says How to work round it Every handler’s test Won’t back Circles back Head trails Tail trails Read more

Fred B. Leggett Jr.

July 9, 2025 | Fred B. Leggett Jr., Remembrances | Comments
Fred B. Leggett Jr. died July 5, 2025 at his home in Danville, Virginia. He was eighty-eight years old and predeceased by his wife, Joan Allen Leggett, who died November17, 2024. He is survived by his children, Fred III, Will, Mike and Helen Reynolds. Read more

The Southwestern Championship (1967, 1968)

June 30, 2025 | David A. Fletcher, Field Trial History, Other Authors, Red Water Rex | Comments
By David A. Fletcher I fondly remember two Southwestern Championships. The 1967 Championship, a premier event on the major circuit, was held near Booneville, Arkansas starting November 20, over what was called the “Sanitorium Grounds”. This was my first assignment working for the American Field as a full-time reporter on staff in the southern United States. I knew well the 30 or so professional trainers who came to the Canadian Read more

The Joy of the Hunt

| Poetry | Comments
Some hunt to watch the bird fall The wise hunt to see the bird fly After pointed by a bird dog of one’s own Or of a competitor or of a friend Therein lies the true joy of the hunt Read more