o'cockaigne

The next coursing event was the Spring Coursing at the weekend of 14 and 15 March, at Ronostrand in Een. Simon had been asked in advance if he would run the training session on Friday afternoon, as no one else was willing to do so. The two course-setters at WvCNL felt that two days’ work was enough. Jan Scheer had, however, already set up the course on Thursday, but when Simon and Els inspected it on Friday afternoon, they found it contained some very dangerous sections. So they altered the course slightly, making it run more smoothly and eliminating the hazards. Subsequently, around 20 runs were completed at a brisk pace. It was striking that no one from the committee was present and that even the chairman was on holiday in Spain! Very strange.

On Saturday, things didn’t go at all to plan, which meant that in the end only one round was run. This is, of course, very disappointing for the participants, particularly those who had entered several dogs and had travelled from far away. All in all, a weekend like this costs an awful lot of money, and if your dog only gets to run once, it’s incredibly frustrating. I haven’t heard anything about a partial refund of the entry fee, which would have been the sporting thing to do.

Two weeks later, we held our CC2000 event at Camping de Ganzenhof in Bladel. The weather was a little kinder to us than last time, but there was a chilly breeze which meant the participants weren’t particularly keen to go and watch the coursing. A shame. Just under 50 dogs were entered, including a number of young hounds competing in a coursing event for the first time. Annelies was there too with Cyrus, a puppy by Charlaigne. It was his first time doing a coursing and, once he’d got the hang of it, he was absolutely raring to go. It was another very successful event – nice and relaxed.

On 11 and 12 April, we held the ’t Haasje International Chocolate Coursing event at “Camping Dommelvallei” in Borkel en Schaft. Cephyr and Chenea competed there on Friday and Sunday to qualify for their certificates. Cephyr ran first with Azra van Els and Chenea with Cranston, and on Sunday it was the other way round. The girls did well and their licences are now safely tucked away in the cupboard.

Crumbaugh and Charlaigne ran on Saturday. After the first lap, Charlaigne was in the lead, but as usual she wasted her energy just before the second lap and so she finished behind her brother once again.

On Friday morning, I set off for Amsterdam to catch a flight to Birmingham. I then took the train to Telford, where I had the honour of judging the Deerhound Club Open Breed Show on Saturday 18 April. There were 96 Deerhounds entered (out of a total of 102), but unfortunately 22 were absent (which is quite normal in England). So in the end, I had 74 Deerhounds to judge. Still a good number!

This year, Friday evening was all about ‘Cowboy and Cowgirl’, and lots of people had gone to the trouble of dressing up accordingly. There was even someone dressed as a cowgirl sitting on an inflatable horse! I laughed my head off when she joined in with the line dancing – the horse got really excited and went wild!! It’s a shame it wasn’t filmed.

On Saturday morning, three ‘Special Award Classes’ were judged first by Megan Anderson, a trainee judge. She finished just after eleven, but by the time I could start it was already nearly twelve! The weather was fine for both hounds and people, but the forecast for late afternoon wasn’t looking too good. I had 28 males to judge, one of whom I sent out of the ring due to aggressive behaviour towards other males. I found my Best Male and BOB in the ‘Yearling Dog’ class: Vin-De-Château du Tripple Bois, owned by Mrs N.J. McKie. What a magnificent male!! Everything was just right, and his gait was so ‘easy, active and true’, with a lovely stride length and plenty of drive – it simply gave me goosebumps. He also maintained his beautiful, strong topline whilst moving, and when he stood still, he was usually perfect! Except in the photo, of course!

There were 46 bitches present, amongst whom I found my Best Bitch in the ‘Junior Class’, Kilbourne Renee to Gentom, owned by Mr D.J. Morton and Mrs H.L. Morton. I knew D.J. as a young lad when he used to show the Deerhounds of his grandparents, Tom and Jean Rhodes. He has now taken over the kennel name and I hope he will continue his grandparents’ fine work. Renee is a virtually perfect bitch, also with a lovely, strong loin and a magnificent gait. I just find her head a little too strong and her feet could be a bit stronger.

Unfortunately, it started to rain during ‘Post Graduate Bitch’. I asked if we could go inside because Deerhounds really don’t like the rain. Unfortunately, it went on for quite a long time, and I ended up judging ‘Limit Bitch’ in the rain as well. This really did one of the most beautiful bitches a disservice; she didn’t show herself at all, felt utterly miserable and so didn’t manage to get any higher than third place. When I saw her on Sunday, she was a completely different dog! Such a shame.

Best Puppy in Show was Kaleginy Land Rover, owned by Mrs Kaye Constantine (left)

Pictures: Rebecca Riedel

On Thursday 23 April, we set off for Lelystad, where the WRV Midland coursing event was due to take place on Saturday at the Lelystad ice rink. It was a lovely coursing venue, particularly as it wasn’t just a flat, mown field. And across the road was a lovely wood where you could warm up and cool down the hounds.

Crumbaugh, Charlaigne and Teresa, from Augusto Frade, were due to run last, and I was waiting in the caravan at Midland Racecourse for a message telling me they’d started and roughly what time I needed to be there. But unfortunately, … the news wasn’t very good.

I posted the following on Facebook: “I’ve just received word that the WRV Midland coursing event has been cancelled because the judges – Ingrid Reuser and Erik Hamelers in particular – have declared the coursingground unsafe. This is an insult to the committee that inspected and approved the coursingground last week.

It also implies that those who set the courses at the highest level (world and other championships, international coursings abroad, etc.) are not capable of assessing a field and laying out a good, safe course.

Anyone who remembers the WvCNL coursings in the old time, will know what that field was like, and nobody had any problems with it! That was coursing, not that fussy business on the neatly mown pitches we see these days.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the individuals mentioned and encourage them to carry on destroying our sport.”

After posting this message, I got into the car and drove to the ice rink. As soon as I arrived at the ice rink, the phone started ringing straight away and all sorts of people came running towards me. The message had caused quite a stir!!! Fortunately, it had been decided to just make it a funcoursing, and apart from a few people, everyone let their dog(s) run. My Deerhounds were absolutely delighted because the three who’d already run once on Friday were now allowed to run again!

Yes … and then you become a BOS.

On Sunday, the coursing took place in the central area of the racecourse, weaving between the obstacles. This meant the hounds had to pay close attention, as cutting corners would either result in falling far behind or losing sight of the hare. Six Deerhounds were entered here too, but they were four different ones from those at the show. It was Cephyr and Chenea’s first official courisng! Unfortunately, Crumbaugh and Charlaigne were drawn together again and were the first to start.

Crumbaugh under white and Charlaigne under red.

Cephyr competed with Esther Bühler’s Moon Clanchief’s Pride, a very experienced dog. Cephyr got off to a far too enthusiastic start and tripped over her own paws several times; things went badly wrong after the obstacle and she went down. Apart from that, she ran a good course, but at the back she followed the hare neatly whilst Moon cut across and took the lead on the final straight – and, well, you can’t make up that ground.

Moon under white and Cephyr under red.

Chenea ran with Fiby under Sharp Hill, owned by Jean Claude Frelin, and it was a really lovely course. The girls were well matched, although you could tell that Chenea was less experienced. Also, at this age, they haven’t quite got the speed yet – that will come.

In the second round, it turned out that Moon had been withdrawn. As I don’t know how he gets on with another male at the finish, and given that he should have been paired with Crumbaugh based on points, I was actually quite relieved. The only consequence was that Crumbaugh ran with Charlaigne again, Chenea with Fiby, and Cephyr ran solo.

The courses were similar to the first ones, with the only difference being that Cephyr ran the course of her life and, together with Crumbaugh, scored the most points. Unfortunately, however, it wasn’t enough to really climb the rankings. Fiby came first, Chenea second with the title ‘Open Class Winner’ – her first coursing title – Crumbaugh third, Cephyr fourth and Charlaigne fifth.

And then, on 28 May, I received the terrible news that Cuillin, Charlaigne’s last-born puppy, had died. Cuillin had already undergone major surgery last year to remove very large gravel stones from her stomach; this time she had swallowed a piece of wood that had to be removed, but a few days later it turned out that a section of her intestine had perforated. She then underwent emergency surgery again and was recovering reasonably well, but after a few days things suddenly went completely wrong. The owners and vets did absolutely everything they could to save her; no expense or effort was spared, but sadly nothing helped. Early in the morning of 28 May, she passed away in Ana’s arms. We are all utterly devastated.

The Sighthound Weekend took place on 30 and 31 May in Lelystad. On Saturday, the Deerhound Club Match was held, and unfortunately Regina Tromp-Pruyn had only 11 Deerhounds to judge. Charlaigne was awarded BOB, Chenea received the reserve CAC and was named Best in the Breeders’ Classes, Cephyr was awarded 1U in the Intermediate Class (2) and Cytaugh was named Best Veteran, thereby becoming Dutch Veteran Champion and Grand Champion!! She is the third Dutch Deerhound to hold this title.

On 5 June, we set off for Münster, where the Deerhound Annual Show was held on Saturday the 6th. The judge was Nicola Bailey of the Greyflax Deerhounds from England. Unfortunately, by German standards, there was a low turnout here too, with just 34 Deerhounds entered: 14 males (1 absent) and 20 females (2 absent).

The final event of the first half of the year was the WvCNL International Summer Coursing at Leek, featuring the ‘Dutch Grand Prix’. We had set off on Friday so that we could have a quiet day on Saturday and enjoy the lovely weather and the Nienoord estate.

As only our four Deerhounds were entered, Simon had offered to act as a judge, as there was one judge short. This also meant that the Deerhounds competed in the National class and were judged by two judges instead of three.

Once again, Crumbaugh ran with Charlaigne and Cephyr with Chenea. After the first round, Cephyr was in first place with 180 points, followed by Crumbaugh and Chenea, both on 178 points, whilst Charlaigne had 172 points.

Unfortunately, the second round followed the same pattern, although the outcome could well have been different. Cephyr and Chenea both scored 179 points, Crumbaugh 174 and Charlaigne 168. This put Cephyr in first place, earning her the title ‘Winner of the Grand Prix of the Netherlands’. Her first coursing title!

Crumbaugh under red and Charlaigne under white.