The 1990’s – Handling The Transition
The 1990’s – Handling The Transition
The 1990’s were not quite as prolific as the 1980’s in terms of the number of field awards, with a total of 99 awards among 27 handlers with 34 dogs. However the decade was significant in terms of the number of new handlers joining the fray and securing success with their dogs. Only three handlers of the 27 to win awards this decade were successful in the previous decade, Liza Brown, Steve Chant and Nicolas Elder, with 21, 7, and 1 award(s) respectively. Many of the earlier stalwarts had moved into a new status of trainer and/or field trial judge, passing on their knowledge and experience to a new generation. Without a doubt this proved to be successful with many of the new handlers managing to pick up multiple field awards with their only dog. The immediate pedigrees of these new dogs were generally populated with unproven in the field Weimaraners and it is a testament to how much working aptitude had been retained from more distant forbears. There had been no apparent dilution of the hunting instinct in the more recent generations, at least into the 1980’s.
As mentioned earlier, Liza Brown’s reputation in the field first established in the 1980’s was enhanced in the 1990’s and she was the foremost handler by far with 21 awards in this decade with 4 dogs. Liza’s Belvoirvale Bracken (b) won 8 awards, two in Novice with a 1st place at Sarrat, Hertfordshire with HGS under judges Mrs M Nixon and C Wilkinson. Further success in All-Aged and a 3rd in Open cemented, as earlier mentioned, the dog’s position at 6th in the WATFA table on 201 points. Liza’s Clippers Escort (b) won 4 awards in Novice and a 2nd in an All-Aged field trial. Liza has two dogs in the top twenty of the WATFA table for dogs and several in the next twenty places. Clippers Escort (b) is at 22nd and Brakabreeze Bravado (b) (out of Clippers Escort) is at 23rd position on 88 and 85 points respectively.
Jo Hall was one of the new entrants to trialling who made a significant impact in the 1990’s with Yaxi Von Stern Weiss (d) a dog which had much Ragstone heritage in its lines. This dog won 7 awards in Novice trials at a sufficient standard to be positioned at joint 20th in the WATFA table on 91 points.
Steve Chant’s 1990’s achievements with Tasairgid Talked About (d) have been discussed earlier in the context of its 3rd place in the WATFA table for dogs. It was one of only two dogs to win awards in Open field trials in this decade. The other dog was Belvoirvale Bracken (b) (h: Liza Brown).
Christine Carpenter’s Aschfahl Liberty Belle (b) won two Novice awards and three All-Aged with 1st places at both levels. The Novice 1st was at Catton Park, Derbyshire with the WA (06/11/1995) under judges Mrs M Davison and T Rigby. The All-Aged 1st was at Conholt Park in October 1996 with the GSPC under judges Mrs M Nixon and Mrs V Ashton, and she followed this up a year later with a 2nd in an HVS All-Aged trial at Loddington, Leicestershire under judges GD Nixon and Mrs S Harris. Aschfahl Liberty Belle appears at 12th in the WATFA table with 126 points. Christine appears at 9th in the WATFA handlers table on 207 points.
R Squire’s Lurgashell Silver Lancer (d) sired by Costas Wilkinson’s Vanwilkie Nearly Napoleon and sire in turn to Brakabreeze Bravado (b), secured 4 Novice places including a 1st place under judges T Horsefield and S Chant, and also a 2nd place in an All-Aged trial under judges T Horsefield and C Wilkinson, and makes the WATFA table at 15th with 102 points.
Mrs Dorothy Shall’s longhaired Wyndlee Silver Candy (b) was placed 6 times in Novice trials at such a consistently high level to feature at joint 17th in the WATFA table for dogs on 95 points.
There were nine 1st places in Novice stakes in the 1990’s, one up on the 1980’s, with two dogs bearing the Chant’s Quadet affix with Quadet Anni (b) owned by Mrs KL Knott also picking up two 2nds in Novice, making 3 awards.
Other dogs not already mentioned and which won 3 awards in the 1990’s were Mrs Rachel Newmans’s Morganna Mozart (d), Mrs Shiela Cunningham’s Peaklander Perfection (b), and Mr AD Fletcher’s Ragstone Raypier (d).
Mr P Owens’ Schonblick Shady Lady At Koromas (b) and Mrs T Banasik’s Blue Huntsman Ben (d) won 4 awards. Mr KN Crampin’s Wipfel Berberis Bountiful (d) won 5 awards. Other prolific dogs have already been mentioned.
Also new on the scene in the 1990’s was the late Mrs Beate Dwingelo-Lutten who picked up three field trial awards with three different dogs. Another two dogs handled by Beate won field trial awards in the next decade and secured her 12th place in the WATFA handlers table on 113 points.
On 12th January 1998 Weimaraner Silberstern Moonlight Von Trubon (b) won a CoM at a HGS Novice stake at Rose Hall Farm, Hertfordshire for her handler. This was followed up in December of that year with a 4th place at a WCGB Novice stake at Stourhead Estate, Wiltshire under judges GD Nixon and Mrs V O’Keeffe. And so began the record of field trial success of the foremost owner-handler of the hunting Weimaraner, Ms Suzi Burton. This is a record which will be elaborated upon later in this narrative.
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THE WEIMARANER – SIXTY YEARS IN THE FIELD – Print Version
