An Extraordinary Slice of History
by Vic Williams
Once upon a time,
not so long ago, there was was the Deep South Brittany Free For All.
For a period of 10 years, between 2000 and 2009, Brittany field trialers
from across the country made the pilgrimage to the South to attend one
of the most prestigious and extreme competitions in the Brittany field
trial world. Today field trialers speak of the FFA, as it is often
abbreviated, as if it were the stuff of legends, and it is.
The concept of the Free For All was the brainchild of James
Doherty and the first directors of the association. He first told me
about the concept at the Bama Brittany Club trial. It was ALL about the
dog. See the
PERFORMANCE STANDARD that he
wrote. He presented these ideals with such passion that my first
thought was that my dogs could never live up to this. (I was wrong only
because I underestimated my dogs and their trainers).
The location for all but the first FFA was Tara Hill Plantation, near
Selma, Alabama, under the care of our host, Alva Caine. The sign out front of the
small plantation house reads "Welcome to the Land of Milk and Honey",
and so it was. See the
LOCATION page for a
much better description. Look through the photos for an idea of how vast, open,
and groomed the courses were - how it took a really great performer
to show well.
Look through the
TRIAL RESULTS and the summaries of the
CHAMPIONS
and you will see lots of people that you have known or heard of, and
dogs that are legends, many now in the Field Trial Hall of Fame. And
read the field trial write ups and the articles that went to the American Field, mostly by Kent Patterson, and you
cannot help but be moved.
This website pays tribute to those people and dogs that made this the
gala event and the legend that remains. Hidden in its pages are the
stories and photos that give a glimpse into what the FFA was. But like
the photo you take of a magnificent mountain range it cannot convey the
immensity and magnificence that you get from experiencing it first
hand. I have made some editorial changes to how the site operates to
conform to new web standards and fixed broken links, but have not
changed the content. Below is the original start page which was the
last home page after the last running of the Free For All.
Enjoy.
POSTSCRIPT
Some of the groups of photos were never properly linked into the website,
I provide them here in case they do not exist or are broken elsewhere.
2007 Championship
2007 Amateur Championship
2008 Championship and Amateur Championship
2009 Championship
2009 Amateur Championship
(copyright© Vic Williams 2019)
Welcome to The Deep South Brittany Championship
Association Web Site
and Home of the
Deep South Brittany Free For All Championship
held at Tara Hill Plantation
Safford, Alabama
with the generosity of Alva Caine
and in memory of
Katherine Caine
|
Completion of the 2009 Free For All Championship
The DSBCA proudly announces the completion and winner of the 2009
Championship and the 10th Anniversay of the Championship to be run at
Tara Hill Plantation deep in the land of legendary bird dog
champions. The results are as follows: |
Safford, Al., February 4-6, 2009
Judges: Freddie Epp
and Ruth Ann Little
Deep South Brittany Free-For-All Championship
[45 min qualifying heat] [1 hr championship heat]
24 Brittanys |
Dogs Called Back for the
Championship Round
Top Qualifier:
Early Times; h: Tom Tracy; o: Bo and Renea Ackerman
The Rock II; h: Tom Tracy; o: Paul and Lisa Pollock
A Touch of Bourbon; h: Jerry McGee; o: Jerry and Ruth McGee
Savannah’s Hot Shot; h: Ben Lorenson; o: Sheri Hudson
Diamond Hills Deuces Gone Wild; h: Tom Tracy; o: Paul and Lisa Pollock
Just Call Me Roy; h: Ben Lorenson; o: Tom Ettinger
Early Times; h: Tom Tracy; o: Bo and Renea Ackerman |
Champion
Ru’Jems A Touch of Bourbon, Brittany Male, by Bourbon
XIII
X Mo-Kan Bimbo; Jerry and Ruth McGee, owner, h Jerry McGee
Runner-Up
Savannah’s Hot Shot Brittany Female, by Keystone’s
Double Shot
X Savannah’s Vamp Hannah; Sheri Hudson, owner; h Ben Lorenson
CLICK
HERE FOR PHOTOS
CLICK HERE FOR WRITEUP
|
and
Completion of the 2009 Free For All Amateur Championship
At
the completion of the Championship the DSBCA held the annual running of
the Amateur Championship honoring R.D. Hinson. The placements are as
follows:
CLICK
HERE FOR PHOTOS
|
COPYRIGHT © 2019 by The
Deep South Brittany Association, All Rights Reserved