2024 Nancy Pearce Memorial Youth Trial Report
Reporter: Maria Bassham
Pinewoods Bird Dog Club was proud to host our 2nd annual Nancy Pearce Memorial Youth Trial on November 9, 2024. Pinewoods Plantation manager, Jeff Arnold, and staff, worked hard to have the piney woods ready for the young field trailers. With both wild and pen raised quail, coveys were plentiful for the 3 walking and 6 horseback braces. We had a full day of field trialing with 14 kids and 18 dogs total. Of the 18 canine entries, 16 of the dogs were Pointers and 2 were Setters.
We would like to thank our judges, Michael Coats and Jeffery Houston Thompson for spending time in the saddle watching these young handlers and their dogs. A huge thank you goes out to Pinewoods Plantation owners Fred and Sally Beshears for allowing us to run on their glorious plantation. Thank you to Erica and Bernard Parker for catering a fun lunch of chicken nuggets and tenders that both the kids and adults enjoyed during our lunch break. It was served in the beautifully renovated Pinewoods Plantation barn with one table dedicated in honor of Nancy Pearce. She was a dear friend and lover of dogs, horses, and field trialing. A huge thank you to Chris Mathan of the Youth Field Trial Alliance for presenting the 3 winners with rosettes and participation ribbons for all the competitors. The 2nd, 3rd place winners and honorable mention were also awarded engraved plaques, and the winner received an engraved first place perpetual trophy bowl.
We had a gallery full of spectators that followed along on horseback and on the dog wagons to cheer these kids on. Thank you to each and every family and friend for supporting them. They wouldn’t be able to do what they love, and learn about the sport, without all of you.
The walking stake started bright and early at 8 am that Saturday morning with 6 dogs eager to run. The first brace paired 1st place winner, Mackenzi Bach and “Sport” with 3rd place winner, Emaria Parker and “Jace”. It was an exciting brace for the two girls with plenty of bird work. Mackenzi handled Sport well and had a successful 20 minutes on the ground with a total of 4 finds. Emaria and Jace were not far behind with 2 good finds and nice sized coveys up. The second brace was Jalon Stover and “Zeus” and 2nd place winner, Emmie McHugh and “Boxie”. Boxie hunted close and enjoyed working for Emmie. She had 2 nice finds with birds seen. The 3rd and final walking stake brace was Emmie McHugh and “Dakota” and Kayson Thompson and “Diamond”. Although birds were not seen during the brace, the handlers enjoyed learning more about the sport.
The youth trial drawing braced brother and sister together in the 1st horseback stake of the day. 1st place winner, “Rose”, was run by Harper King and “Eva” was run by younger brother, Warren. Rose ran a great race with 3 classy finds and lots of birds up. She also stopped to honor Eva at brace end. Proud dad, Matt, rode along and helped scout for the siblings and both dogs were with their young handlers when pick up was called.
2nd horseback brace was our Honorable Mention winner, Sawyer King and “Stan” and 3rd place winner Kira Jenkins and “Lulu”. Both dogs handled well with plenty of bird work. Lulu had 2 nice finds and honored Stan on one of his points. Stan ran a good, clean race and listened to his handler, Sawyer. He had one nice find on the top of the hill and shot was fired. He also honored 2 of Lulu’s points and had one unproductive when time was called. The judges felt Stan’s effort was worthy of Honorable Mention.
After our short break for lunch, our 3rd brace was Skylar Riley and “Kane” and Gavin Parrish and “Missy”. This was Gavin’s first field trial and he was sharply dressed for the part. He handled Missy like a pro but due to unseasonably warm temperatures, conditions were made unfavorable for the dogs. Kane did not complete the brace and Missy was not able to locate birds.
4th brace was Madison Vinzant and “Bond” and 2nd place winner, Emaria Parker and “Bill”. As with Kane, Bond was picked up early. Bill continued his solo race with 2 nice finds and was with his young handler when time was called.
5th brace Hunter Hennecy and “Jag” and Kira Jenkins and “Buzz”. Buzz had one nice find upon breakaway with Jag backing. Both dogs had one more point in their 20 minutes and were relocated with no birds present.
6th and final brace of the day was Skylar Riley and “Tom” and Kylah Hennecy and “Ben”. Skylar, who barrel races, is no stranger to horses, is still learning and absorbing everything she can about dogs and her new sport. She and Tom did a tremendous job getting birds up on two different finds. One flush took time and determination to get the birds to move. She listened to her dog and didn’t give up. At the half-way point of the brace, both dogs had one last find with coveys up which concluded the exciting day.
The three horseback stake winners receive points toward the annual Dixie Trace Field Trial Association’s Youth Handler Award and the three walking stake winners receive points toward National Bird Hunters Association’s annual Youth Handler Award.
Congratulations to all the kids and their canine athletes. They all did a fantastic job running their dogs and will continue to grow and learn in the sport of field trialing.
Winners of the 2024 Nancy Pearce Walking Stake
Winners of the 2024 Nancy Pearce Horseback stake.
More photos of the 2024 Nancy Pearce Memorial Youth Trial