It’s not always hayfields
- judisedwards
- Apr 22, 2022
- 1 min read
Many of you have been lucky enough to get into tests with lovely cover. Last weekend in Ohio reminded me, that’s not always the case—in fact it’s often NOT lovely hay fields. Ohio had dense multiflora rose and small saplings (1/2-3/4” thick) in both the T & X fields. Like many clubs, the quality of the cover is at the whims (or finances) of the owners of the site. The Yorktown Battlefields used to be pristine. The NPS can’t afford to mow them anymore, and they’re mostly impenetrable. The cover is Wisconsin is 8+’ tall—until if falls over, and then it’s 8’ grass lying down and dead. Florida has thick scrub bushes and bare dirt. Even in VA, I can easily Think of a site (or 2), where the tracks are in dense weeds. When you look for places to train, don’t be fussy! Nasty, sticker, overgrown is worth your time to train in. Also, Sandy’s track was in an orchard. Your TD track can easily be in planted tree properties.
I understand the difficulty in finding land. It is getting more and more difficult as farm land is eaten up by subdivisions but at what point do you say no? I know TDX can go through thickets and brambles (and Bean goes willing through them) but is our 'sport' worth injuring our dog? Rose thorns in the nose? Getting blackberry thorns in an eye (happened to one of my dogs and I freaked out). Our dogs will do it, but should we ask them to? Just questioning the group and myself.
Quite right! Here’s one of the fields where Vickie tried for a TDX. This isn’t a small area meant to be an obstacle, it was the entire field