A few weekends ago it was the Cheshire Game and Angling Fair at Peover. This fair has a special place in my heart as it was at this event last year, while helping with Dig It Display Team, that I got offered a job at Dig It, assisting with the obedience classes. 12 months on and my experience and knowledge of dogs and dog training has increased tenfold and I now teach my own classes as well as assisting. Dig It is like family to me and I’ve made some close friendships during my time there so far.
Although I haven’t joined the Display Team this year I went along to Peover with them and spent a lot of time helping the Have A Go stall. It was a very busy day so I didn’t get to see many of the displays but I still soaked up the atmosphere.
One thing I love about game fairs is the shopping opportunities and Peover is quite a big one for stalls. There was a large Rydale clothing stand plus a number of other country clothing, outdoor equipment and accessories trade stands.
The main arena had a lot of displays running throughout the day but I only managed to see the Jive Pony show. People doing acrobats on horse back is always fun and entertaining, although the girls in this display made a strong use of their sexuality which wasn’t to everyone’s taste. However they did show a skipping horse which was pretty cool and had a lot of humour in their show, but perhaps not enough wow factor.
As well as the displays there were lots of small competitions and activities, one of which being Lurcer Racing. This was fascinating to watch and the power and speed of the dogs was amazing. What I enjoyed seeing the most was when the cloth bait the dogs were chasing stopped at the top the dogs did a large circle and then came running back to their owners. For me its impressive to see dogs with such a prey drive also demonstrating control and obedience. it was evident that these dogs were well-loved pets as well as racing dogs.
Of course there was also a number of Gundog scurries taking place including the traditional water retrieve, although the dogs were coming out a dark brown shade (eugh?). I enjoyed watching the Straw Bale scurry. The dog has to retrieve a dummy over 3 straw bales and each dog gets a number of attempts to try to get the fastest time. This Cocker Spaniel below, owned by Lydia, went hell for lever over the bales and managed to get a really good time, not far off the winning Labrador. The Labrador’s were clearing these bales without touching them so a pretty impressive effort by the little cocker.
A really enjoyable and exhausting day was had. Although I didn’t get around to see all of the show I enjoyed my time helping the Dig It stall and had a good opportunity to see the majority of the fair. It is very spaced out and can feel as if there is nothing much there, or not quite as much as you would expect, but there certainly is a good variety.
With this being my second game fair of the year I think there is only so many you can go to before they all start to feel the same. That’ll do for Summer 2013 I think.
Ruth on an Adventure 