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As per Board approval on December 9,
2002, the AKC has instituted a new gunning regulation in the "Field Trial
Rules for Spaniels", effective July 1, 2003.
The AKC has sent all clubs a new insert
which reads:
"Effective
July 1,
2003 all Gun Captains for AKC ESS Field Trials
must be "graduates" of the ESSFTA Field
Trial Gunning Program. The graduates will be listed with the ESSFTA
Field Vice President. The graduates will have
attended and participated in an official ESSFTA Field Trial Gunning
Seminar, and observed by an ESSFTA Seminar leader. The graduate will
have a history of experience gunning in AKC English Springer
Spaniel field trials, and have passed these requirements to the
satisfaction of the ESSFTA Gun Captains' Review Board."
Below, you will find an explanation of the process and the Approved
Graduate/Gun Captains list.
Attendees will be rated Q= Qualified, P=
Partially Qualified (needing more field experience) or N= Non
Qualified (needing more experience, a sponsor/mentor and will have to
repeat the seminar). These "ratings" come from the IC Seminar Leaders who
have collected a history of each attendee and have observed them during
the field portion of the seminar.
The Gun Captains Review Board
will review those people on the list who are rated
"qualified", to determine whether they would be rated as a
Qualified Graduate or Gun
Captain. Here are the criteria used to arrive at the decision:
1. Number of years Gunning.
2. Number of ESS Field Trials gunned.
3. Club affiliations.
4 Gun Captain experiences.
5. Attendance and participation in a Parent Club Field Trial Gunning
Seminar.
6. "Q" rated (Qualified status) by Interclub Field Trial Gun Chairs.
7. Personal recommendation by the seminar leader or a mentor/sponsor,
based on their observation of the candidate's gunning safety and
protocol.
8. Leadership Qualities
All
Field Trial Gunners must attend a seminar and will need to be Qualified
or Partially Qualified. We are depending on them to select experienced
guns, and encourage them to select people who could be eligible to become
graduates by becoming an apprentice gun and having a mentor/sponsor
recommend them to attend a seminar.
Gun Captains must
choose Trial Guns from the approved list
of Qualified and Partially Qualified attendees first in order to utilize
persons who are familiar with recommended field trial gunning practice as
presented in the ESSFTA Field Trial Gunning Seminars. All IC Seminar Leaders should now have
had one or more Seminars within their Interclub. For those clubs who do
not have a graduate in their own club who is qualified to be Gun Captain,
the IC Seminar Leaders will help locate someone who would be willing to
come to their trial as Gun Captain, and mentor their club's Q guns.
The
ESSFTA Field Trial Gunning Program has 5
ESSFTA Field Trial Gunners Seminar Leaders. They are:
East:
Paul
VanHouten at
surfkennel@aol.com
Mid-East:
Dave
Barto
Mid-West:
Mark Haglin
Rocky Mountain:
Mark Hairfield
Western: Bob child at
RGChild@aol.com
The AKC will not approve a
field trial until they have received notification from the ESSFTA that a graduate
gun captain has been assigned. Therefore, it is important that the
Interclub chair list the name of the designated gun captain for each
field trial club when submitting approval for trial dates with the Field
VP.
We are making every effort to insure the accuracy and integrity of these
lists, but, like all new procedures, this is a work in progress, so your
patience is greatly appreciated. If you have not received your notice yet
indicating your status after having attended a
seminar, please contact Mark Haglin at
mark@pineshadows.com
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