Losing It
Posted 10/04/2024
Harry Bain had been an all-age for-the-public pointing dog trainer-handler for thirty years. In that role he had lived in south Alabama, trained trial and hunting dog's mid-July through mid-September in North Dakota and traveled the major all-age trial circuit September through mid-March. Summers he had fished the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere until the last week of June when he readied for the trip north.
At the start of his career, he had inherited his father's string and home farm , including an employee-scout and two other kennel helpers . Over time he had adopted, as had most other handlers, the "helping each other" system whereby handlers scouted for one another in trials and summer-trained together, thereby reducing payroll and travel and horse expenses.
Through the years Harry had won his share, had great dogs and not so great, good owners and short timers. He had been honest with owners, worked hard at his craft, and did not abuse alcohol or drugs. He loved working dogs. He had at first loved competition on the circuit, now tolerated it. It was a grind, and horse wrecks, inevitable in his craft, had left him with a bad back, an occupational hazard.
This coming season, he had what sustained a handler: a young dog in his string with great potential. Entering its second all-age year, it could win any stake. A pointer, its name was Dominator, and the name had been descriptive of its performances in its derby season, including winning the Continental Derby Championship. As a first-year dog, it had run some good races but suffered the usual transitional inconsistency, improving its patterns toward the end. Harry and its owner, Frank Eanes, had high hopes for Dominator.
Harry and the handler he trained summers and traded scouting duties with, Bud Cairns, arrived at the property they summer trained on near Columbus on July 8 and settled into the old farmhouse on the property. They patched paddock and kennel run fences and readied the house and outbuildings for occupancy, secured hay and horse and dog feed and checked in with the local game warden, showing him their training permits from the Department of Game and Fisheries. Until July 15 they would yard-work pupils on check cords and road them from horseback and with a Gator. They drove the section roads and checked for spear grass. Finally, on July 15 they turned 'em loose horseback for 20-minute heats in pairs.
Happily, the pupils soon began to encounter young pheasant which they flash pointed and chased. Later they encountered young sharp-tails with similar results. They celebrated at supper by grilling steaks and were between sheets by nine.
Up before daylight, they made coffee, curried and saddled, and had canine pupils ready for breakaway at sunrise. The morning went well, and they returned to the house at 11, hosed down and fed their morning mounts, ate a sandwich and lay down for a nap.
They resumed work with fresh mounts at 4 when the day’s heat began to ease.
August 1 Bud Cairns noticed a change in Harry. He seemed confused about where they were. Through the week each morning was the same, Harry foggy about where and why they were on the prairie. By noon break Harry seemed to recover.
Bud was from Albany, Georgia and his personal doctor was Sam Nixon, MD. Bud called him while away from Harry refueling his dually, and explained Harry's symptoms. "Doc, I am afraid he is developing dementia."
Sam said, "Could be, but could be one of many other things. Ben Reach and I are flying up for a couple days of the trials at Columbus. I'll be glad to examine Harry then if he would like."
Sam was not a neurologist but his patients included many senior citizens (a description he hated) so he saw many patients with dementia symptoms.
Harry's symptoms—early morning fogginess and confusion, usually clearing by early afternoon, continued.
Sam and Ben arrived the Sunday before Labor Day. Flown in by a client of Ben's from Thomasville in his Gulfstream to Minot, he and Sam drove to Columbus in a rental car (their host rented another and with his son drove to the nearby dog camp of their trainer-handler. Bud had invited Sam and Ben to stay with him and Harry).
They enjoyed charcoal grilled steaks and baked potatoes and salads for dinner Sunday evening. Sam observed Harry but saw no obvious symptoms of dementia.
The trials would start tomorrow but neither Bud not Harry had a derby drawn to run the first day, so Sam and Ben had the day to watch their hosts ready their entries that were drawn to run later in the week. First down for a workout was Dominator. Sam and Ben would observe from a John Deere Gator Bud had leased for the summer.
Sam could see Harry's morning unsteadiness and apparent confusion. Bud helped Harry, saddling his horse and leading Dominator from his kennel run and releasing him alone for the workout. Bud would scout, Harry handle, and Sam and Ben would follow in the Gator. For thirty minutes, Dominator ran a beautiful forward pattern, scored two finds on sharp-tails and was high and steady as Bud flushed and fired a blank pistol. Harry stayed mounted and let Bud do what he as handler would normally do on the finds.
Dominator was picked up at thirty minutes and put in an airline crate on the Gator from which Bud had removed the next dog to be worked. The workouts continued until noon. Sam and Ben then drove to Crosby for lunch.
Sam had scheduled an examination of Harry at the end of the day . On their drive the curmudgeons discussed what they had observed during the morning's Gator ride. Sam said Harry had seemed steadier and more self-assured as the lunch break approached.
Then Ben had a memory from long ago. "Do you remember the old American Sportsman TV programs?" he asked . Sam nodded.
" I remember when Joe Foss, the top scoring fighter pilot ace of WW II, Medal of Honor winner and two-term governor South Dakota, was on showing prairie pothole duck shooting scenes. He came down with symptoms like Harry's and for a time the doctors thought he had early onset dementia. But it turned out he had poisoned himself chewing stems of straw while he waited for ducks to fly in that had been airplane sprayed with a toxic chemical or liquid fertilizer, can’t remember which. “
“ I remember that too,” Sam said.
That evening, Sam examined Harry. When he finished, he said, “Harry you need to have a full work up by a good neurologist. I suggest you do it at a major teaching hospital. I can give you some names to consider. You should do it as soon as you get home. And you should not drive on the trip south. By the way, do you chew straw or weeds ever? “
“ Sometimes I pull a stob up when I ride here on the prairie and chew it to clean my teeth,” Harry said. Bud later told Sam that Harry was always chewing on something, hangover from a chewing tobacco habit he had beat some years before.
When Harry called Sam to tell him where he was going for the neurological work-up, Sam wrote the neurologist, related the Joe Foss story, and suggested he consider that cause in diagnosing Harry’s symptoms. Sure enough, it proved to be the cause of Harry’s troubles which were promptly relieved by treatment and abstaining from chewing all plant materials (except food).
Sam told Ben the happy story over drams of The Macallan on a Friday afternoon. They sipped a dividend in honor of Joe Foss and Harry and Dominator, which was on the way to Purina All-Age Dog of the Year.
At the start of his career, he had inherited his father's string and home farm , including an employee-scout and two other kennel helpers . Over time he had adopted, as had most other handlers, the "helping each other" system whereby handlers scouted for one another in trials and summer-trained together, thereby reducing payroll and travel and horse expenses.
Through the years Harry had won his share, had great dogs and not so great, good owners and short timers. He had been honest with owners, worked hard at his craft, and did not abuse alcohol or drugs. He loved working dogs. He had at first loved competition on the circuit, now tolerated it. It was a grind, and horse wrecks, inevitable in his craft, had left him with a bad back, an occupational hazard.
This coming season, he had what sustained a handler: a young dog in his string with great potential. Entering its second all-age year, it could win any stake. A pointer, its name was Dominator, and the name had been descriptive of its performances in its derby season, including winning the Continental Derby Championship. As a first-year dog, it had run some good races but suffered the usual transitional inconsistency, improving its patterns toward the end. Harry and its owner, Frank Eanes, had high hopes for Dominator.
Harry and the handler he trained summers and traded scouting duties with, Bud Cairns, arrived at the property they summer trained on near Columbus on July 8 and settled into the old farmhouse on the property. They patched paddock and kennel run fences and readied the house and outbuildings for occupancy, secured hay and horse and dog feed and checked in with the local game warden, showing him their training permits from the Department of Game and Fisheries. Until July 15 they would yard-work pupils on check cords and road them from horseback and with a Gator. They drove the section roads and checked for spear grass. Finally, on July 15 they turned 'em loose horseback for 20-minute heats in pairs.
Happily, the pupils soon began to encounter young pheasant which they flash pointed and chased. Later they encountered young sharp-tails with similar results. They celebrated at supper by grilling steaks and were between sheets by nine.
Up before daylight, they made coffee, curried and saddled, and had canine pupils ready for breakaway at sunrise. The morning went well, and they returned to the house at 11, hosed down and fed their morning mounts, ate a sandwich and lay down for a nap.
They resumed work with fresh mounts at 4 when the day’s heat began to ease.
August 1 Bud Cairns noticed a change in Harry. He seemed confused about where they were. Through the week each morning was the same, Harry foggy about where and why they were on the prairie. By noon break Harry seemed to recover.
Bud was from Albany, Georgia and his personal doctor was Sam Nixon, MD. Bud called him while away from Harry refueling his dually, and explained Harry's symptoms. "Doc, I am afraid he is developing dementia."
Sam said, "Could be, but could be one of many other things. Ben Reach and I are flying up for a couple days of the trials at Columbus. I'll be glad to examine Harry then if he would like."
Sam was not a neurologist but his patients included many senior citizens (a description he hated) so he saw many patients with dementia symptoms.
Harry's symptoms—early morning fogginess and confusion, usually clearing by early afternoon, continued.
Sam and Ben arrived the Sunday before Labor Day. Flown in by a client of Ben's from Thomasville in his Gulfstream to Minot, he and Sam drove to Columbus in a rental car (their host rented another and with his son drove to the nearby dog camp of their trainer-handler. Bud had invited Sam and Ben to stay with him and Harry).
They enjoyed charcoal grilled steaks and baked potatoes and salads for dinner Sunday evening. Sam observed Harry but saw no obvious symptoms of dementia.
The trials would start tomorrow but neither Bud not Harry had a derby drawn to run the first day, so Sam and Ben had the day to watch their hosts ready their entries that were drawn to run later in the week. First down for a workout was Dominator. Sam and Ben would observe from a John Deere Gator Bud had leased for the summer.
Sam could see Harry's morning unsteadiness and apparent confusion. Bud helped Harry, saddling his horse and leading Dominator from his kennel run and releasing him alone for the workout. Bud would scout, Harry handle, and Sam and Ben would follow in the Gator. For thirty minutes, Dominator ran a beautiful forward pattern, scored two finds on sharp-tails and was high and steady as Bud flushed and fired a blank pistol. Harry stayed mounted and let Bud do what he as handler would normally do on the finds.
Dominator was picked up at thirty minutes and put in an airline crate on the Gator from which Bud had removed the next dog to be worked. The workouts continued until noon. Sam and Ben then drove to Crosby for lunch.
Sam had scheduled an examination of Harry at the end of the day . On their drive the curmudgeons discussed what they had observed during the morning's Gator ride. Sam said Harry had seemed steadier and more self-assured as the lunch break approached.
Then Ben had a memory from long ago. "Do you remember the old American Sportsman TV programs?" he asked . Sam nodded.
" I remember when Joe Foss, the top scoring fighter pilot ace of WW II, Medal of Honor winner and two-term governor South Dakota, was on showing prairie pothole duck shooting scenes. He came down with symptoms like Harry's and for a time the doctors thought he had early onset dementia. But it turned out he had poisoned himself chewing stems of straw while he waited for ducks to fly in that had been airplane sprayed with a toxic chemical or liquid fertilizer, can’t remember which. “
“ I remember that too,” Sam said.
That evening, Sam examined Harry. When he finished, he said, “Harry you need to have a full work up by a good neurologist. I suggest you do it at a major teaching hospital. I can give you some names to consider. You should do it as soon as you get home. And you should not drive on the trip south. By the way, do you chew straw or weeds ever? “
“ Sometimes I pull a stob up when I ride here on the prairie and chew it to clean my teeth,” Harry said. Bud later told Sam that Harry was always chewing on something, hangover from a chewing tobacco habit he had beat some years before.
When Harry called Sam to tell him where he was going for the neurological work-up, Sam wrote the neurologist, related the Joe Foss story, and suggested he consider that cause in diagnosing Harry’s symptoms. Sure enough, it proved to be the cause of Harry’s troubles which were promptly relieved by treatment and abstaining from chewing all plant materials (except food).
Sam told Ben the happy story over drams of The Macallan on a Friday afternoon. They sipped a dividend in honor of Joe Foss and Harry and Dominator, which was on the way to Purina All-Age Dog of the Year.
About the Author : Tom Word
Visit authors website | View more articlesTom Word is a lawyer who represents individuals about managing their assets and for amusement writes fiction and non-fiction about bird dogs and humans obsessed with them.
About the Artist : Leah Brigham
Visit artist websiteAfter graduating from Millersville University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelors of Science in Art Education, Leah began teaching Art to inner city Middle School students in Houston and later Dallas, TX. Leah has shared with her students her passion for art and nature. This passion has sustained her and continued throughout her life in the form of painting and drawing.
Leah was introduced to American Field Horseback Field Trails and has been able to experience the excitement of seeing her own dog, competing for the National Championship at Ames Plantation in Grand Junction, TN ...standing on point, head and tail held high. This has inspired her to create works of art depicting dogs and the wildlife associated with the sport and hunting.
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