By Jessica Wagner

Sports Writer

The combination of a human, a dog and a horse may seem like nontraditional teammates, however, to Sammy and Nida Giddens the alliance operates much as any team, with loyalty and strength being the tools for success.

As a field trial amateur, Sammy, who met his wife, Nida, at Hobbton High School at the age of 16, has not always been hitting the course with his canine in tow, but has had a passion for hunting quail, he said, since meeting his wife.

The field trial competitions, he said, came after Nida’s uncle, Harold Britt, introduced the pair to his bird dogs, Bud Light and Bud Dark. From there, the couple has worked to breed award-winning dogs at their kennel, Hunter’s Creek.

But, what is a field trial?

“A field trial is a competition to determine who has the best bird dog on a given day,” said the Giddens. “Trials began years ago as dog owners got together to run their dogs to determine whose dog could find and point the most game birds, as well as show the most style doing what they had been bred and trained to do.”

In addition to their house full of credentials, which proves their dog, horse and human team to be among the best, the Giddens are also hands-on in organizing the time-honored southern tradition of field trials.

“Sammy and I just returned from our annual field trial, of which Sammy is president,” Nida revealed. “We both worked since last year to organize this year's event.”

During The Ga-Lina Amateur Shooting Dog Classic, each handler was joined by a scout, a dog, a horse and two judges. Friends and families rode the course as well; however, they had to say behind the judges.

Due to the number of dogs appearing at these events, field trials are broken up into braces, the Giddens explained; adding that this event, in particular, was divided into 50 braces, with two dogs competing in each brace.

Although the dogs are divided into a brace-by-brace format, their points, the Giddens noted, are compared to every dog at the event in order to determine the winner.

In the Giddens family, a handful of dogs have proven themselves to be the best, with the most recent being Grateful Spirit.

Answering under the call name “J,” Grateful Spirit has won numerous accolades as an amateur field trial dog. His most recent was first place at The Ga-Lina Amateur Shooting Dog Classic in Waynesboro, Ga., the birddog capitol of the world.

At the 3,000-acre plantation, one of the largest, most prestigious amateur shooting dog trials in the East, the Giddens said each team strives to win the bronze first place trophy.

“People participating in the trial came from as far away as Wisconsin, and all the way down the coast to South Florida,” the Giddens illustrated. “It has been a goal of ours for the last 10 years to win this trial.”

Attending the event in 2009, Grateful Spirit, Luke, their horse, and Sammy were geared towards taking home the bronze trophy; however, settled for a third place finish.

“To win this prestigious trial, Grateful Spirit had to be perfect on his birds, run a strong race and for the last 20 minutes of the hour trial have a strong forward finish to the front,” Sammy explained of this year’s effort to win first. “To prepare Grateful Spirit for this trial we had to keep him in the right frame of mind, keep him pointing a lot of quail and rode him a lot to keep him in great shape.”

Because Grateful Spirit has great stamina and is such a strong dog, both physically and mentally, taking a first place victory on the course this year was no problem for the team.

“We are so fortune to have a strong, talented dog like Grateful Spirit. He has been so wonderful to work with; he is not only a champion dog, he is our ‘buddy.’ We are so proud of him,” the Giddens shared, adding that they knew he was a special dog when they first saw him as a puppy.

Currently 4 years old, Grateful Spirit has won a handful of accolades; however, this past trial could be one of the most prestigious titles he has received, a pleased owner annouced.

Jessica Wagner can be contacted at (910) 592-8137 ext.122 or reached by e-mail at siphoto@myclintonnc.com