We spent our first weekend in Alabama attending the Montgomery Field Trial which is held annually in Greensboro, Alabama at the State Cattle Ranch.
The Cattle Ranch is a very interesting place. It is, in fact, a prison and the inmates take on the job of gunners at all the stakes. The Cattle Ranch used to be a fully functioning self sufficient enterprise. Catfish ponds, farming and cattle were the mainstays of the workings of the ranch. The size of this place is unbelievable.
The inmates here are pretty much "lifers". These are not petty thieves. They got to the cattle ranch because of good behaviour and are model prisoners.
There are no fences, no guards that you can see and cars and people drive through the property at will. Nothing holds the inmates in. If they wanted to go, they could. Interestingly, they don't.
The former Warden of the Cattle Ranch is a dog person and trials his dogs. You could book time to train your dogs on the property, pay the inmates to throw for you, and invite the warden to come along and train. It all worked out very well.
About a year ago, the Cattle Ranch was sold to Forever Wild, a conservation group. Their mandate is to return the property to its former state and create a large scale habitat to support wildlife conservation. The Cattle Ranch as it was no longer exists however, the actual "prison" is still intact and inmates do live here. There is no more farming but you can hire the inmates to work for you.
During a break in the action we took Jett and Meg and let them have a swim in one of the ponds on the property. They certainly had a blast. Meg loves the water and so does Jett. I love watching them play and have fun. They really get along very well together.
Not only did the girls have fun, but our Canadian contigent did extremely well in the Qual on this particular weekend. Lorne Langevin won, Dan Devos got 2nd, Peg Willibond got 3rd (honorary Canadian), Connie Swanson got 4th. Pretty much a clean sweep.
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