PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE

 

The pigeon racing sport is laden with theorists and theories and it is verbal oil for the culture. Personalities and characters thrive on all the emotion, opinion and speculation.  These days and with due insight, I concentrate on how to get the birds home from the really long races.  This race reality tells me all I need to know about the birds and the system in action.  A system starts from an acute understanding of the needs of the birds, which you translate into management conducive to the conditioning of the birds. Once the loft and surroundings are ok, then I work on the interior psychology and physiology of the bird, to create optimal condition for the target race.  Are the birds content?  Are they fuelled up for the task? Are you going to send them?  How do you react if you fail to clock - at this stage reputations are on the line?? Wise in the early days to keep a low profile and keep plugging away until you may do well. A producer pair can change the face of a racing career. I reiterate that your best looking bird in the loft may be the worst - I put breeding first, then looks second.  The formation of a strain will take years of related breeding.

 

Jim Emerton

 

 

THE REALMS OF POSSIBILITY

 

We are reaching the normal limits of the abilities of racing pigeons now. Speed is very dependent on wind direction and velocity and is fostered by motivation and condition. Some of the extremes of possibility, which may excite certain specialists in the UK  are 800 miles on the day of lib at Tarbes NFC,  400 miles on the day for a YB, and 600 plus miles on the day for a yearling. The magical 800 miles on the second day out of Barcelona International into the UK has yet to be achieved - possible yet very difficult.  All these are on the outer edge of possibility - they require clever management, excellent birds and favourable flying conditions. These sorts of races may attract oddballs, dreamers and compulsive optimists with lofty ambitions. Birds and men will need to be highly individual and people like these are treasures indeed. They are all within the realms of possibility, yet not probability and interesting to contemplate and discuss. 

 

Jim Emerton

 

 

RACING VERSATILITY OF SOME PIGEONS

 

Brian Denney and I flew in the same clubs - it was a very active time.  Some of our birds, before we became out and out marathon specialists would score in the sprints and through to Pau NFC at beyond the 700 mile mark such as my Dark Dedication.  Birds of this ilk have good natural ability and condition over many weeks.  In recent times our birds Musgrove Addiction and Obsession won in shorter races and were clocked from Barcelona International at 710 miles. The birds I mention here are all from my early work, when every race was a challenge.  The corollary is that some birds are sprinters or marathon birds only.  A clever flying system will prove the capability of each bird as it races to your loft - this is the time to judge the value of each bird. The fun is in the performance of each bird in the strain that you create for yourself.

 

Jim Emerton

 

 

KNOWING EACH BIRD

 

Like people they are all individuals and aim to recognise each one without recourse to paperwork or records. This will test your mental powers and perception. Study each one and try to detail some of the ancestry in your mind. In meditation I can reflect on some of mine over 39 years. The process is intensified if all your birds are types of chequer or blue. When flying out and returning from races see if you can recognise each bird in flight, rather than as a flock. Favourites will come to mind very easily and champions will be known. Every bird will be a mixture of origins from any given name of a fancier. I like nice, calm, quiet birds that reserve energy and fall asleep in the basket. They all have a distinct personality and I wonder what they sense about us?

 

Jim Emerton

 

 

IRELAND BEYOND 500 MILES

 

 

Racing beyond 500 miles into Ireland, involves a radical change in outlook and the establishment of dedicated, specialist marathon flying systems. People are yet to make a breakthrough in the BICC. It needs one or two rugged individualists to break from the sprint-middle convention and test all their birds out in races beyond the 500 mile mark. A few dreamers and optimists led by Michael Feeney are going to chance their arm at this practical possibility. It will take more than just marathon genes and the birds must be sent with huge reserves of energy and glycogen to navigate the trip from the Pyrenees. I would build up the time on the wing in racing to send 3 yr old in blown up, peak condition and then wait and wait.  The first birds will be champions and the men who race them will make international news in the pigeon and mainstream media.  I have assembled birds out there for the purpose and the next few years may realise a dream for some with the fire of ambition.

 

Jim Emerton

 

 

 

TALKING UP THE BIG RACES

 

 

There is plenty of excited chatter, hype and verbal personality exchange before the business end of competition. Here the characters and personalities come out to play, which I often enjoy as the sport is intrinsically human. Some of the challenges like the Irish Barcelona one are bound to fire emotions and the imagination. The reality is that the remaining goals and targets in the sport will take years of concerted preparation and dedication to achieve. For this purpose I like a slow burning controlled, long term enthusiasm. The major races demand a spiritual and psychological input of a high order, with the scarcity of really good birds for these events. Feelings and reputations may be on the line and you may need to recover from disappointments and chance your arm again and again - the big marathon races are a leap of faith. Some years sent all my birds to Pau 735 miles and waited over a week. I feel that great patience is an essential quality in the psyche - Jim Wright and Brian Denney are the personifications of this trait.

 

Jim Emerton

 

 

A Strain In Pictures

 

Six direct children of; 

Dark Son of Musgrove Addiction  2nd, 9th Sect BBC Barcelona International 710 measured miles:

paired to;

Musgrove Insanity 9th West Sect BICC Barcelona International 710 miles into Taunton - raced by Nick Harvey.

    

   

       

 

 

 They are inbred to Musgrove Unique our top stock hen of the old, versatile genes of Jim Emerton.  All the old lines of Diabolos/Mystical Queen/ Dots Delight/Dark Dynamo/Velvet Destiny - closely inbred to my 7 foundation birds.

 

Jim Emerton