On occasion I meet special people who have achieved significant places and who, just like ourselves, are in pursuit of happiness.
The other day was just one of those kinds of meetings.
As often as I can, I help Jon, my oldest son, in his high-tech pressure washing business, so that day we rode along and out to the Rester family farm and kennels outside Angie, La., to clean up the place.
What I didn’t know was the owner and proprietor of the place was a man my age and living the dream that all began with a passion.
Cecil Rester is arguably the most respected name in the bird dog sport and competitive field trial industry. For over 40 years he has participated in field trials by entering his dogs against other owners’ dogs as well as judge the trials himself when not a participant.
As a result, he has won 13 national amateur championships and produced a total of 25 champion dogs he raised from pups and or sold to other competitors.
In the tack room in his barn I have a picture of him standing by the photos of all 13 champion winners. He is to the bird dog world what Bob Baffert is to the horse racing world.
Nobody has produced more winners on the horse track than Baffert, and nobody has exceeded my newfound friend Cecil Rester in the bird dog field trials.
Over the many years he has competed he has won 35 champion titles in field trials and counting.
His top-of-the-line English pointer breed of hunting dogs span a long history of selective breeding and training that rivals all others.
You don’t want to ask how much Cecil’s pups cost. Let’s just say you’d better bring your checkbook for a purchase!
The actual sport comes from centuries back in England among nobles and aristocrats, a gentleman’s sport.
It became a popular sport coupled with the field trials and a pursuit here in America about 100 years ago and to this day remains a highly respected gentleman’s sport.
Aside from the actual sport of hunting and taking quail, which is where this sorority of refined hunters all sprang from, are bragging rights earned in competitive field trials.
After Jon and I finished washing down the many barns and kennels, Cecil gave me a tour of his beautiful home and trophy room.
Every wall in the trophy room is covered with plaques and awards down through the years, and the cabinet that holds his trophies is jammed with the winnings.
Back in 2013, Purina Feeds awarded one of his dogs Fannie Mae as their dog of the year, a most prestigious award comparable to a horse winning the Kentucky Derby.
A female named Fannie Mae is featured in the official painting Purina had painted by respected artist Ross Young and hangs as a centerpiece on a wall in the Resters’ living room.
In a field trial, the owner must ride a horse as the dog hunts for the elusive quail. The judges watch the actions and mannerisms of the dog as it works a field back and forth, and when it finds the hidden quail, how it remains rigid in a point.
As many as 80 contestants gather and compete for the coveted prize of champion with the average purse being $5,000, but more important bragging rights.
The trials are held all over the nation, with the most coveted one being in Florida where the purse is $30,000.
One of the awards that Purina gives out to the winner is beautiful exotic English saddles, and my friend Cecil has five of them to his credit.
He and lovely wife Holly live on the 106-acre farm nestled in the backwoods not far from Angie where it all got started when he was a 25-year-old single young man still at home with his mom.
A neighbor owned a large dairy and was a dedicated quail hunter and got Cecil into quail hunting. From there it turned into a passion watching the neighbor’s dog working the large open sagebrush fields and coming to a point.
In time he would acquire some really good English pointer bird dogs and then enter the field trials, winning his first one up in Canton not long after pursuing his dream.
Cecil is retired after 28 years working with the Louisiana Secretary of State, yet another notable achievement.
He and wife Holly now continue to live his dream with the many bird dogs he raises and houses on the farm.
Just wanted to share with you a really nice couple and a man who has become famous in a really nice way.
It is a clean sport, albeit a very expensive one, thus thinning the herd of participants.
What comes to me is regardless of what it is that lights your fire, be it a homemaker, a soul winner or any line of work you are involved with, to be at the top of your game like Cecil you have to be dedicated to it 100%. And it all begins with a passion.
God bless you and God bless America.
