Quixstar, dam of Straight Forward, passed away 11/12/10 from a kidney disease at the home of her owner, Jim Smythe of Lititz, PA. “Riggs” won a couple of Puppy Classics for us and then went to our friend, Jim, to live with the agreement that we would be able to breed her to sires we agreed upon and that we would get pups from her. Unfortunately we were only able to breed Riggs once, but that was a very successful mating to Keystone’s Red Rage that produced our current multiple puppy and derby winner Straight Forward. Straight Forward looks to have a bright future and we are grateful to have her to carry on “Riggs'” Pennstar X Barnburner bloodlines that have been so successful in the grouse woods.
“Riggs” really came on as a first year all-age and her performances on the prairies of North Dakota on wild pheasants, huns and sharptails will always live in my mind as a nothing-less-than-great display of far-flung hunting and keen staunch points on difficult birds. Time and again, thanks to Garmin, we found her styled up in deep cover on pheasants. I recall one evening hunt where she pointed a large covey of huns from a distance that I’ve never seen a dog point previously. She had a great nose and loved to get them pointed. Her owner took her grouse and woodcock hunting in PA each fall and she was very efficient on these game birds. There were days when I felt we should be campaigning “Riggs” ourselves, but the quality of her new home and her usefulness as a dam outweighed that alternative.
Jim gave “Riggs” the best of everything and she replied with the same.