Brace beagles are only a hobby enjoyed by some people, mostly elderly folks. The trials just prove who can track a rabbit most accurately under their interpretation of the AKC rules. Nobody today pretends any actual gun hunting can be done successfully with a traditional brace beagle.
Originally, running hounds in a brace was the way the majority of field trials were done. Over many years, the “fad” in brace field trials gradually moved toward a slow, conservative hound who seldom made mistakes on the line. This was taken to the extreme by judges and competitors until the hounds were slowed to a walk, sometimes down to a few steps, creating hounds useless to hunters and leading to the development of “gundog trials”, usually running in small packs and later even “gundog brace” that we have today. That’s a very quick summation of how they came about.
Originally, running hounds in a brace was the way the majority of field trials were done. Over many years, the “fad” in brace field trials gradually moved toward a slow, conservative hound who seldom made mistakes on the line. This was taken to the extreme by judges and competitors until the hounds were slowed to a walk, sometimes down to a few steps, creating hounds useless to hunters and leading to the development of “gundog trials”, usually running in small packs and later even “gundog brace” that we have today. That’s a very quick summation of how they came about.
