“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything,” goes the saying, and here’s some of what I stand for: I love all horses, some dogs, and no cats. My feeling for horses and cats is simple, but when it comes to dogs, I’m a sticky wicket. I’m drawn to the athleticism, drive, and purpose of the working and sporting breeds, and at the end of the day I’m a card-carrying member of Setter Nation.

Not everyone is a setter fan, mind you, and I see it clearly during public conditioning runs. The older set remembers setters as America’s favorite dog and they fawn over my two tricolors and two orange beltons. The younger set is different, and they recognize poodle doodles (or whatever that mix is called) far more easily than my setters. The goat, cow, and sheep bells I place around the necks of my dogs are not recognized as tools indicating their bird-finding prowess. With the passing of time comes the changing of culture, and setters are less popular now than at any other time. Indeed, of about 140 American Kennel Club breeds, the English setter occupies a lackluster 70th position. The Labrador retriever has been America’s sweetheart (and number one) for a long while.

So be it for Setter Nation, and part of our strong affinity is that English setters have been a work-in-progress for centuries.

All food is fantastic,” says culinary guru Kent Rathbun of the Dallas, Texas, area. We caught up with him in April as he prepared lunch at the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. “It’s a matter of respecting it and stepping it up,” he says about developing a sense of culinary creativity. “If you do it right, and you care for the food, and you put love into it, the food comes out better—doesn’t matter if you’re frying chicken or making a pizza, it just comes out better. I always try to make it as great as I can. Always seek out the best ingredients and take care of them.”

Rathbun’s roots are firmly anchored in culinary arts and food. At the age of nine, he discovered his passion for culinary creativity and began learning the skills and techniques needed to provide the foundation for chef stardom. He rose through the ranks of some of the world’s finest kitchens, starting as an apprentice at La Bonne Auberge, a five-star French restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri, where Rathbun gained experience working with high-end ingredients and learned the art of perfect preparation.

“Absolutely stunning.” That was all my friend could say, and the fact that he was so impressed really impressed me. We were standing together, leaning over a sturdy oak table. Windows framed the room, and lined up in front of us were two vintage British shotguns-one side-by-side, one over-and-under-as glimmering as the day they were built.

The shotguns were part of a collection we were evaluating and appraising. Once we had lifted each from the leather luggage case and realized we had perfection, we had stopped to behold the sight before us. My friend has collected firearms for more than 25 years. He has seen it all-from vintage Purdeys made for British Royals to Hartmann & Weiss over-and-unders, perhaps the finest shotgun made today. For a firearm to impress my friend, it has to have it all: superb quality, exquisite physical condition, and once-in-a-decade rarity. The two shotguns before us on the table had all of that.

They were both 28-gauge and made by the exclusive London firm Boss & Co. In its history, Boss made just over 10,000 shotguns. Of those, fewer than 50 have been 28-gauges. The two we were looking at were 60 years old and as like-new as any vintage British shotguns we had seen.