Foxdropper, I know exactly where your coming from, my natural urge is to be among it...but, we have found the best results come from me being on the camera only, me and Kieth chatted about this, as we have both tried to do everything, its so awkward to try and take pics, and move things, work dogs etc etc at the same time..
Ive never owned a tripod, yes, they get knocked over, they are cumbersome and for action shots you need to be able to swish the camera about, snap shooting at times..