Thursday, September 14, 2006
Unrealistic Expectations
You may recall that I have something in the neighborhood of 30 kits that I bred especially to be juniors at Convention. This is the cutest bunch of juniors yet. I've been waiting for them to mature and now I'm getting them out and handling them. My expectations were high. I'm so disappointed.
First, I was extremely lucky in my true to false dwarf ratio. So I got more potential keepers than I should have to begin with. I had a lot of trouble before Nationals with ear control and it's almost non-existent in this group. So I got my hopes up even further.
But when I look at them closely and feel them, I find this problem here and that problem there. My hopes are dashed and I feel awful about them.
But wait a minute. I am being so unfair to these bunnies. First of all, I know that I have my Nationals-placing bunnies in mind as I look at these guys - the ones that were left after culling. This group is virtually unculled. And honestly, I just remembered that most of those juniors that were successful at Nationals didn't really shape up until the final week or two before the show. And Convention is still six weeks away - a long time in the life of a young bunny.
I know that I already like the juniors better now than I did two weeks ago. So at least they seem to be improving.
Also, we're coming off of summer, so condition and fur are much worse. At Nationals, we were coming off of winter, with the healthy appetites and nice fur that brings. We'll have some cool weather between now and Texas. Appetites are already increasing in the barn. And lots of the molty fur is getting closer to being finished.
But the main way I'm being unfair to my bunnies is in thinking that nearly every junior should be a nationally competitive rabbit. That's very unrealistic. With a crop of 30 well-bred kits, I should expect three to be worthy of showing nationally. If I find four or five that are truly worthy of going to Texas, then I am doing very well indeed.
Oh, now that I've adjusted my expectations, I think I'm rather pleased with my juniors after all.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
¶ 7:08 AM
First, I was extremely lucky in my true to false dwarf ratio. So I got more potential keepers than I should have to begin with. I had a lot of trouble before Nationals with ear control and it's almost non-existent in this group. So I got my hopes up even further.
But when I look at them closely and feel them, I find this problem here and that problem there. My hopes are dashed and I feel awful about them.
But wait a minute. I am being so unfair to these bunnies. First of all, I know that I have my Nationals-placing bunnies in mind as I look at these guys - the ones that were left after culling. This group is virtually unculled. And honestly, I just remembered that most of those juniors that were successful at Nationals didn't really shape up until the final week or two before the show. And Convention is still six weeks away - a long time in the life of a young bunny.
I know that I already like the juniors better now than I did two weeks ago. So at least they seem to be improving.
Also, we're coming off of summer, so condition and fur are much worse. At Nationals, we were coming off of winter, with the healthy appetites and nice fur that brings. We'll have some cool weather between now and Texas. Appetites are already increasing in the barn. And lots of the molty fur is getting closer to being finished.
But the main way I'm being unfair to my bunnies is in thinking that nearly every junior should be a nationally competitive rabbit. That's very unrealistic. With a crop of 30 well-bred kits, I should expect three to be worthy of showing nationally. If I find four or five that are truly worthy of going to Texas, then I am doing very well indeed.
Oh, now that I've adjusted my expectations, I think I'm rather pleased with my juniors after all.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
¶ 7:08 AM
