Sunday, November 12, 2006
Taylorsville Shows, November 11, 2006
I really cannot remember a busier rabbit show than yesterday’s. I had a long list of things to accomplish and got home last night with several things undone. But all in all, it was a great day.
We started by actually getting two moms and three kids on the road before our scheduled departure time. That gave us the leeway to drive slightly out of the way for a good biscuit breakfast at the only fast food restaurant I know of to have a 101 health certificate rating (they get extra credit for a food safety certified employee, I was told at the window).
We got to the show on time. As I drove through the gates, I stopped to chat with Roger Bustle, show superintendent and registrar for this show. As it turned out, there were more entries than expected, so Roger was changing his registrar’s hat to his judge’s hat. He asked me if I had forms with me (in retrospect, the answer should have been “no”) and asked if I would serve as registrar at the show. The last time I was registrar at a show, I had about five inquiries and two rabbits that could be registered. It was no problem, so I said yes.
I had fourteen rabbits to groom and check tattoos for. But I finally got them all done and got checked in just fine. My pet customer found me and I spent some time with her and her daughter going over the pet, showing how to trance, clip nails, and hold. We talked about feed issues and I gave her some transitional feed. I carried the rabbit down to his new cage, and headed back for more fun.
I also delivered Miss Muffet. By the time it came around to deliver her, I was thinking that I had definitely made a mistake in selling her. Oh well. I do that a lot, it seems! So her new owner was thrilled with her and we got that taken care of.
I was collecting sanction money for the sponsored sanctions for our Christmas show. On that account, I got some collected and some not collected. I missed getting money for the Flemish Giants, Lilacs, and Jersey Wooly youth. Never fear, we’ll get them sanctioned. I did get money for Havana open and Thrianta.
I also forget to give Janice to Janice. That is, I forgot to give the rabbit Janice to the person Janice. I guess we’ll have to meet at the feed store. Or, Janice’s husband offered to meet with me to get hay, so I’ll have to try to remember to take Janice to Janice then, I guess.
By this time, several people had asked for tattoos (my least favorite task) and when I would be available to register rabbits. Thankfully, one breeder made an appointment to bring hers to my house. I definitely like that better. I do need to schedule another rabbit registering event soon.
Our first judge was Terry Fender. It is my opinion that he does an excellent job with Hollands. I had several rabbits that I was showing under him that could possibly grand. In the first class, it came down to Lord and Saynora’s Ziggy, owned by Janice Jones. Terry went back and forth and back and forth. I figured all was lost. But, in the end, Lord took his class and got his senior leg to grand. After that, I knew the trip had been worth it because I could add Lord into my new breeding plan of using only grand champions.
Before the first show was over, I had collected a leg on The Nature Trail’s Arabica (who was one of only three rabbits in my official herd that didn’t have legs yet [babies and pre-juniors are not considered part of my herd until they’re old enough to evaluate]). Quinten took the broken senior buck class which granded him at just six months of age. I'm so glad because I want to breed him back to his mother Jo-Jo and I just sold his daddy Franz, so it's nice to have a grand champion son to replace the father. May and her daughter Panache really duked it out, but in the end, May won her class.
Lord was BOG solids, Arabica was BOSG solids, and May was BOB. My good friend Linda Norris was BOSG with her broken junior buck. We both predicted that he would win over my senior buck, but Linda expressed that May was just unbeatable yesterday. Thanks, Linda, for your sweet vote of confidence in May!
I personally think May looked as good yesterday as she ever has in her life – even after just going to Convention and having had 22 kits so far and having nursed three litters. May will be two years old on January 1. You don’t often see shelf-life like that in a doe. I’m very proud of her!
By the way, Lord, the solid BOG, is May’s son. Arabica, the BOSG solid junior doe, is May’s daughter. Can she cook or what???
So, after that excitement was over, I spent some time registering rabbits. Since I didn’t know I was going to be the registrar, I didn’t bring my scales. There were only two sets in the whole showroom, so I spent a good chunk of the day carrying rabbits back and forth. I’m not sure how many there were, but I was still registering rabbits when they started sweeping the floors.
I did take some breaks to try to show my rabbits. Thank you so much to Linda and Alison and everyone else who looked after me to make sure my rabbits got up and down from the table. Linda even stood in the line to get me some food, twice – I was starving! No, I didn't eat twice. She had to leave the line to put rabbits on the table.
Most of the people who asked for their rabbits to be registered were kind, but a couple were a bit pushy and demanding. If people only knew how much money and work goes into being a registrar and registering rabbits compared to the small amount of money you make, they might be a little less pushy and demanding (we make $2 per rabbit, minus postage, envelopes, ink, our insignia, license, Standard of Perfection, scales, and miscellaneous supplies – and then we have so spend time resolving any problems that come up!) I made more money selling my one pet than spending half the day registering rabbits.
Of course, it’s a great learning experience from me and I appreciate getting my hands on rabbits. It will help me in the long run, I know. I, like most people who do anything in rabbits, do it because I love rabbits and I enjoy my hobby.
For the second show, we had judge Thomas Green. My rabbits fared considerable less well under him. But, Arabica managed to pick up her second junior leg and Panache took her class. She went on to be Best of Breed. But the best news is that she went further to be picked Best Reserve In Show by Terry Fender. Remember, Terry’s favorite was May that day. Too bad things hadn’t worked out different. Maybe May would have done even better under Terry. But we’ll never know. I wasn’t there for the contest (I was registering rabbits, of course), so I didn’t get a look at the BIS rabbit – even May on her best day might not have had a chance against it.
I’ve always loved the split geode awards given by this club for BIS and BRIS and now I actually own one. I hope I made it home with it. I looked around and it wasn’t on the table, so I hope it’s in my stuff somewhere.
So, after the unpleasant task of packing up after a long, tiring day, we still had our Virginia Highlands club meeting to hold.
We decided to go to a restaurant since it was just the four of us anyway. The kids got one booth and we had another. And of course, this was one of the best parts of the day. We talked for three hours! We did manage to get a little club business done, but mainly, we caught up on what is going on with everyone.
Heidi and I talked about Convention since we went and the other two had not. Oh, speaking of Heidi, we both showed Silver Foxes at the show. It was great to get comments back on them. Heidi has had hers longer and knows more about them, but since we don’t have much contact with other rabbits and breeders, we’ve got a lot to learn! Or at least I do.
When I finally got home at 10:00 p.m., I was absolutely exhausted. I know I’ve arrived home much later than that and felt better. I’m sure I’m still not completely recovered from Convention!
I asked Andrew if my silver fox had had her babies yet. He said no, but that she was building a nest on the wire. You see, this is the difference between a breeder and one who is not a breeder. Warning bells went off immediately for me. So I went to the barn and collected the six cold, but moving kits on the wire. I spent the next two hours getting them really warmed up. I decided to keep them indoors overnight because rain had blown in on the less protected end of her cage where she chose to put her nest and the pulled fur had gotten damp. I will try putting it all back together in the box in a few minutes and hope that she is ready to feed them. They did all make it through the night.
So, that was my day yesterday: tons of fun with friends, two new grand champions, six legs, 2 BOBs, 1 BOS, 1 BRIS, 1 herdsman point, 6 quality points, 943 sweeps points, and six new Silver Foxes!
Congratulations to Linda Norris on her BOSG, Alison Fulbright for legs on her homegrown junior buck, Gary & Susan Smith for granding a solid senior doe and their BOS with a broken junior buck, and to Kristen Ledford and Janice Jones for earning legs, too, and generally doing very well with their bunnies. I hope I didn’t leave anyone out – I’m sure I did, especially since my time at the table was a bit spotty.
Thank you to Charles Bryant, who came to track me down when the Silver Foxes came up to be shown. I appreciate it.
Congratulations to all of the Open Holland breeders for good sportsmanship, fellowship, and mutual support. Yesterday’s show was a wonderful example of what a rabbit show should be!
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
We started by actually getting two moms and three kids on the road before our scheduled departure time. That gave us the leeway to drive slightly out of the way for a good biscuit breakfast at the only fast food restaurant I know of to have a 101 health certificate rating (they get extra credit for a food safety certified employee, I was told at the window).
We got to the show on time. As I drove through the gates, I stopped to chat with Roger Bustle, show superintendent and registrar for this show. As it turned out, there were more entries than expected, so Roger was changing his registrar’s hat to his judge’s hat. He asked me if I had forms with me (in retrospect, the answer should have been “no”) and asked if I would serve as registrar at the show. The last time I was registrar at a show, I had about five inquiries and two rabbits that could be registered. It was no problem, so I said yes.
I had fourteen rabbits to groom and check tattoos for. But I finally got them all done and got checked in just fine. My pet customer found me and I spent some time with her and her daughter going over the pet, showing how to trance, clip nails, and hold. We talked about feed issues and I gave her some transitional feed. I carried the rabbit down to his new cage, and headed back for more fun.
I also delivered Miss Muffet. By the time it came around to deliver her, I was thinking that I had definitely made a mistake in selling her. Oh well. I do that a lot, it seems! So her new owner was thrilled with her and we got that taken care of.
I was collecting sanction money for the sponsored sanctions for our Christmas show. On that account, I got some collected and some not collected. I missed getting money for the Flemish Giants, Lilacs, and Jersey Wooly youth. Never fear, we’ll get them sanctioned. I did get money for Havana open and Thrianta.
I also forget to give Janice to Janice. That is, I forgot to give the rabbit Janice to the person Janice. I guess we’ll have to meet at the feed store. Or, Janice’s husband offered to meet with me to get hay, so I’ll have to try to remember to take Janice to Janice then, I guess.
By this time, several people had asked for tattoos (my least favorite task) and when I would be available to register rabbits. Thankfully, one breeder made an appointment to bring hers to my house. I definitely like that better. I do need to schedule another rabbit registering event soon.
Our first judge was Terry Fender. It is my opinion that he does an excellent job with Hollands. I had several rabbits that I was showing under him that could possibly grand. In the first class, it came down to Lord and Saynora’s Ziggy, owned by Janice Jones. Terry went back and forth and back and forth. I figured all was lost. But, in the end, Lord took his class and got his senior leg to grand. After that, I knew the trip had been worth it because I could add Lord into my new breeding plan of using only grand champions.
Before the first show was over, I had collected a leg on The Nature Trail’s Arabica (who was one of only three rabbits in my official herd that didn’t have legs yet [babies and pre-juniors are not considered part of my herd until they’re old enough to evaluate]). Quinten took the broken senior buck class which granded him at just six months of age. I'm so glad because I want to breed him back to his mother Jo-Jo and I just sold his daddy Franz, so it's nice to have a grand champion son to replace the father. May and her daughter Panache really duked it out, but in the end, May won her class.
Lord was BOG solids, Arabica was BOSG solids, and May was BOB. My good friend Linda Norris was BOSG with her broken junior buck. We both predicted that he would win over my senior buck, but Linda expressed that May was just unbeatable yesterday. Thanks, Linda, for your sweet vote of confidence in May!
I personally think May looked as good yesterday as she ever has in her life – even after just going to Convention and having had 22 kits so far and having nursed three litters. May will be two years old on January 1. You don’t often see shelf-life like that in a doe. I’m very proud of her!
By the way, Lord, the solid BOG, is May’s son. Arabica, the BOSG solid junior doe, is May’s daughter. Can she cook or what???
So, after that excitement was over, I spent some time registering rabbits. Since I didn’t know I was going to be the registrar, I didn’t bring my scales. There were only two sets in the whole showroom, so I spent a good chunk of the day carrying rabbits back and forth. I’m not sure how many there were, but I was still registering rabbits when they started sweeping the floors.
I did take some breaks to try to show my rabbits. Thank you so much to Linda and Alison and everyone else who looked after me to make sure my rabbits got up and down from the table. Linda even stood in the line to get me some food, twice – I was starving! No, I didn't eat twice. She had to leave the line to put rabbits on the table.
Most of the people who asked for their rabbits to be registered were kind, but a couple were a bit pushy and demanding. If people only knew how much money and work goes into being a registrar and registering rabbits compared to the small amount of money you make, they might be a little less pushy and demanding (we make $2 per rabbit, minus postage, envelopes, ink, our insignia, license, Standard of Perfection, scales, and miscellaneous supplies – and then we have so spend time resolving any problems that come up!) I made more money selling my one pet than spending half the day registering rabbits.
Of course, it’s a great learning experience from me and I appreciate getting my hands on rabbits. It will help me in the long run, I know. I, like most people who do anything in rabbits, do it because I love rabbits and I enjoy my hobby.
For the second show, we had judge Thomas Green. My rabbits fared considerable less well under him. But, Arabica managed to pick up her second junior leg and Panache took her class. She went on to be Best of Breed. But the best news is that she went further to be picked Best Reserve In Show by Terry Fender. Remember, Terry’s favorite was May that day. Too bad things hadn’t worked out different. Maybe May would have done even better under Terry. But we’ll never know. I wasn’t there for the contest (I was registering rabbits, of course), so I didn’t get a look at the BIS rabbit – even May on her best day might not have had a chance against it.
I’ve always loved the split geode awards given by this club for BIS and BRIS and now I actually own one. I hope I made it home with it. I looked around and it wasn’t on the table, so I hope it’s in my stuff somewhere.
So, after the unpleasant task of packing up after a long, tiring day, we still had our Virginia Highlands club meeting to hold.
We decided to go to a restaurant since it was just the four of us anyway. The kids got one booth and we had another. And of course, this was one of the best parts of the day. We talked for three hours! We did manage to get a little club business done, but mainly, we caught up on what is going on with everyone.
Heidi and I talked about Convention since we went and the other two had not. Oh, speaking of Heidi, we both showed Silver Foxes at the show. It was great to get comments back on them. Heidi has had hers longer and knows more about them, but since we don’t have much contact with other rabbits and breeders, we’ve got a lot to learn! Or at least I do.
When I finally got home at 10:00 p.m., I was absolutely exhausted. I know I’ve arrived home much later than that and felt better. I’m sure I’m still not completely recovered from Convention!
I asked Andrew if my silver fox had had her babies yet. He said no, but that she was building a nest on the wire. You see, this is the difference between a breeder and one who is not a breeder. Warning bells went off immediately for me. So I went to the barn and collected the six cold, but moving kits on the wire. I spent the next two hours getting them really warmed up. I decided to keep them indoors overnight because rain had blown in on the less protected end of her cage where she chose to put her nest and the pulled fur had gotten damp. I will try putting it all back together in the box in a few minutes and hope that she is ready to feed them. They did all make it through the night.
So, that was my day yesterday: tons of fun with friends, two new grand champions, six legs, 2 BOBs, 1 BOS, 1 BRIS, 1 herdsman point, 6 quality points, 943 sweeps points, and six new Silver Foxes!
Congratulations to Linda Norris on her BOSG, Alison Fulbright for legs on her homegrown junior buck, Gary & Susan Smith for granding a solid senior doe and their BOS with a broken junior buck, and to Kristen Ledford and Janice Jones for earning legs, too, and generally doing very well with their bunnies. I hope I didn’t leave anyone out – I’m sure I did, especially since my time at the table was a bit spotty.
Thank you to Charles Bryant, who came to track me down when the Silver Foxes came up to be shown. I appreciate it.
Congratulations to all of the Open Holland breeders for good sportsmanship, fellowship, and mutual support. Yesterday’s show was a wonderful example of what a rabbit show should be!
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
Labels: rabbit show report
¶ 10:34 AM
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Hi Laurie!
Thanks so much for Miss Muffet, I LOVE her! Thanks also for the congratulations in your blog- and I wanted to let you know, my husband's Mini Lop was the one that took BIS in the second show! Congratulations on BRIS! :D
Saturday was a blast, I hope we all have more shows like that!
-Kristen
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Thanks so much for Miss Muffet, I LOVE her! Thanks also for the congratulations in your blog- and I wanted to let you know, my husband's Mini Lop was the one that took BIS in the second show! Congratulations on BRIS! :D
Saturday was a blast, I hope we all have more shows like that!
-Kristen
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