Sunday, January 20, 2008
Piedmont Triad Rabbit Fanciers Show, Mocksville, NC, January 19, 2008
You remember all of the great plans I had on Friday for getting ready for the rabbit show. Most of that went out of the window when my sister called. She wanted to know if I wanted to bring the girls down to see her six-day old granddaughter - which we did - and if I wanted to go to a movie - which I always do.
Luckily, I was just taking five rabbits to show, one to breed, and one for Anna to show. It didn't take that long to get them ready to go. Plus, we didn't have to leave until 6:30 a.m. - which is practically sleeping in on a show day - so I was able to finish up in the morning.
It was a very busy day. Entries were light due to the word "snow" in the forecast. It turned out to be nothing, but it was enough to keep a number of people home.
I started registering rabbits early in the day. I registered on and off between activities. There were still more to register when the day ended.
I was very lucky that good friends were willing to put my rabbits on the table. Just because they thought they lost one once doesn't mean they didn't do a great job! I really appreciate it and am sorry they almost suffered a heart attack when Myrddin couldn't be found for a short while. I appreciate the fact that they took it seriously when he couldn't be readily found (he was down at the end of a very long row of coops).
I worked with Josh Humphries. We didn't have any breeds that I've not worked before, until the end of the day when I got tied up with more registrations. I did get to see the winning Harlequin and put my hands on the best Lilacs. It was great working with the rabbits, though, even if they were otherwise the breeds I'm most familiar with. For the most part, I picked the same rabbits that Josh did. I could see the differences between the tops of the classes and could detect rabbits with severe problems. There's just no substitute for seeing and handlings hundreds of rabbits to really learn the breeds well enough to judge. I just have to discipline myself to put in the time.
Because Janice and Bill were willing to help me, I was able to have the best of both worlds. While I was going over Flemish Giants and Netherland Dwarfs, Lord picked up another leg and Kizzy won Best of Breed. Then in the afternoon, while I compared Mini Lops, American Fuzzy Lops, and so forth, Kizzy got her third leg to grand with a class win and Crazy Horse picked up a BOSG.
Since I showed in just three classes, six legs was the most I could have hoped for. My bunnies earned four, so I'll be happy with that. And you know I'm always happy to grand a rabbit.
Congratulations to Janice Jones for granding LOV's Hidalgo. I'm especially glad since we did a joint breeding with Hidalgo and May yesterday. I appreciate Janice being receptive to my suggestion that we do the project, but I'm more appreciative of May being receptive to the idea!
Karen Lewis made the eight-hour trip down from PA. She was delightful as were her bunnies. I especially like the solid black junior doe she was gracious enough to show me after the show. Since I missed everything, she helped me catch up on the day by showing me her BOB broken junior doe for show B and her other nice girls.
I sold Karen The Nature Trail's Pandora, a doe I loved. Pandora is apparently doing well for her. I believe at least one of the does she showed me was out of Pandora. I always hope when I sell a rabbit that it will help out its new owner. It's nice to see when that happens.
The last thing I did before going home was secure permission to work with judges at the NC State Convention in March (the convention committee was having a meeting after the show). I now have my permission and I'm waiting for the judges to respond to my requests as well. I will have to study before that one to make the absolute most out of the opportunity.
I'm trying to cut down to one show per month. So my next show will probably be the Valentine's show in Sanford, NC, on February 16, 2008. Unless I give in to temptation before then.
Laurie ¶ 12:17 PM
Luckily, I was just taking five rabbits to show, one to breed, and one for Anna to show. It didn't take that long to get them ready to go. Plus, we didn't have to leave until 6:30 a.m. - which is practically sleeping in on a show day - so I was able to finish up in the morning.
It was a very busy day. Entries were light due to the word "snow" in the forecast. It turned out to be nothing, but it was enough to keep a number of people home.
I started registering rabbits early in the day. I registered on and off between activities. There were still more to register when the day ended.
I was very lucky that good friends were willing to put my rabbits on the table. Just because they thought they lost one once doesn't mean they didn't do a great job! I really appreciate it and am sorry they almost suffered a heart attack when Myrddin couldn't be found for a short while. I appreciate the fact that they took it seriously when he couldn't be readily found (he was down at the end of a very long row of coops).
I worked with Josh Humphries. We didn't have any breeds that I've not worked before, until the end of the day when I got tied up with more registrations. I did get to see the winning Harlequin and put my hands on the best Lilacs. It was great working with the rabbits, though, even if they were otherwise the breeds I'm most familiar with. For the most part, I picked the same rabbits that Josh did. I could see the differences between the tops of the classes and could detect rabbits with severe problems. There's just no substitute for seeing and handlings hundreds of rabbits to really learn the breeds well enough to judge. I just have to discipline myself to put in the time.
Because Janice and Bill were willing to help me, I was able to have the best of both worlds. While I was going over Flemish Giants and Netherland Dwarfs, Lord picked up another leg and Kizzy won Best of Breed. Then in the afternoon, while I compared Mini Lops, American Fuzzy Lops, and so forth, Kizzy got her third leg to grand with a class win and Crazy Horse picked up a BOSG.
Since I showed in just three classes, six legs was the most I could have hoped for. My bunnies earned four, so I'll be happy with that. And you know I'm always happy to grand a rabbit.
Congratulations to Janice Jones for granding LOV's Hidalgo. I'm especially glad since we did a joint breeding with Hidalgo and May yesterday. I appreciate Janice being receptive to my suggestion that we do the project, but I'm more appreciative of May being receptive to the idea!
Karen Lewis made the eight-hour trip down from PA. She was delightful as were her bunnies. I especially like the solid black junior doe she was gracious enough to show me after the show. Since I missed everything, she helped me catch up on the day by showing me her BOB broken junior doe for show B and her other nice girls.
I sold Karen The Nature Trail's Pandora, a doe I loved. Pandora is apparently doing well for her. I believe at least one of the does she showed me was out of Pandora. I always hope when I sell a rabbit that it will help out its new owner. It's nice to see when that happens.
The last thing I did before going home was secure permission to work with judges at the NC State Convention in March (the convention committee was having a meeting after the show). I now have my permission and I'm waiting for the judges to respond to my requests as well. I will have to study before that one to make the absolute most out of the opportunity.
I'm trying to cut down to one show per month. So my next show will probably be the Valentine's show in Sanford, NC, on February 16, 2008. Unless I give in to temptation before then.
Laurie ¶ 12:17 PM
