TinysMom
Well-Known Member
I don't have all of my paperwork handy and I didn't keep notes of who
won what - so this is going to be very brief compared to all of the
various show reports that have come through lately.
We had three exhibitors showing ... 21 or 22 rabbits total I think?
I'd have to go back and count up all of the various tickets - but that
sounds about right. I suppose it could have been as high as 24 rabbits.
The three exhibitors were:
Jan Wilson - who started with some lionheads from me back in October
'05 as she thought it might be fun to "play" with them and I was
giving some away if I remember right from what she's said. Well let me
tell you - she went BEYOND playing with them...she has done an
excellent job. Before the show, Art walked me over to her rabbits and
said, "you have some major competition here." I was glad for the
competition - partly because I knew some of the rabbits started from
my lines and partly just because it was so nice to not be competing
only against 1 or 2 rabbits!
Shannan Roark - who started in lionheads after ARBA Nationals this
last fall. She has some from Jason & Kadie Foss and I forget who else...
Me
Both of these ladies show a LOT LOT LOT more than I do and after I
looked at their rabbits, I was a bit nervous but also excited to see
what would happen.
Our judge for show A was Gail Krall. I liked her - she was not overly
experienced in judging lionheads - but she took her time and looked
them over and gave some really good comments. I appreciated the detail
of her comments and how she would answer questions as we took the
rabbits off the table when she was done with them.
Jan Wilson had an adorable little black doe that took BOSB. Art just
loved her from the first time he saw her and that was part of why he
dragged me over to see her rabbits. (He also liked her torts). I was
really happy for her.
Unfortunately, I barely clapped for her because my siamese sable buck
"Mischief" took BOB. I knew Gail liked him as she deliberated quite a
while between him and his half-brother when she was doing the siamese
sables and she encouraged me (STRONGLY) to repeat the breeding. I was
in shock because another breeder friend and I had called him "Mr. Big
Ears". However, he is out of Mossy Possum's Ava and I think that
really helped his coloring, etc. (Now I get to decide between him and
his half-brother on who to keep and who to sell).
We had a nice break between show A & B and it was so much fun to talk
to other people and other breeders. I like it when we can get together
with other breeders and talk and exchange information - like how to
clean up a muddy tort color..or how to correct a fault or even
critique how we felt a judge did.
Show B was judged by Mike Withrow. Wow - I was impressed with him -
because he would not only look at the rabbits but he would put the
class side by side and then look at them that way. It took longer to
judge the show - but his comments seemed more on target as he would
not only speak about the rabbit but why it didn't get first place in
the class.
He was also TOUGH. I think about half of my rabbits were dq'd for not
enough break in the mane or stuff like that. One sable point buck that
I took he said, "This should be on the table as a jersey wooly" and I
explained that I knew the buck would shed out but I really wanted to
hear comments on type. He later said if the buck shed out, he'd like
to see it at a later date as he had never seen one that fuzzy.
It was so nice to see that Shannon walked away with BOB for a senior
tort doe that was VERY nice. The first judge had discouraged her about
this rabbit as she didn't care for the coloring...so to see the rabbit
do so well under another judge was a real encouragement and I was
happy for her.
We took BOSB with a black buck out of our chocolate otter and black
otter (so he carries chocolate). Truly - he was NOT the best of the
litter - but the other black buck buck didn't make weight minimum and
the other two were otters and I wasn't going to take them to show. So
he was a last minute of "Well, I'll toss him in and see how he does."
He actually held his own in both shows - but totally shocked me when
he took BOSB here.
I could probably sit down and figure out the BOVs and stuff - but
there were some cases where there was only one in the class (blue) -
so it seemed "meaningless" to me that she took BOV. I mean...all she
had to do was show up and not be dq'd....
I think the one thing I took away from this show that I hadn't felt at
other shows - was a feeling of "how neat...we all won something and
we all had a good time." Of course we all would have loved to have
won a title at each show - or all the titles. But hey....we left there
happy with each other - looking forward to seeing each other again.
There were no temper tantrums (I saw that with another breed and it
was so sad).
Mike asked us after he was done judging how he did - if we felt he
missed anything or if he understood the standard ok. I really liked
that - and I liked his openness to the breed. He explained he had
judged them a few times but he recognized that he could have missed
something and should learn more about it. (I wanted to say "don't dq
so much for lack of break....but I understand him being tough on it -
and he really WAS fair).
All in all, the show was a blast for me even if I'm exhausted now. I
got to talk to breeders, hear comments on my bunnies and just have
some fun...oh ... and win 2 t-shirts in the raffle!
Our next show is Nationals and I can hardly wait.
I hadn't been showing for a while because I was often the only one
showing any number of rabbits and they might go up against only one or
two rabbits and it just wasn't fun when 12 out of 14 rabbits were
yours. Now that I see more breeders showing...it might be fun to go to
more shows....
Anyway - that's the Seguin update! Sorry its so chatty - but I really
didn't keep track of all the BOV and BOSV and stuff like that....
Peg
~~~~~~
Now for the additional part for you guys...
I took several additional rabbits to rehome at the show. These were nice rabbits - just pet quality bucks that were taking up space and time and food.
We gave them away for free after talking to people. Here are some of the stories:
a. One himi buck went to a family's teenage son who is autistic (partially). They had thought about allowing him to get a rabbit (they are "into" rabbits anyway) and he wound up carrying that rabbit around most of the day - with the biggest smile on his face.They told us before letting him come to look at the rabbits that they were going to be watching over him and the rabbit but they had been told it might help him to have a pet like this. All I can say is - by the smile on his face....he was thrilled.
b. The same family's daughter adopted a mixed breed rabbit (one of Puck's sons w/ Jenny). She carried him all around and was showing him off and before noon he was giving her tooth purrs and cuddling into her arms. Another happy bunny...and by noon, she had him wearing a "JohnDeere" cap for small dogs. I wish I'd taken a picture - it was adorable.
c. A woman who used to breed Netherland Dwarfs w/ her kids got out of it as they got older. She came to the show to get another rabbit or two because she really missed having rabbits around the house. She fell in love with Thumper (you may remember him as the broken tort buck who cornered his mom 'cause he wanted a drink and started thump wars....it is in my lionhead blog). She said she really wanted a bunny with a bit of an "attitude"..and she got it. She wound up with one bunny of ours plus another bunny and 2 cages and I forget what else.
d. One young gal had a pair of rabbits that she is showing but she wanted a pet rabbit. Her mom said no. Her dad came by and saw them....and wound up pcking out a rabbit for her. I think she might have liked another one better but I wasn't going to interfere -but by the end of the day - she was cuddling the rabbit too.
e. Final story. A young gal - maybe 10 or 11 years old came to the show to get a rabbit. I guess she'd saved her money because she had a budget of $X. She wanted a mini-lop. She was thrilled to find Pepper - a young buck we'd rescued a while ago and wanted to find him a good home. Thanks to being able to get him for free...she was able to buy a cage and water bottle and I think TOYS too.
It was a great day...I wish y'all could have been there.
Peg
won what - so this is going to be very brief compared to all of the
various show reports that have come through lately.
We had three exhibitors showing ... 21 or 22 rabbits total I think?
I'd have to go back and count up all of the various tickets - but that
sounds about right. I suppose it could have been as high as 24 rabbits.
The three exhibitors were:
Jan Wilson - who started with some lionheads from me back in October
'05 as she thought it might be fun to "play" with them and I was
giving some away if I remember right from what she's said. Well let me
tell you - she went BEYOND playing with them...she has done an
excellent job. Before the show, Art walked me over to her rabbits and
said, "you have some major competition here." I was glad for the
competition - partly because I knew some of the rabbits started from
my lines and partly just because it was so nice to not be competing
only against 1 or 2 rabbits!
Shannan Roark - who started in lionheads after ARBA Nationals this
last fall. She has some from Jason & Kadie Foss and I forget who else...
Me
Both of these ladies show a LOT LOT LOT more than I do and after I
looked at their rabbits, I was a bit nervous but also excited to see
what would happen.
Our judge for show A was Gail Krall. I liked her - she was not overly
experienced in judging lionheads - but she took her time and looked
them over and gave some really good comments. I appreciated the detail
of her comments and how she would answer questions as we took the
rabbits off the table when she was done with them.
Jan Wilson had an adorable little black doe that took BOSB. Art just
loved her from the first time he saw her and that was part of why he
dragged me over to see her rabbits. (He also liked her torts). I was
really happy for her.
Unfortunately, I barely clapped for her because my siamese sable buck
"Mischief" took BOB. I knew Gail liked him as she deliberated quite a
while between him and his half-brother when she was doing the siamese
sables and she encouraged me (STRONGLY) to repeat the breeding. I was
in shock because another breeder friend and I had called him "Mr. Big
Ears". However, he is out of Mossy Possum's Ava and I think that
really helped his coloring, etc. (Now I get to decide between him and
his half-brother on who to keep and who to sell).
We had a nice break between show A & B and it was so much fun to talk
to other people and other breeders. I like it when we can get together
with other breeders and talk and exchange information - like how to
clean up a muddy tort color..or how to correct a fault or even
critique how we felt a judge did.
Show B was judged by Mike Withrow. Wow - I was impressed with him -
because he would not only look at the rabbits but he would put the
class side by side and then look at them that way. It took longer to
judge the show - but his comments seemed more on target as he would
not only speak about the rabbit but why it didn't get first place in
the class.
He was also TOUGH. I think about half of my rabbits were dq'd for not
enough break in the mane or stuff like that. One sable point buck that
I took he said, "This should be on the table as a jersey wooly" and I
explained that I knew the buck would shed out but I really wanted to
hear comments on type. He later said if the buck shed out, he'd like
to see it at a later date as he had never seen one that fuzzy.
It was so nice to see that Shannon walked away with BOB for a senior
tort doe that was VERY nice. The first judge had discouraged her about
this rabbit as she didn't care for the coloring...so to see the rabbit
do so well under another judge was a real encouragement and I was
happy for her.
We took BOSB with a black buck out of our chocolate otter and black
otter (so he carries chocolate). Truly - he was NOT the best of the
litter - but the other black buck buck didn't make weight minimum and
the other two were otters and I wasn't going to take them to show. So
he was a last minute of "Well, I'll toss him in and see how he does."
He actually held his own in both shows - but totally shocked me when
he took BOSB here.
I could probably sit down and figure out the BOVs and stuff - but
there were some cases where there was only one in the class (blue) -
so it seemed "meaningless" to me that she took BOV. I mean...all she
had to do was show up and not be dq'd....
I think the one thing I took away from this show that I hadn't felt at
other shows - was a feeling of "how neat...we all won something and
we all had a good time." Of course we all would have loved to have
won a title at each show - or all the titles. But hey....we left there
happy with each other - looking forward to seeing each other again.
There were no temper tantrums (I saw that with another breed and it
was so sad).
Mike asked us after he was done judging how he did - if we felt he
missed anything or if he understood the standard ok. I really liked
that - and I liked his openness to the breed. He explained he had
judged them a few times but he recognized that he could have missed
something and should learn more about it. (I wanted to say "don't dq
so much for lack of break....but I understand him being tough on it -
and he really WAS fair).
All in all, the show was a blast for me even if I'm exhausted now. I
got to talk to breeders, hear comments on my bunnies and just have
some fun...oh ... and win 2 t-shirts in the raffle!
Our next show is Nationals and I can hardly wait.
I hadn't been showing for a while because I was often the only one
showing any number of rabbits and they might go up against only one or
two rabbits and it just wasn't fun when 12 out of 14 rabbits were
yours. Now that I see more breeders showing...it might be fun to go to
more shows....
Anyway - that's the Seguin update! Sorry its so chatty - but I really
didn't keep track of all the BOV and BOSV and stuff like that....
Peg
~~~~~~
Now for the additional part for you guys...
I took several additional rabbits to rehome at the show. These were nice rabbits - just pet quality bucks that were taking up space and time and food.
We gave them away for free after talking to people. Here are some of the stories:
a. One himi buck went to a family's teenage son who is autistic (partially). They had thought about allowing him to get a rabbit (they are "into" rabbits anyway) and he wound up carrying that rabbit around most of the day - with the biggest smile on his face.They told us before letting him come to look at the rabbits that they were going to be watching over him and the rabbit but they had been told it might help him to have a pet like this. All I can say is - by the smile on his face....he was thrilled.
b. The same family's daughter adopted a mixed breed rabbit (one of Puck's sons w/ Jenny). She carried him all around and was showing him off and before noon he was giving her tooth purrs and cuddling into her arms. Another happy bunny...and by noon, she had him wearing a "JohnDeere" cap for small dogs. I wish I'd taken a picture - it was adorable.
c. A woman who used to breed Netherland Dwarfs w/ her kids got out of it as they got older. She came to the show to get another rabbit or two because she really missed having rabbits around the house. She fell in love with Thumper (you may remember him as the broken tort buck who cornered his mom 'cause he wanted a drink and started thump wars....it is in my lionhead blog). She said she really wanted a bunny with a bit of an "attitude"..and she got it. She wound up with one bunny of ours plus another bunny and 2 cages and I forget what else.
d. One young gal had a pair of rabbits that she is showing but she wanted a pet rabbit. Her mom said no. Her dad came by and saw them....and wound up pcking out a rabbit for her. I think she might have liked another one better but I wasn't going to interfere -but by the end of the day - she was cuddling the rabbit too.
e. Final story. A young gal - maybe 10 or 11 years old came to the show to get a rabbit. I guess she'd saved her money because she had a budget of $X. She wanted a mini-lop. She was thrilled to find Pepper - a young buck we'd rescued a while ago and wanted to find him a good home. Thanks to being able to get him for free...she was able to buy a cage and water bottle and I think TOYS too.
It was a great day...I wish y'all could have been there.
Peg
, I love reading stories about shows, I'd really like to go to a rabbit show someday!:bunnydance:I'll have to find out if there are any here soon.
