The Georgia State RCA Fall Show 2018 was yesterday and I was thrilled that Astro Man won both shows as a senior black buck. This means he has won 1st place in all five shows in his class. However, yesterday he also won Best of Variety and Best of Breed in both shows! I was extremely pleased! He has filled out much better in the last couple of months than I thought he might, one judge commented "good commercial type." Of course, he was not into doing his show pose for the picture, but I think he liked the ribbons! I could not choose between two purple or two black and red, so I got one of each!
That was the good of the show for me, however I probably should subtitle this post as "How Not to Do a Show."
This show was not one I had planned to enter into as it was a long haul and a double, but one breeder thought she would have to bow out of the CARE show on November 10th and she could go to this one. It was too last minute in many ways.
As it turned out, this show just seemed to be cursed for me. First, we were trying to get it sanctioned just two weeks before the show, so we had taken the advice of another more experienced breeder and tried to do it just two weeks before. This, we learned, is a huge no-no and we had doubled down on that no-no because we had by-passed the show secretary going directly to the National Silver Fox Rabbit Club as we were advised. The rules said a month before and to contact the show secretary. So, we pushed it through asking for apologies along the way because we were just so new at all this.
Perry is just two hours away from my place, but two other breeders and I were shuffling with who was going as we struggled to make those three breeders and five rabbits in each class numbers. Hannah decided to add a doe still nursing some kits that were just beginning to nibble on pellets that were under 8 weeks old. The kits were were not allowed to be with us at the show because of their age and we really did not want to leave them longer than necessary to for the sake of the lactating doe and the kits not yet ready to wean.
Now that the weather has taken a good dip into more typical fall temperatures, the rabbits are eating more and filling out better, so Starry Knight has been making some gains on his weight, but he just turned 8 months old two days before the show and he was still under senior minimum weight by 5.5 oz. Actually, Starry Knight is born on the same day as Astro Man although they are not related. (Twilight is one day later, so it is easy for me to remember this "cluster" of birth dates.) Astro Man had reached senior weight some time ago, so he was being shown as a senior, but Starry Knight was too far under the weight limit to even try to enter him for this show. As I was talking to Hannah Yost, who is the owner of Blackbeard (although she prefers to call him Pirate) and brother to Astro Man, about the ages and she realized that she had entered Pirate in as an intermediate when he also should be a senior and was underweight for a senior. She decided to scratch him, so that meant we needed another black buck. I did not want to show Leon, because a buck at his age is not in his prime, but I decided to enter him as well.
Hurricane Michael, or whatever was left of it, was forecast to make its track directly through the Perry area a day before the show where it was to be and during the fair also. Many people had decided to not enter into the show at all, but as predicted, the storm lost most of its steam and there was no damage at the fairgrounds. However, because of the likely low attendance, the late fees and fees for changes were dropped to take last minute entries.
In the meantime, I had gotten my entry form in before the deadline, received confirmation within minutes it was received, but then no check-in sheets came the next day. Then I had to make the change to add Leon and by that time the show secretary was too busy with preparing to get to the show to respond. I was not worried about being able to get into the show...just how long of a line there were be with last minute entries. I contacted the club secretary about this, who told me all the check in sheets were sent in the morning a day ago.
Then there was an embarrassing mix up of me messaging the club secretary thinking it was my friend to complain of how I still did not have my check in forms, but I did not write anything bad, just my frustration, and that I thought this show was cursed for me. I even told her about how I was grooming Leon and a nail of his just fell off, which would be a disqualification if the judges saw it, but they might not because it was a dew claw. Odd thing was there was no swelling at the toe like it was a toe injury, as I have seen before, nor was there any bleeding which suggested to me that he had ripped the nail itself some days before and it just then came the rest of the way off. Once I realized what I had done, I apologized and she just graciously sent me a smiling emoji. Still, I wanted to crawl under a rock as I cannot image how much more I could get off on the wrong foot with someone who is the secretary of the club overseeing shows in Georgia.
We had made arrangements to pick up Hannah and her rabbits, an hour north and in the opposite direction to Perry, and meet with Stephanie along the way to Perry to pick up her rabbits. To do all that, we had to get up at 2:00 a.m. Leave our house around 3:00 a.m. and be at Hannah's around 4:00. Would you believe we ran into a police barricade and had to do a major detour so we got to Hannah's a bit later? Then meet Stephanie at 5:00 a.m. which turned out to be 5:15 a.m. and be at the show by 7:30 a.m. so we would get there early enough not to have to stand in a long line of people doing entry forms last minute.
Despite all, it worked out well. I introduced myself to the club secretary as the crazy lady and we hugged. Then I met the show secretary who explained she made a typo in filling out my email address, but my check in sheets were there and I made the addition of Leon to both shows.
The show started late, but it started. Leon's missing dew claw nail was not caught by either judge and Astro Man won BOB in both. I registered Astro Man while there after the second show. Stephanie Stargazer won BOSB in Show A and Hannah's Maggie won BOSB in Show B.
We packed up and as we were about to leave they called for all the BOBs to be judged for Best in Show for Show A. Now I know my Silver Fox is not to that quality, but we were still there and they were calling. The next thing I knew, I saw this crazy lady running carefully with a rabbit....a Silver Fox rabbit....and it was my friend Hannah. We waited for the inevitable, which was Astro Man would not take that win and then we left before the second BIS judging.
We made our way back to meet Stephanie at around 7:00 p.m. and then got stuck in traffic because the highway was being repaved, taking us from something like five lanes to two and added another 30 minutes to our drive. We helped Hannah get her buns back into their cages between 8:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.and finally arrived back home at 10:00 p.m. Then unpacked our buns, fed them, and prepared for a good night's sleep after being up for 21 hours. The rest would be unpacked in the morning.
And after all this, I realized that this is the crazy side of showing rabbits...and I paid to do it!
We packed up and as we were about to leave they called for all the BOBs to be judged for Best in Show for Show A. Now I know my Silver Fox is not to that quality, but we were still there and they were calling. The next thing I knew, I saw this crazy lady running carefully with a rabbit....a Silver Fox rabbit....and it was my friend Hannah. We waited for the inevitable, which was Astro Man would not take that win and then we left before the second BIS judging.
We made our way back to meet Stephanie at around 7:00 p.m. and then got stuck in traffic because the highway was being repaved, taking us from something like five lanes to two and added another 30 minutes to our drive. We helped Hannah get her buns back into their cages between 8:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.and finally arrived back home at 10:00 p.m. Then unpacked our buns, fed them, and prepared for a good night's sleep after being up for 21 hours. The rest would be unpacked in the morning.
And after all this, I realized that this is the crazy side of showing rabbits...and I paid to do it!