Goodbye Indy

It's Thursday morning, the convention is over. We packed up all the equipment and put the rabbits in their carriers, we checked out of the showroom around 7:30 am. We got to the airport early, checked in the kennels and got to the waiting area.

Maya, a youth exhibitor arrived with grandma Kathie and her favorite white Flemish Giant rabbit in a carried-on bag. She took the rabbit out, it certainly attracted a lot of attention. The Flemish Giant weighs 14 lbs, big, white and tame. What a sight! Maya is photographed with NCAG president Charlie, rabbit judge Scott and her big white rabbit.

Scott is a judge originally from Wisconsin but now resides in Oregon. He is a top breeder of English Spot and Britannia Pettit, his rabbits won BOB in both breeds in the convention. He also judged in this convention. In the past, he has judged rabbits in many states and in Japan. He is an up and coming judge in the wonderful world of rabbits.

Kimijo and Pat

We ran into Kimijo in Indy, one of our most favorite judges. Convention is a wonderful place, we see people all over the country and outside the country.

Kimijo is a top Florida White breeder, she resides in AZ but comes to judge in CA shows often, we love her judging and she loves to judge Angora. She is very good to begin with, and she always asks how she could improve. What a wonderful attitude. Charlie calls her "our most beautiful judge", and I agree totally. She is an excellent judge and very easy on our eyes.

The second photo is Kimijo with her mother-in-law Pat. Pat is a long time rabbit breeder who started Kimijo's interest in rabbits, she probably did not expect Kimijo went all the way to becoming a judge. It's nice to see such a wonderful relationship between the in-laws.

Kimijo's other interest than rabbits is jewelry making. We see her wearing new and pretty pieces each time we see her.

Kimijo will be judging all four breeds of Angora in the 2007 ARBA convention. We are so looking forward to it.

Scenes in the Indy Showroom

The showroom at Indy is huge, there are lots of things to see.

In the top photo, an English Angora was made up by adding spiders on its wool to participate in the "Scary Rabbit" contest for Halloween. Wool, Skein and Garment contest items are on display at the Angora booth in the second photo. In the third photo from the top, we get a general idea how rabbits are housed during the convention. The coops are double stacked, the sizes of the coops are 21" x 30" or 22" x 25". The collapsible coops are set on a long wooden platform. We exhibitors bring in wire riser bottoms for the rabbits to sit on. The rabbits on this isle are the French Angora.

These three photos are provided by Debbie E. of Indiana. Thanks, Debbie.

Friends at Indy

Convention is a place to renew old friendship and make new ones.

In the top photo, Charlie is making a new friend with Alex, a 14-year-old youth exhibitor. Alex is from Maryland who has been showing English Angora for a couple of years. In the picture, Alex is holding a colored senior doe that she bought from Charlie. The doe won the first place in the convention youth judging. Alex is happy and Charlie is happy.

In the second photo, Betty is with Vicki from MN. Vicki and Betty have been friends for over 10 years, they see each other in the convention each year. Convention is definitely the place for old friendship renewal. Vicki's daughter Kelly won youth Best In Show in the 1998 convention with a daughter from the first rabbit Kelly bought from Betty.

In the third photo, Betty is with Raykun. Raykun is not a rabbit breeder, she went to graduate school with Betty. They met in Indiana at University of Notre Dame over 30 years ago, definitely old friends. Raykun and husband flew in from California to visit, more than anyone could expect of a dear friend. Betty is thrilled to see her there.

BIS/BOB English Angora in Indy Convention

In the photo, Linda C. of NY is posing with her winning tort senior doe that won the Best of Breed and then went on to win Best In Show in the Indy convention.

There is a happy ending story behind the rabbit. Linda bought her grand mother Chu's Maxie from Betty in the 2002 convention, her first show rabbit. Maxie gave birth to a litter in 2003 but died during nursing. Linda was able to raise the bunnies which include three beautiful does. One of the does was given to a close friend. In early 2005 this doe had bunnies. However, Linda's friend decided not to continue in English Angora and Linda took the doe and her bunnies back. One of the bunnies is the winning doe. This doe has never been shown, this is her first leg of winning.

Photo taken by Debbie E. of IN. Thanks, Debbie for allowing NCAG to use all the photos in today's four posts.

BOB and BOS French Angora in Indy Convention

Alicia from MN took Best of Breed French Angora with her colored senior doe. Alicia was happy but was expecting another one of her rabbits to have won. Nonetheless, she was happy that she won. In the second photo, Jacque from TN took Best Opposite Sex French Angora. I do not have any information about this rabbit, it appears to be a pointed white.

Photos are provided by Debbie E. of Indiana, thanks, Debbie.

BOB and BOS Giant Angora in Indy Convention

In the top photo, Jack and Karen posed with their Best of Breed Giant Angora. In the second photo, Linda K is with her Best Opposite Sex of Breed Giant Angora. I did not have a chance to talk to either owners, no further information is available. Photos were taken by Debbie E. of Indiana. Thanks, Debbie for allowing us to use the photos.

BOB and BOS Satin Angora in Indy Convention

In the top photo, Mary is posing with her Best of Breed Satin Angora colored senior buck. It is a happy ending story: Mary rescued this rabbit from a horrible situation in the summer. It was a pleasant surprise to her that he won the BOB in the convention. In the second photo, Sue's colored senior doe took Best Opposite Sex of the breed Satin Angora. I did not have a chance talking to Sue, thus could not tell a background story of this rabbit.

Photos were taken by Debbie E. of Indiana, thanks, Debbie.

Monday, the Day of Judging

Monday was the day of judging. We went to the grooming area at 6 am to prepare for the 8 am starting time of judging.

Before the first class, our judge announced that he was going to consider the wool on the rabbits all about the same, he would only judge on the 30% of the non-wool points stated in the standard. I have to say that we were totally astonished at the announcement. What can one do at this point? Nothing.

The BOB English Angora went to Linda C of New York. The bottom photo shows the winning rabbit in her coop. Unfortunately I did not have the chance to take a photo when it was out of the coop, it would have been a nicer picture. There are several other photos flowing on the net, I am trying to get permission from the photographer to use the them on our blog. I will put on a new post if I get the permission.

Chu's Emilia won the Best Colored Wool, her photo is in the middle. Chu's Lexika took Best White Wool and Overall Wool, her photo is at the top.

Linda C's tort English Angora doe went on to win Group 2 and then Best In Show the next day, a great victory for English Angora. From 2001 to the current year, English Angora won the Group (one of the four finalists) in 2001, 2003, 2004 and finally a big win this year. No other breed has achieved such an honor in consecutive years as the English Angora. Linda C is a new breeder who bought her first show rabbit Chu's Maxie from Betty in the 2002 convention. The winning tort doe is the grand daughter of Chu's Maxie. Linda C did a great job.

First Day at the ARBA Convention

It was a fun but exhausting trip to and from the ARBA convention. Three of our NCAG members made the trip from California to Indianapolis.

Upon arrival at the showroom and after working for several hours at getting the coops ready, we settled our rabbits in their coops and decided not to touch them. The rabbits were in the small carriers in the kennels for over 14 hours, it was a lot of stress.

On Sunday, we went to the grooming area and set up our equipment. Margaret, the NARBC president and a member of NCAG, was very kind to have brought us chairs and a big blower. We used our carrier and kennel to make a grooming table. At the top photo, NCAG president and our MA member Chris are grooming a white and a tort English Angora. Behind Charlie is Carol, a top American Fuzzy Lop breeder from CA. In the middle photo, Betty stood next to the make-shift grooming table with a white senior doe. In the bottom photo, Tracy is working on her colored French doe.

It was fun to see the old friends from all over the country. Grooming area is noisy and dirty with wool and dust flying, but we consider it our retreat. It's an area for chatting and exchanging ideas, renewing old friendship and making new ones.