A Productive Day at the Stockton Show

Rabbits are multi-purpose animals. They are good for pets, showing, meat, pelt and wool. To achieve some of the "purposes", it'll result in the death of the rabbit, namely, meat and pelt. Angora are wonderful breeds. Twenty plus years ago, I've coined a statement, "You can't eat your cake and have it too, but you can have your Angora rabbit and wear it too." We can have the best of both world. We can have our rabbits for showing, for pet and they produce wonderful wool that can be made into yarn and finished products. For a softie like most of us, we do not kill, Angora rabbits are the perfect animals.

In the shows at Stockton, our group set up a camp on the lawn grooming and practicing our crafts. We attracted a lot of attention and got a lot of spinning done. In the photo second from the top, Casey and Betty are spinning on their electric spinners. In the background is Kathie, Maya's grandma. In the third photo, Franco examines closely when Betty puts on the drive band. Cathy P. is watching from the background. Franco, the "lovely husband" to Tracy, will be the spinner in the Rios household. Cathy P. is a spinner but have never used an electric spinner. She is amazed at the speed that Casey and Betty achieve by using the electric spinner. In the small photo at the very top, two hats were made from the yarn spun that day. The yarns were dyed with Kool-Aid.

Melissa, A Rising Star

The shows in Stockton on Saturday was the first show of a new club: The Rabbit Club. Melissa and her husband Ed are the founders of this club.

Melissa is a new judge. Her license is less than a year old but she has all the signs of being a rising star. When she was working for her license under various judges, we had the opportunity to observe her interacting with the presiding judges when judging different breeds of Angora. We found that she grasped the concepts very quickly, some of her comments were more accurate than the judges who she was working under. From then on, we have been looking forward to having her as a judge.

This weekend we finally got the chance. Her comments were to the point, she was very gentle in handling the rabbits and her placing of the rabbits were almost identical to that of Cathy's. Cathy is an excellent judge and very experienced, we consider her judging one of the very top. We got the same results from Melissa who is in her first year of judging. We are very impressed with Melissa. From what I've heard, after an assignment in judging youth rabbits at the Indy convention, several specialty clubs has contacted Melissa to book her for convention judging in the next few years.

In the top photo, Melissa is judging English Angora with Betty writing down the comments; in the second photo, Melissa is judging French Angora with Tracy being the table clerk.

Cathy, A Top Quality Judge

In the Stockton shows last Saturday, Cathy was our judge for both English Angora and French Angora. Cathy has a national reputation of being an excellent judge. Her judging on Saturday was no exception. All her comments were to the point with the right placings.

Cathy is a top Rex breeder. Rex is one of the fur breeds, I think it helps to understand the importance of texture. Wool accounts for 55% of the points for French Angora and Giant Angora, 57% for English Angora and 60% for Satin Angora. It is vital for a judge to comment on the wool density, length and texture when judging Angora. Of all the wool qualities, texture is the hardest one to comprehend. Cathy did a wonderful job.

We are so fortunate in California to have all the best judges. With wonderful weather, shows are held all around the year. Our judges get to practice their craft a lot more frequently than any other part of the country.

In the photo, Cathy is judging French Angora with Danielle helping to write the comments. Reader probably remember Danielle from a previous post. She is a youth member of our guild, her French Angora won the youth Best In Show in the Angora National in April 05.

Emilia, Damon and Enoch

Cathy and Melissa were the two judges who judged English Angora on Saturday. It is quite amazing that the two judges ranked the rabbits in each class almost identically. The only difference is in the white senior buck class. While we had experienced vastly different tastes from different judges, these two ladies certainly show how good they are. They understand the standard well, considered all aspects and reached very similar conclusion.

On the top, Chu's Emilia took Best of Variety colored in both shows; in the left photo, Chu's Damon won Best Opposite Sex of Variety under Cathy and in the right photo, Charlie's Enoch took Best Opposite Sex of Variety under Melissa.

It is a joy to have judges who read and follow the standard.

Mercedes and Tonnie

In the Stockton double shows on Saturday, Betty's English Angora won Best of Breed and Best Opposite Sex. White doe Chu's Mercedes took the top honor and blue tort buck Chu's Tonnie was the Opposite Sex winner. Both have excellent type and are in prime coat, judges love them.

The Rabbit Club Double Shows

Life is back to normal. We are back to shows on weekends. Franco wrote the description about the shows:

"Congratulations to The Rabbit Club for their show in Stockton on Nov 5!
We had a good time. It was a nice day weather wise, which was good since the show was in the livestock barn area, no walls. There were lots of familiar faces there. And the food concession was good. (So was the Mexican food takeout place across the street! VivaMi Ranchito market!)There were many English, French, and Satin Angoras shown. There was a little "Angora Camp" out on the lawn hare-blowing and grooming. After the grooming and shows were done, out came the spinning wheels and electric spinners as much angora yarn was made while people waited for "Best In Show" contests. Quite the industrious little group out there."

Tracy won BOB and BOS Satin Angora. Her photo with her two winners is on the right.

Lindsay won BOB and BOS French Angora, she is pictured with her two winners on the left.

We had wonderful judges for our three breeds: Melissa, Cathy, Uno and Leslie. Tracy said it on her website, "Having good judges added to the pleasant day..." and I agree totally.

The third photo shows our little group playing with the electric spinners. Casey and Betty each has one, and Franco will have one very soon. It's really fun to be able to sit, spin, and chat in shows after grooming is done. We are productive as well as having fun.