English Angora Winners at 2006 ARBA Convention

The ARBA national convention ended yesterday. A long and fun week that was full of activities and excitements. There will be many photos to share in the coming days and weeks.

The first report is English Angora results. Eric judged all four breeds of Angora. English Angora was judged as the first breed on Monday morning. Bright and early, we were all in the show room grooming. Exactly at 8 am, the first class was called. In the three lower photos, Eric was judging colored and white bucks.

The second photo shows Eric making decision on the first and second place colored junior bucks. The tort on the right was his choice. Just in case our readers are curious, these two little boys are littermate brothers.

The third photo is Eric picking the first place colored senior buck and the fourth photo shows the winning white senior buck being picked.

Eric's posing style is very different from the judges that we see in the West Coast. In the photos, we could see that the rabbits' wool were pressed close to their bodies. We tend to see judges checking the body in the first pose then fluff up the wool afterwards in most of our shows. Whichever way, the judges get their job done.

NCAG members did very well. Out of 8 classes, 7 classes went to NCAG members. Our Missouri member Margaret won one class with her colored senior doe that took the Best of Breed. (The rabbit was entered jointly with non-member Linda. ) Betty won 6 classes and took the Best Opposite Sex of the Breed with her fawn buck. The top photo shows the happy winners and judge Eric. The colored senior doe went on to win one of the five Groups. This is the fifth time out of the last six years that an English Angora reached the Group winner status or higher. No other breed has such a consistent record.

Congratulations to all.