Remember When: English Angora Winners at the 1994 ARBA Convention

I have attended 34 ARBA conventions starting in 1987, cumulated lots of memories.  In the next few days I am sharing some of the memories from 30 years ago.    1994 Convnetion was held at Tulsa, OK.   This was the second Tulsa convention that I had attended, the first one was in 1989.   Rabbits and I were flown to OK, we were in a group of 5 exhibitors from different breeds.  We had 40 some rabbits in the group.   When flying from SFO to DFW to connect to OK, the airline forgot to put the rabbits in the first flight at SFO.   At the connection point, we realized that the rabbits did not make it there.  We were very worried and sad, begged the agents to find the rabbits and to wait for the rabbits but no avail, we had no choice but to board the second flight.   When the plane was taxiing on the runaway, suddently the captian announced that there would be a short delay and the plane stopped.   Looking out the window, guess what? We saw a long luggage cart rushing toward the plane and then the cargo door opened, the 40 some rabbits from our group went from the luggage cart to the cargo hold, they made the connection!     It was an experience that never repeated; cannot imagine any of the airlines would stop a taxiing plane to let the live animals catch the flight.

These are the 1994 ARBA convention numbers of Angoras shown listed in the Results Book: 132 English Angoras, 56 French Angoras, 14 Giant Angoras and 40 Satin Angoras.  

 

My white doe Kimmie was the BOV white and colored doe Cynthia was the BOV colored and went on to win the BOB English Angora.  Kimmie was the best white wool winner and Cynthia won the best colored wool and the best overall wool. 

The BOSV colored was Kathleen Wileman's colored senior buck and went on to win BOSB.

The BOSV white was Susan Clothier's white senior buck.

Class winners are not listed in the result book, but I got this photo of the winner of the colored junior buck class shown by Pete Chavez and Lori Williamson.

The judge for English Angora was Eunita Boatman.  In the photo, judge Boatman just picked the BOV white doe.

Judge Boatman is examining a colored junior, not sure whether it's a buck or a doe.  You may recognize the wooden judging coops.  These coops were made in 1992 and they have been used in the last 30 plus years including the 2023 convention at Louisville.    The same wooden floors have been exposed to 30 plus years of poops and pee!

 

Post Office Flower Surprise

Post office is usually a plain or boring place.   It was a surprise to see so many plants in bloom.

These roses, probably the French Rose variety, are eye-catching.

The color is so bright in the sun.

Close encounters of the pretty colors.

It hard to take eyes off these beautiful flowers.

Plus some baby sage plants in the background.   This proves that even a boring post office could be beautified if designed and maintained well.   

 

Raelynne Gets Her First Haircut

Raelynne has an impressive show career: 9 open Best In Show, 4 open Reserve In Show and 1 specialty Best in Show.  

All good things have a beginnng and an end.  This little cut is the beginning of the end of Raelynne's beautiful first coat.   

Raelynne's back is showing.

Raelynne's round body.

Smooth loin.

Raelynne and her wool fall in the sunset.

Where is Raelynne?

Raelynne and her coat view from the top.

Raelynne and her coat view from the side.

Raelynne's beautiful long and dense coat is now in a bag ready to be spun or go to a lucky buyer.

 

Loquat in Season

Next to Betty's rabbit barn there is a large Loquat tree.  The tree provides shade for the barn and bears juicy fruits during the summer.

This is the season for the Loquat to ripe in the full sun.

Plump and juicy fruits.

They look a bit like grapes but different colors, bright yellow orange.

Very inviting.

Human like them, rabbits like them too.

The skin is an easy peel, then split it in the middle and take out the seeds, yum. 

 

Betty and Carol are Happy First Place Winners

Betty and Carol are very happy with their show rankings: Betty is the number one English Angora national sweepstakes winner, and Carol is the number one French Angora national sweepstakes winner.  Each has received the results and prize for a while but this is the first time both brought the prize to a show to have a photo taken together.

The sweepstakes year of the National Angora Rabbit Breeders Club is August 1 to July 31 of the following year.   The newest overall ranking is the 2022-2023 sweepstakes year.   This is a close up photo of Betty's first place prize.

The next sweepstakes results won't be released until around Octoboer 2024.  The sweepstakes year ends on July 31, 2024 but show secretaries have up to 30 days to send in the reports, then the sweepstakes chair will have to update all the reports and order prizes.   It is common to release the final results at the ARBA convention.        This is a close up photo of Carol Green's French Angora first place win.

 

Show C Best In Show Judging at Santa Maria

Show C Best In Show judging by Jennifer Milburn.

It’s very possible that due to the delay in the morning that the show was run in an unusual manner.  Breed judging and Best In Show judging were done simultaneously.  It was hard to catch all things going on at the same time.  It’s regretful that I couldn’t provide better reports.   This will be the last post about the Central Coast RBA show.   We thank the CCRBA for sponsoring the show. 

 

Show B Best In Show Judging at Santa Maria

Show B Best In Show judge is Lauralee Erbe.  As seen in photo, most exhibitors were at breed tables when the Best in Show judging was going on.   Did not get the results.