The French Angora Wool Texture, Part 2 The Matured Coat

 

This photo was taken in August 2021, Monique was 1-1/2 years old.   You can clearly see her guard hairs draping over the under coat.  

Here is another picture of Monique taken on the same day.

This is a photo taken in the shade to have a better view of the matured French Angora Monique's texture.   Guard hairs are clearly visible.  

Jump to December 2022 just before Christmas, Monique was 2-3/4 years old with a long matured coat, she was awarded an open all breed Best In Show.  

In June 2023, Monique was 3-1/2 years old, again coming back with a matured coat with lots of guard hairs and underwool, she was awarded a second Reserve In Show.   

A month later, at 3-1/2 years old in June 2023, Monique was crowned the specialty Best In Show.  Another month later in July 2023, Monique was again awarded the specialty Best In Show.
If I judge by the photos over the years, I'd say her best texture and wool combination peaked at 3-4 years old.   If I were asked about what the right French Angora texture, I'd use these two photos as examples of a an ideal French Angora matured texture.   

This photo was taken in May 2024, Monique was 4-1/4 years old, having been cut down upteen times, she is back with a full coat.  Visibly we can see that the guard hairs are more prominent.  The older the rabbit, the more guard hairs.   

This is Monique in Octoboer 2024.  At 4-3/4 years old, she again won an open all breed Best In Show!   Her coat is still great, but you can see there are lots of guard hairs on top of her underwool.  

Monique with her full coat in August 2025, she is 5-1/2 years old in this photo.   A bit too hairy, but still beautiful.  

 

This is Monique's most recent photo, taken in Feburary 2026.   Very hairy, I'd say too hairy to compete in shows.  At over 6 years old, she has retired from showing.    The purpose of the two posts from yesterday to today is to show that: (a) How a French Angora's wool texture progress,  (b) To understand that the texture will change as an animal ages,  (c) A good rabbit should be able to come back with many show coats to compete so that an enthusiastic show person would not have to continuously increase the number of rabbits,