19 hours. 7 contenders. 2 titles. The journey was long. So long, that I did my best to convince my mother not to make the arduous trek halfway across the United States to the little town of Hutchinson, Kansas for the Silver Fox National Show. But, despite my misgivings, she was determined to defend her Best of Breed and Fur titles. More importantly, being that this show was in the middle of the country, she felt that it was important to go head to head with new blood--competition outside the usual realm of East Coast breeders that she normally met on the show tables. You are who you beat, and travelling to Kansas opened up a whole new ball game, one that she was excited to play. Given the expense of travel and length of the trip, only seven Quarry Ridge rabbits were loaded into the back of the Mladjenovich caravan: Senior Buck -- Ray Senior Doe -- Babe 6/8 Buck -- Jameson 6/8 Doe -- Madeira Jr Buck -- Crusader & Wessex Jr Doe -- Abbey There was no room for error. Other than the junior buck class, the rabbitry only had one shot at winning each respective class, thus making it that much harder to win the top titles for the show. Ray made short work of the 13 field Senior Buck class, and Babe followed suit shortly after, winning the Senior Doe class. Then, things started to go awry. Jameson, the buck most resembling his super grand-sire, Idan, failed to take his class, ending up in second place. Madeira, despite her consistent success at the NCRBA show only weeks prior, finished a disappointing 5th. The junior classes were the most dense, with roughly 20 rabbits entered in each. Although Crusader did better than his sibling in Greensboro, Wessex placed 2nd on Nationals day. Abbey finished out the Junior Doe class in 5th, on account of a blown coat. With only two rabbits out of six eligible to score Best titles, nerves were on edge. To have traveled so far only to fail to meet the challenge of holding on to the Nationals BOB title would have been upsetting, but the competition was just that good. Luckily, old man Ray got the job done for us! His conditioning, type, fur and undeniable show presence impressed Judge Garza enough to secure back to back Best of Breed titles for Quarry Ridge. And, that's not all! Babe, though she didn't get the honor of Best Opposite of Sex, she did go on to win the Best Fur title. With her win, that makes it FOUR consecutive years for a Quarry Ridge Silver Fox to take home that honor. All around, the rabbitry secured "Best Display" despite only showing seven rabbits, another feat that Quarry Ridge has never achieved. All in all, it was a fantastic showing for Ma and the buns. Thankfully, she didn't listen to my reluctance and steamrolled ahead to victory anyway! For the rest of the spring season, we'll be headed to more local shows in Maryland and Pennsylvania. See you there!
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
March 2020
Categories |