A few weeks ago I judged the MSU Fall Show in Lansing, Michigan. It is one of my absolute favorite shows of the year both as an exhibitor and a judge. I was able to catch Tan judging for Show A. Corey Hayes did an amazing job sorting through decent sized classes of nationally competative quality rabbits. It is always wonderful to have good numbers and nice quality animals to compete against at shows.
I had Best of Breed in both shows with two different black does -- Flynn's Nightingale and Flynn's Iconic. Above you will find a short video of BOB judging in Show A. The first rabbit featured is Flynn's Nightingale and the second rabbit is Flynn's Shameless, a black junior buck who was BOS. Nightingale was 4th at Convention and Shameless was 2nd, so these are two of my better animals from my national show string. I was absolutely thrilled that they were so appreciated by the judge.
A big thank you to Katie Peltier and others for being so kind as to show my animals for me in Show B. It's wonderful that we have such kind exhibitors in our area. Tan breeders really can be such a wonderful group!
[Flynn's Style - Black Senior Doe. She was tired post-show, so this is as good as it gets for now!]
Apparently a lot of people were itching for a show after Convention because the showroom was PACKED. I was thrilled that we had seven exhibitors in Tans and excellent numbers in the chocolates and blacks. It was a long day and I was drop dead tired by the end, but sticking around was well worth it! Style, a pretty black doe won Best of Breed under Bruce Ormsby. This was her first show as a senior. She went on to win Reserve Best in Show under Josh Humphries, Sandy Doyle and Dave Hauser.
Below are the full show results for every Tan I showed:
RESERVE BEST IN SHOW
RIS/BOB - Flynn's Style - Sr. Doe
BOS and 1st Place Black Junior Buck - Flynn's Shameless
2nd Place Black Junior Buck - Flynn's Budapest
1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Place Black Junior Does with Flynn's Wanderlust, Flynn's Nightingale, Flynn's Iconic and Flynn's Fire N Gold
I love showing in Indiana because we have such a great group of cooperative, friendly breeders. I wrote until black senior does and then switched out with another breeder since we was done so I could show my animals. All of the breeders helped hold animals in the lovely open top coops. It's wonderful to have a drama free, fun experience at our shows!
Below you will find my top ten results for Tans.
*BEST DISPLAY*
Black Junior Bucks 1st - Flynn's Budapest 2nd - Flynn's Shameless 6th - Flynn's Messiah
Black Junior Does 3rd - Flynn's Wanderlust 4th - Flynn's Nightingale 6th - Flynn's Iconic 8th - Flynn's Chelsea Morning 10th - Flynn's Illuminati
Black Senior Bucks 4th - Flynn's Bad Blood 6th - Flynn's Ultraviolence
Black Senior Does 6th - Flynn's Wonderland
Chocolate Junior Bucks 3rd - Flynn's Fireball
All of the rabbits received amazing comments. Many were unfinished thanks to fluctuating Indiana weather and received comments that they would have placed higher or won their class if finished.
If you are friends on my personal page, you probably already know that 2015 was the roughest year of my life as I dealt with the illness and death of both my parental figures. As a result I bred and showed very minimally, so I am more than thrilled that even on "auto pilot" my herd did so well at both Nationals and Convention. I placed high in the competitive classes and showed the most consistency, which was supported by my winning Best Display at both big shows. No one may remember consistency, but I appreciate how important it is. I am looking forward to jumping back into breeding and showing and I am hopeful that 2016 will be a much better year both personally and with the rabbits!
Pictured above you will find Flynn's Illuminati as well as (half) of my best display award with Flynn's Fire N Gold in the background. Apparently someone decided to disassemble and take the other half of my award. Stranger things have happened! :)
