Texas...

Well, I WENT TO TEXAS!!!!!! It was a very exciting experience! On the way down, we stopped in Pigeon Forge Tennessee for the night and in the morning we checked in to the Titanic museum and had a blast! First of all, we are given our tickets, then we are given our "boarding pass" that enables us to enter the Titanic.  If you read the Boarding Pass, it has a name and some information.  The name is yours for the day, and the information is your biography about yourself.  My name was Genevieve and I was from New York.  We were given a mobile device that played a role of being our very own guide for the day.  As we walked through the Titanic, we saw different codes that you would type into your device and the "guide" would tell you all about the room you were entering.  I had two favorite parts of the whole event.  The first one was the fact that we actually experienced 28 degrees Fahrenheit salt water and different degrees of slopes that the Titanic increased while sinking.  I also love the fact that after the tour, you were able to talk to the ships "captain" and we learned that the Bible was a huge part of the Titanic and that the "captain" saw the Titanic wreckage site!  At the very end, you were told if the person that you played for the day survived the sinking or passed away at sea.  Genevieve survived! 


Once we were finished in the museum, we were headed down the road again.  It was a very long drive, but it was all worth it!  Speaking of worth, around midnight of October 30th, we arrived In Forth Worth, Texas!  I was very excited to see how the week would go!  It was exciting by just being there!  The next day, most of the youth studied like crazy since we were about to participate in the royalty contest.  That day just blew right by and before I knew it, I was in the breed ID room putting my best knowledge on my paper in front of me.  In case you're not sure how the contest works, I'll explain it:

King(Boys, Ages 15-18 years), Queen(Girls, Ages 15-18 years), Duke(Boys, Ages 12-14 years),

Duchess(Girls, Ages 12-14 years), Prince(Boys, Ages 9-11 years), Princess(Girls, Ages 9-11 years), Lord(Boys, Ages

5-8 years), Lady(Girls, Ages 5-8 years). Age is determined by the contestant’s age on the last day of the Nationals

Convention. Winners are announced at the Youth Banquet during the ARBA National Convention.  King and Queen, Duke and Duchess, judge four groups of four rabbits, breed ID, and if they do well, they will be a part of a face to face interview. For the judging, you have to place four rabbits the way that you think a rabbit judge would place them for each class, but you only have seven minutes.  As for the Breed ID, there are at least 25 rabbit and/or cavies (guinea pigs) that you have to identify on a piece of paper the breed of the animal, it's variety that it would be shown under, if it is shown under four classes (a small rabbit) or six classes (a bigger rabbit), and what it's registration variety is.  Prince and Princesses, Lords and Ladies, are required to do Showmanship, Breed ID, and if they get a callback, they then have a face to face interview.  All of the youth participating in the royalty contest, will also have a written test.  

I am proud to say that I was called back for an interview!  I also was on a team for Pennsylvania.  We had to again judge a class of four rabbits and our individual scores for breed ID is combined with the team scores.  My Pennsylvania team won third runner-up nationally!  I also won runner-up with my Management application!  I was very proud of that accomplishment because I work very hard to care for my rabbits.  Also, my scarf that I donated to NARBC, the angora rabbit breeder club, raised $125!  Two other exciting things happened for me personally.  My American Fuzzy Lops did very well.  I have been raising them for several years now.  In Texas I showed a solid senior doe, a solid senior buck, and a broken senior buck.  My solid buck was third, my solid doe placed second in her class, and my broken senior buck went on to win best opposite of breed.  That was amazing considering there were over 70 American Fuzzy Lops shown!  Additionally, my Satin Angora won best of breed.  This is also a huge accomplishment considering she is from my own breeding program.  I was very excited and very happy with the week!  I really thought that the Texas crew did a great job!  We all need to remember that clubs volunteer to host these events, it is a ton of work, and I for one really appreciate all that they did!  Great Job TEXAS!

Did I mention the fact that at home there was a litter of seven Crème D' Argents born?   Just one other Texas note:  I even bought an English Lop when I was there.  Yes, I know what you are thinking, "What is an English Lop?"  Simple, it is only a rabbit that has ears at least 21 inches from tip to tip. :)  His name is Len and he is very happy to be home.

My Satin Angora Best of Breed Winner with the judge...

My new English Lop named Len

My American Fuzzy Lop named Nate with Best Opposite of Breed!