Sara Jane MacLennan and Diana Timmerman consult as the next class lines up to enter the ring
Last night I had a joyous reunion after a tiring weekend away at the A-OK Alpaca Blastoff in Shawnee, OK. But not with my husband (though I was happy to see him). My own pillow, my Select Comfort mattress, my Sonicare toothbrush, and my hot shower with actual measureable water pressure… all these gave me a joyous welcome home. Because that’s really the hard part of alpaca shows away – the endless stream of rather mediocre hotels when you’re at your stinkiest, most tired, and crankiest. At the end of the day, the exhilaration of showing is draining away and the grittiness in your eyes and the throbbing of your feet move to the forefront. You’re starved and dehydrated and any thoughts of healthy eating go out the window in the face of a quick solution in the form of a burger and fries.
Yep…it’s absolutely addictive. And why I keep going.
As for this show, it’s really amazing how quickly the Blastoff has grown. In just two years, it’s now a Level IV halter show, though the fleece show is still at Level I. The growing pains from such rapid increase in attendance were in evidence this past weekend. The show started late due to last minute rescheduling and by the end of Saturday, we were only through the brown female huacayas, with Sunday starting off with brown males. Everyone was worried. How would we finish Sunday without getting permission to reshuffle the load between the two judges?
As most showgoers know, such reshuffling is most often not allowed, as Exhibitor Disclosures and judges’ contracts are rather prescriptive. But in this case, approval from AOBA was apparently acquired and a rather confusing shift of color and gender classes were moved from Sara Jane MacLennan to Diana Timmerman. That left exhibitors running as the show list no longer reflected the order in each of the two rings. Not that anyone objected. Despite the rescheduling, the halter show still ran past five p.m. on Sunday.
Diana Timmerman Judging in Ring Two
So the Blastoff is a little show no longer. I feel sure that the lessons from this year will only lead to a better show in 2011. I have to congratulate the organizers for keeping cool heads. Cool heads are great, because most of the time, I’m running around with mine cut off. I had only five animals to show in what turned out to be ten classes, so I was hopping and the announcer was my lifeline. I showed only in front of Sara Jane and found her to be thorough and methodical. Interesting to note, she commented on which animals were blanketed and how that did not affect placements. I also noticed a strong bias to fineness as the dominant decision point in placements. Whether you greet those observations with approval or censure depends on your own breeding goals. I didn’t find reason to complain and enjoyed seeing Colorado breeders in action as judges.
