First Rabbit Show Questions- AZ State Con

Rabbit Talk  Forum

Help Support Rabbit Talk Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Aug 18, 2020
Messages
128
Reaction score
139
Location
Arizona
I'm going to enter my first show (as long as nothing crazy happens in my life).
I have also spread my rabbit obsession to my niece (13). Because of that she decided to sign up for 4H this year and is showing a Rex she got from one of my litters. She is also excited with the concept of doing rabbit shows too and she wants to enter her Rex. My question about that is, each day has 2 opens and 2 youths, would it be better for her to do Open or Youth?
 
I'm going to enter my first show (as long as nothing crazy happens in my life).
I have also spread my rabbit obsession to my niece (13). Because of that she decided to sign up for 4H this year and is showing a Rex she got from one of my litters. She is also excited with the concept of doing rabbit shows too and she wants to enter her Rex. My question about that is, each day has 2 opens and 2 youths, would it be better for her to do Open or Youth?
Whats also the difference of a specialty show and the open? Is there benefit of doing the specialty as well?
Exhibitors 18 and younger can enter Youth, Open or both, as long as the shows are not on the same day. So she could enter the Youth shows on one day and the Open shows on the other, if she wanted. If the judges are different, I might consider doing that, but if they'll have the same judges for both, it might be better to just pick one.

Like @RabbitsOfTheCreek notes, Youth shows are usually smaller, so not only is there less wait time, but the judges are often more willing and able to take time to really talk to the kids about their animals. Judges are not supposed to know who owns which animal, but even so, the kids often get more detailed comments about their entries as well as others in the class.

The downside is that because the smaller show moves faster, it's easier to miss your class being called. In an ARBA show, the youth exhibitors are required to carry their own rabbits to the judging table, so make sure she pays attention to that.

Hosting clubs often give Youth exhibitors a break on entry fees, so that can be another advantage. Sometimes people expect the competition to be less at a Youth show, but at least where I live, that's not true - many times one or more of the Best in Show, Reserve in Show or Honorable mention awards in our Open shows are taken home by a youth exhibitor, after they won the previous day at the Youth show. (We have our Youth shows on one day and Open on another so the kids can show in both.)

Some advantages of her entering the Open show, on the other hand, include the fact that she'd probably be showing alongside you, so you could help each other get rabbits to the table. She will also most likely have a lot more competition (which is a good thing in terms of the rabbit winning G.CH. legs), as well as see more rabbits evaluated by the judges.

A specialty show is focused on a particular breed, or particular type (e.g. Wool breeds, Rare Breeds, Meat Breeds, etc.). It is an effort to compare "apples to apples," so to speak. An Open ARBA show must take all recognized breeds, and they all compete together for the BIS awards. In general, the same few breeds always seem to come out on top (here it tends to be Satins, Hollands, Polish), leaving the rest of the breeds, which may have far fewer breeders working on them, out in the cold.
So, specialty shows can help rabbits in those breeds get more recognition than they would otherwise, which can give breeders a bump in motivation.

Specialty shows also provide more opportunities for earning G.CH. legs, since Open classes in many breeds are too small for many rabbits to earn a leg. A Creme D'Argent, for example, is a lot more likely to win big in a Rare Breed show than in an All-Breed show, simply because there are just not that many Creme breeders and just not that much stock to work with.

And, if the specialty show is being judged by a different judge that the Open shows, it's another chance to get comments on your animals from yet another source. (You might surprised at how much variation there is among judges in what they see on the table on any given day!)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for explaining! I'll run by the pros and cons with her and see what she would like to do. We will only be able to do 1 of the 3 days, because of my job. Fortunately, each day has 2 opens and youths. We are leaning between either the Friday evening (judging starts at 7pm) or Saturday (judging starts at 8:30am).
That makes sense about the specialties, and such a nice provision! If there was an english lop specialty at this show, I might have given it a try. But it works out fine, since I just want to gain some experience, so I'll stick with the 2 regular opens this time.
 
Successfully got back from our first rabbit show. We all had a blast! Been up since 3:30am, so quite tired, but that's fine, lol! My niece got best of breed and best of variety for her rex in youth! It left a good impression on her, and she is hooked! 😆
We also showed 2 of my english lops, the Blue silver tipped steel and a Cream, and 2 Rex, a REW and Black otter in both the opens.
 
Exhibitors 18 and younger can enter Youth, Open or both, as long as the shows are not on the same day. So she could enter the Youth shows on one day and the Open shows on the other, if she wanted. If the judges are different, I might consider doing that, but if they'll have the same judges for both, it might be better to just pick one.

Like @RabbitsOfTheCreek notes, Youth shows are usually smaller, so not only is there less wait time, but the judges are often more willing and able to take time to really talk to the kids about their animals. Judges are not supposed to know who owns which animal, but even so, the kids often get more detailed comments about their entries as well as others in the class.

The downside is that because the smaller show moves faster, it's easier to miss your class being called. In an ARBA show, the youth exhibitors are required to carry their own rabbits to the judging table, so make sure she pays attention to that.

Hosting clubs often give Youth exhibitors a break on entry fees, so that can be another advantage. Sometimes people expect the competition to be less at a Youth show, but at least where I live, that's not true - many times one or more of the Best in Show, Reserve in Show or Honorable mention awards in our Open shows are taken home by a youth exhibitor, after they won the previous day at the Youth show. (We have our Youth shows on one day and Open on another so the kids can show in both.)

Some advantages of her entering the Open show, on the other hand, include the fact that she'd probably be showing alongside you, so you could help each other get rabbits to the table. She will also most likely have a lot more competition (which is a good thing in terms of the rabbit winning G.CH. legs), as well as see more rabbits evaluated by the judges.

A specialty show is focused on a particular breed, or particular type (e.g. Wool breeds, Rare Breeds, Meat Breeds, etc.). It is an effort to compare "apples to apples," so to speak. An Open ARBA show must take all recognized breeds, and they all compete together for the BIS awards. In general, the same few breeds always seem to come out on top (here it tends to be Satins, Hollands, Polish), leaving the rest of the breeds, which may have far fewer breeders working on them, out in the cold.
So, specialty shows can help rabbits in those breeds get more recognition than they would otherwise, which can give breeders a bump in motivation.

Specialty shows also provide more opportunities for earning G.CH. legs, since Open classes in many breeds are too small for many rabbits to earn a leg. A Creme D'Argent, for example, is a lot more likely to win big in a Rare Breed show than in an All-Breed show, simply because there are just not that many Creme breeders and just not that much stock to work with.

And, if the specialty show is being judged by a different judge that the Open shows, it's another chance to get comments on your animals from yet another source. (You might surprised at how much variation there is among judges in what they see on the table on any given day!)
Good points, you've hit almost all I would have said. One thing, the club I volunteer with to run shows allows youth to enter both on the same day. But they usually have one day shows. I know my rabbits get pretty grumpy after 2 shows, 3 they'll do but OHMG 4 they get pretty rebellious about. (can't blame them either)
 
Successfully got back from our first rabbit show. We all had a blast! Been up since 3:30am, so quite tired, but that's fine, lol! My niece got best of breed and best of variety for her rex in youth! It left a good impression on her, and she is hooked! 😆
We also showed 2 of my english lops, the Blue silver tipped steel and a Cream, and 2 Rex, a REW and Black otter in both the opens.
I'm so happy for your niece.... winning is fun and a BOB! WHOOT
 
I'm so happy for your niece.... winning is fun and a BOB! WHOOT
Thanks! She was so immpressed by the whole atmosphere of the show, everyone was so nice and she just adored some of the judges, she still can't stop talking about how nice and funny they were. She is now seriously planning on getting fully involved in shows. Even wanting to get her own breeding stock and raising to show, lol! We will see where her rabbit journey goes! I had a fun time too, I hope to keep doing shows too. So, as long as they are within driving distance, so I don't have to stay anywhere, I will try and be there!
My english lops got good remarks from the judges. If my steel didn't decide to go to molt, she would have placed better. But they said she has great future prospects. My cream got lots of compliments, and got Best of variety (not really counts, since she was the only one in her variety), but the judges loved her nonetheless! My REW rex got 1 Best of opposite sex. And my black otter junior got 1 Best of variety, plus one of the judges pocket pick.
All in all, I wasn't expecting them to place anything, but was still nice to hear I'm producing good looking rabbits!
We didn't get lots of pics, because we were so caught up in everything, but here's a few random pics.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20250209_154616.jpg
    IMG_20250209_154616.jpg
    216.9 KB
  • IMG_20250209_100955.jpg
    IMG_20250209_100955.jpg
    226.2 KB
  • IMG_20250209_100957.jpg
    IMG_20250209_100957.jpg
    169.8 KB
  • IMG_20250209_100947.jpg
    IMG_20250209_100947.jpg
    192 KB
  • IMG_20250209_100945.jpg
    IMG_20250209_100945.jpg
    212.6 KB

Latest posts

Back
Top