Yes, I'm a chicken poopie for posting anonymously- But if I'm to ever show
again, and hope for an un-biased judging, I'm willing to be a chicken poop.
We're fairly new to ferret shows- we've attended 4 so far, and shown in 1.
To be honest, I was very disappointed in the AFA ferret show- Yes, we won a
few ribbons, we were tickled pink by the way our terrific ferret weathered
the intense judging (2 hours just to judge him in the championship class-
lots of butt-squeezing, ear-digging and body contortions were required),
but we were completely disillusioned by the judging.  It kind of dampened
your show spirits when the winners from one class were being called out,
and you'd see one of the judges from the neighboring judges table jump up,
squeal, and come to collect her 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place, etc.  I've
shown horses all my life, so I'm familar with the politics involved...but
not to this extent.  Blatant politics can only damage a show.  Bad politics
will keep away potential ferret showers (and ferret folks).  Come on, AFA.
Most judging is personal preference-or subjective-but BARE-FACED favoritism
leaves a bad taste in anyone's mouth.  I know I will not be spending any
money at any future AFA shows- Where do all of the procedes go, anyway?  At
$50.00 a pop to sponsor a championship class, plus the money for the
specialty classes, plus the money collected from the auctions where the
items are donated.... How does this help the PUBLIC AWARENESS AND EDUCATION
OF FERRETS?  My hat's off to Bill Killian- hope his flame-retardent suit
holds up!!!  Maybe I'm way off base and everything has a reasonable
explanation.  But got any good mouth wash I can borrow?  I can still
taste...Politic Poopie?
 
signed, a chicken poopie shower who is looking forward to attending the
BALTIMORE SHOW!!!   Poo on AFA shows.
[Posted in FML issue 2606]