>From:    [log in to unmask]
>Subject: judging standards
>I am a championship LIFE judge - and I can tell you that this statement
>is not correct.  I judge both specialties and Championship, and
>specialties are judged more for how they meet the pattern or color than
>for conformation.
 
Lisa, perhaps it would have been better to say "treat much the same as"
rather than "treat the same as" since I meant that as you *CONFIRMED*, LIFE
uses conformation (which is an assessment of the structure of the body) in
both color specialties and championship rings.  Not a specific breakdown of
points per category.
 
There is indeed a category on the AFA score sheets for "judge's
impression".  It is the lowest scoring category.  Five points in
championship.  Can't recall how many in specialty, perhaps 20 might be
right.
 
So far though the AFA leaves specialty rings up to the sponsoring club not
the AFA as a sanctioning organization.
 
>Bill, I was at that show - and in my opinion from where I was sitting -
>Ann is an apprentice judge with AFA as well as a new specialty judge with
>LIFE and it certainly appeared that she was being influenced by you - you
>were speaking, pointing to the ferret and she was nodding her head - I
>don't remember anyone saying that you couldn't steward - only that they
>preferred you steward with an experienced LIFE judge.
 
You have a different remembrance of what happened than I do.  I'm sorry you
felt obligated to besmirch the LIFE specialty judge I was assisting.  I was
quite careful to NOT tell her what to do.  And she was adamant before,
during and after that her judgements were her own.  I strongly resent your
insulting her to make political points.  Insulting me is fine as I don't
care.
 
It would of course have been a problem for me to have been training her as
an AFA judge at that point.  As the AFA president who is also a licensed
senior judge with the AFA (and also in fact the creator of the LIFE judging
system) was there watching and she saw no problems, it seems a political
issue more than anything else.
 
I have judged at AFA and independant shows.  The indendant system is the
one created by Vickie McKimmey for LIFE and was still in use by those clubs
which formed but subsequently left LIFE so I am somewhat familiar with both
systems.
 
Oh, Ann Barzda has been elevated from apprentice to judge-in-training with
in the AFA judge's program due to her achievements with in the training
program.
 
>It wouldn't have been fair to the exhibitors at a LIFE show for their
>ferrets to be judged as if they were at an AFA show, or have that
>appearance.
 
Here it goes even more into pure politics.  I'll not bother responding.
If you would like to discuss things on an apolitical level we can resume
discussion.
 
I do appreciate your perspective on the LIFE judge's training system and
where it differs from what others have explained to me.
 
--
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://www.zenferret.com/
mailto:[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 2899]