>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]