Goat show

I like pictures of Drew and Tad. They are always so cute together, Tad likes to hang out with him. He and D are sharing a bag of cracker jacks while they wait on something to start. T isnt in show whites yet, because he is T and they would get ruined. Which, his pants are covered in grass stains...

Rachel was cleaning her baby goats neck and had climbed back out. Her babies were adorable and well behaved! She did very well showing, she was so confident and honestly her babies were better behaved than some much older goats.

Rachel, Tad and Nathalie waiting to go into showmanship class. This is a class that judged showmanship, not the goat itself. My children didnt know a lot about show, this was their first one and I dont think I really coached them well. it was a good learning experience.

Waiting in the holding pen to go in. Their baby goats were tattooed while we were there so they had green ink on them.

Walking around the show ring.

The judge stopped and spoke with each child, asked them some questions. Nathalie is trying to get her goat to stand the "right way" which the goat isnt very good at yet...

Tad and Nathalie are both very confident and have no trouble getting out there but did wish they knew a little more about what to do. Nathalie walked the wrong one at one point which she later explained was because she was going the RIGHT way and thought the lady wanted her to go differently. Which I did know she was confused, she started out clockwise then turned around and looked very confused, and it wasnt something the lady said at all. Nathalie just became confused and then was even more confused, because she found out that she made a mistake and she felt the lady told her to. Then Nathalie was upset because the judge said it was Rachel who made the mistake at the end, Nathalie would have been less upset to hear the judge say nathalie messed up on loudspeaker than her friend!

Poor lighting... my mama bought adobe photoshop for me, and I am still learning it. It is a lot of work though to edit all of my pictures that way and my edit program is no longer on my computer. My simple quick one that is, and I used it for lighting and red eye issues so now you get both.

The baby goats did better than I expected but were kind of a pain several times... they were tired and ready for sleep themselves by the time they did their final show. They are just walking around the ring here.

Once again, red eye... Tad won Reserve Grand Champion with his doeling. He would have you know that there were only 2 goats in their class and so he and Nathalie won Grand champ and reserve. Then they went against ONE senior doe and Tad then won reserve. I cant say it was "fair" per se, not cheating but I know their babies would have likely placed lower in a larger group. Not saying this baby isnt nice, she really is. Her mother is very nicely built and meets many of the standards that would make her babies good show goats. Nathalie's goat didnt have quite as nice of a mama and that did show. They both had a nice sire, and his height is such that the mother of this one (Nevada) may have given taller babies. That is her one true drawback.

So all in all a good evening was had, we enjoyed being with our friends and as usual being with Amanda gives me an opportunity to learn more about show. She has been to more than I have and knows a lot more about the qualities in a good show goat. I was very proud of the children for how hard they worked.