It’s time for the big show! ARBA Nationals 2016 is located in Del Mar, California and we are going!

This is only our second national show to attend, so we aren’t truly experts, but here are a few things we have done to prepare:

Get Hotel Room. We originally made reservations at a hotel that was several miles from the fairgrounds, but then a few spots opened up at the host hotel so we switched! Hurray!

Purchase Show Catalog and Results book. The show catalog is full of great information about the schedule, extra meetings, rules, judges of the breeds, club information, etc. Also places to eat and stay, extra tours… lots of stuff! We also enjoy getting the Results book because there is no set schedule for breed judging and if you miss your breed you won’t have a clue how everyone placed without the Results book!

Get Car in for Check Up. We are driving to Nationals and I can’t think of anything worse than being broken down on the side of the road with a load of bunnies in the back! So our trusty Suburban went to the shop for a complete check up from tires to wires and got the seal of approval.

Paperwork. Not only do we have the paperwork from our Convention entry, but also the load/unload sheet for our rabbits. We label each hole of the carriers with the rabbit who will occupy it, and then check it off as we load. We’ll do a similar situation with our return animals. At checkin you also need your ARBA membership card.

This is our pocket-sized cheat sheet for our breeds and coop numbers.

Labels. Decorations on the coops are discouraged at the Convention, but having something to identify your rabbits is really helpful in the long rows of coops! We used a free download from a teacher for labels this year and included the name of the rabbit and a contact phone number just in case anyone needed to talk to us about the rabbit. And we’ll remove the labels completely when we leave, of course.

Our coop labels for Convention this year.

Coop Risers/Cleaning Supplies. The rabbits are cooped on wooden floors with shavings. Obviously these shavings get messy quickly and need frequent cleaning! This year we are trying coop risers for our Blanc de Hotot to help keep them clean.This is the way to go! The rabbits stay sooo much cleaner and happier with the risers!

Water Bucket with Spout. We have found a houseplant watering can with the long spout extremely helpful. We can get the job done with a milk jug but the extra maneuvering provided by a watering can is awesome!

Pedigree Book. You never know what might come up, so I’m bringing hard copies of all of our pedigrees. One thing I’m pretty excited about for our sale rabbits is a newer program called Hutch. It allows you to generate a QR code for pedigrees, so if you print the QR code and put it with the rabbit anyone interested would be able to see the lines behind the rabbit right then. How lovely!

Good Attitude and Comfortable Shoes. I was stunned in Portland at how much my feet hurt! The judging classes are large, so there is a lot of standing around as you’re waiting to hear the results! By the end of the first day my back was tight and my feet were sore. By the end of day two even our 9-year-old was desperate for a place to sit! This year we are bringing our most comfortable shoes and consciously choosing to have a good attitude no matter what our circumstances.

That’s our quick an dirty prep list for Nationals. I’m sure we’ll have more in the future, but here are the basics!

Tagged: ARBA, nationals, what to bring to ARBA nationals