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3 CCs 2 RCCs
Hanna stood out for me from the age
of 3 weeks. Every time I looked at the mass of little gold bodies, one in
particular would always catch my eye. When I picked her up to inspect her chest
markings (the only way you could tell them apart) it was always Hanna.
She was entered at her first match at just 6 months and 1 day and won Best Puppy
in Match. This qualified her for the Pup of the Year competition the following
month. We did not think she would stand a chance as some of the 'pups' were
coming up to 2 years old, having qualified at the beginning of the year. Les
Crawley was the judge and she ended up reserve pup of the year behind one of
Ferelith Summerfields boxers. Les followed Hanna's career with interest from
then on.
Campaigning Hanna was never easy and the first setback came at Beckenham C S
show when she was 7 months old. She slipped whilst running round the very
slippery floor, and fell so heavily that she winded herself. Being January the
ensuing 3 months were all indoor venues and Hanna refused to move on any floor
which she thought might be slippery, and continued to do so throughout her show
career.
When the out-door shows began, Hanna showed what she was capable of on the move
and by 12 1/2 months she had her Junior Warrant. A couple of months later came
the most fantastic 3 weeks - 2 reserve CCs, one from Bill Eccles and one from
Lesley James and in the middle of these, her first CC. I was in such a state of
shock that I screwed the green card up in my hand. Hanna would have showed all
day that day. Hilary Moulder told us afterwards that she really argued with
herself at the time, as she had never agreed with youngster's getting CCs and
was unable to justify to herself not to give it to her. Hanna carried on doing
well, ending up with a treble Junior Warrant in spite of having a 'foreign'
grandfather (a dirty word at that time). It is a source of amusement to us now,
how some of the judges who would never have put Hanna up because of her foreign
bloodlines now own foreign bloodlines themselves! The other problem was the
constant battle to keep weight on her. We had never before owned an Afghan with
an aversion to food, but she certainly had one! We tried everything to get her
to eat, she would only pick at special foods and when she saw her dish coming
she would go to the opposite end of the room. You had to shut the door and go to
another room because, if she saw you watching her she would not go near her
dish. Thankfully this all changed when she had her first season at nearly 2
years of age.
Then came the next hurdle. Her saddle went deeper and deeper until it literally
met in the middle. She had no body coat at all although she retained her leg
coat. We had no choice but to take her out of the ring. We brought her out again
at the beginning of 1988, even then with a sparse body-coat compared with her
contemporaries. We have always loved this type of coat pattern and luckily Hanna
had an outline that could take it but we still felt that we were really up
against it. However, she won several mid-limit and limit classes so we felt
more confident.
In June we entered her under Cindy Heal at the A.H.A. championship show. We knew
Cindy liked her very much but she had not seen her for several months, and
people's opinions can change, but to our delight she awarded Hanna her 2nd CC To
complete our lovely day she went B.I.S. under referee Margaret Niblock.
In contrast to the very hot conditions at the A.H.A. 2 weeks later we were at
the drizzly and muddy conditions of Paignton. Ivy Atkins was the judge, and she
had previously given Hanna a junior class at the S.K.C, We did not however fancy
our chances, as there were obviously other bitches entered who had had firsts
from Ivy, and we were certainly not one of the 'quote tips unquote ' Also after
going a year and a half between her first and second CCs we thought that if we
were lucky to get a third, we would certainly have to wait for it. However we
were wrong and Ivy awarded Hanna her crowning CC, a day we will never forget. On
the long journey home, with alternating sunshine and showers we saw three huge
rainbows, the last of which seemed to go right through our car. We certainly had
our 'pot of gold' that day. Our friend who travelled with us that day sent us a
congratulations card with a rainbow on it and wrote inside "Every time I see a
rainbow I shall think of Paignton 1988"
We didn't show Hanna much more after that, although she picked up another
reserve CC (from Lesley James). Her legacy lies in her children, grandchildren
and great-grandchildren, several of them being champions, and who possess her
superb balance and movement.
Lesley Busby
Updated 22/12/2008 09:10
©Alan and Lesley Busby - 2005 - 2006 all rights reserved
