a Opinião da Juíza

A Sra. Evelyne van Vliet, juiza das nossas duas últimas exposições, teve a amabilidade de nos escrever transmitindo-nos assim a sua opinião sobre o CAPI, as Exposições e os Porquinhos em geral. De seguida publicamos o texto original na integra:

" It was a great privilege to be able to come and judge in Portugal twice this year.I was overwhelmed and to a degree a bit surprised by the quality of the exhibits at the show in Lisbon in April as well as the show in Ericeira in October.

On both occasions, I was struck by the amount of exhibits belonging to the longhaired breeds category. Bearing in mind that there are not many shows being held in Portugal at the moment, I have great respect for all those longhaired fanciers, who breed these breeds, but more importantly who keep them in coat for only a handful of outings per year.

On my two visits, BIS in three out of four categories was a longhaired exhibit: a Sheltie in the Junior show in April; a Coronet in the Junior show in October and a Texel in the Adult section in the April show. All three exhibits were fine examples of their respective breeds.

A Teddy was BIS in the Adult classes at the October show, breaking the “stranglehold” that the longhairs seem to have on these awards.

What struck me straight away was how fit, clean and well presented all exhibits were. No traces of static lice (hay mite) and running lice, which deserves a huge compliment to all exhibitors.

So, how come that the standard of exhibition cavies is so high in Portugal ? After all, the club has only been going for about 4 or 5 years; so therefore the hobby is relatively new.

Well, I think CAPI is very lucky to have quite a few members on board that have already earned their stars in showing other kinds of animals; e.g. dogs.

It is very apparent that the cavies are bred, kept and shown by people who understand how to breed a good show specimen and how to present it correctly before a judge.

Like all major top exhibitors, they have developed an eye for quality and balance in animals, which has helped them choose, select and import foundation stock from countries such as Holland, Germany, Scandinavia and even as far away as Canada.

From a visitor's point of view, it seems to me that the club members also get on very well with each other and have great respect for one another.

A lot of talking and comparing cavies between each other can only help towards more and more exhibitors becoming very successful in their hobbies.

One word of advice, though, please keep your bloodlines and breeds pure. Please do not crossbreed, especially in the longhairs, like has happened in so many other countries with the inevitable disastrous results. You have imported sound foundation stock from various sources throughout the world and that will give you a broad platform to work from for many generations to come.

Dear CAPI members: your shows are expertly organised and your exhibits are of a high quality that could easily compete with the very best in Europe . I am sure the Club will go from strength to strength as will your shows. I am very confident that the cavy fancy in Portugal is kept in very safe hands.

I wish you all continued pleasure, fun and great success with your cavies and hope that we will meet up soon at a European cavy show.

I has been a great honour for me to judge your cavies on two occasions and tremendous pleasure to meet you all; I greatly enjoyed your company.

Evelyne van Vliet "