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Good comments. Spring shows have some extra considerations in my view.
First, springtime can be be a time of problems for koi. If you are having issues with paracites or bacterial infections I would say not to take your koi even the ones that don't seem affected to a show that spring. If they have had recent problems and pond chemical treatments they do not need the extra stress of being transported to a show.
Also, larger egg burdened females should not be shown in my opinion. 1st of all they will be stressed and likely spawn at the show which adds more stress and crashes the water quality which adds more stress. They are not going to do well at the show for conformation or stess reasons anyway. One way to handle this is to fast your larger female koi in the winter to get them to reasorb their eggs.
Better to show smaller or male koi at sping shows. I would not show the same koi more than twice in one year or at shows closer than 3 months. THis is assuming all went well at previous show and the koi was looking great and showed no signs of stress from previous show. Some koi seem to really stress out at a show and these koi should probuly not be shown or if you show not more than once a year.
Most koi have a very short "show ready" life. At best a few years. It is sad to me to see a koi taken to a show that is very infinished and with almost no chance to win a award. I wonder how many koi with really terrific potential were worn out and ruined by showing too early and too often instead of waiting for the right time and get it into it's peak show condtion.
I really like the young koi show format in the spring/summer and the regular all size show in the fall/winter for the reasons stated above.
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