Judging Holland Lops
By Allan Ormond
Many things come into play when you judge a class of Holland Lops. One of the
best ways to train for a register’s or judge’s license is to go to a good
breeder’s barn and start a miniature show. They will hopefully be able to have
many different types of animals available for you to put some classes together.
It is something that I have done several times, just for fun to sharpen my
skills in judging.
We have what some judges consider a difficult breed to judge. It takes time and
patience to develop a judging style for this fun little rabbit. Here are a few
tips for you to look at when judging a class. Stand back and take a good long
look at the class from a distance. Look at heads, get an idea in your mind of
where the exceptional rabbits are. As you do your checks, do the basic ones, and
then as you go over the rabbit, make mental notes of how good the bone is, and
if their feet are straight. You also can make a determination of where the head
mount is on the rabbit. As you have the rabbit upside down, you can see the
muzzle and front legs. You want short front feet, good bone, and a wide muzzle.
When you pose the class, each animal should be posed the same way. Pay attention
to different judges, and pick a style that best suits our breed for posing
animals. There is a right and wrong way, do it the right way every time. Never
hug the table to see top line, step back and take a look at the bunny when you
get him posed. That little line in the front of our standard that says, if the
rabbit is excitable, put it back in it’s cage and then view it’s head again, is
a good thing to remember, do it!
Another fun thing to do to learn about body style is to blind fold a young
breeder, and put a class of rabbits on the table in front of them, and have them
place them by feel only. Do this many times and they will learn by feel as well
as by looks. Just because they look good doesn’t mean they feel good as well.
Let’s talk about head mount for a moment now. Picture in your mind having a
solid wall. Remove the rabbit’s head for a moment, drive the body all the way
forward into the wall, then drop the head on the rabbit’s shoulders. We then
have a rabbit with the correct head mount. The standard calls for a high head
mount, posing the rabbit lightly on it’s front feet. The high head mount and
sitting up feature allows for you as a judge to see the head, muzzle, skull,
crown, front chest, and front legs all at one time. If you can pose the rabbit
this way every time, you should see all these things.
Another feature we want is a very short body. One way to feel this is to pose
the rabbit, put your finger in back of the last floating rib. If you have
trouble getting your finger between the rib and the front of the hock, you have
a short rabbit. If you can put two or more fingers there, the rabbit is long in
the barrel. Depth of loin is measured from the top of the loin, to the bottom of
the table. You can do a simple measuring technique. Put your hand flat on top of
the loin, lay your other two fingers on the top of both hip bones. The distance
between your flat hand, and your fingers on the hip bones is the depth above the
hips. Think of circles, and you can picture proper heads, and our small,
slightly tapered bodies that we want. Remember we have a lot of points on body
as well, and that includes bone. Condition is only five points and should count
only when we get to close decisions. Color is only four points and should only
be counted as four points.
Hopefully these pointers will help you divide the class into groups, and allow
you to comment on the proper items that good Holland Lop breeders deserve to
hear.
