Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Hindquarters
Hindquarters: this is such an important and difficult piece to get right, especially in bucks. I am constantly looking at new ways to evaluate hindquarters. I find that judges vary widely on how they rate the same rabbit's hindquarters - even on the same day. I'm obviously not the only one struggling to conquer hindquarters.
Let's start with the standard, as we should when learning about any part of our breed. Let me say that we as breeders do not want to fall into the pattern that all too many judges have seemingly fallen into (judging according to what they personally like versus what the standard says). We never want to stop referring to the standard. Sure, it's your hobby and you can breed for whatever you want to. But I hope you want to breed rabbits that conform as closely to the standard as possible.
Here's the most important statement in the Standard about hindquarters:
Brace yourselves: here comes the hardest part of all. To produce Hollands that are well filled at the lower portions, we first have to learn what that means and how to identify it. It's harder than it seems.
First of all, when you run your hand firmly over the top of the hindquarters and down to the table, you may be very satisfied with what you feel. Often a judge does a quick evaluation and is satisfied with the hindquarter. But if you go a bit slower and really feel your rabbit, you may notice that your hand actually goes up and under as it rounds the rump and heads to the floor. Sometimes fat, fur, and skin may fill in the gap for you, but you really want that area filled in with something more substantial. You want your hand to go straight to the floor - even at a slow speed.
When I evaluate a hindquarter, the first thing I check is whether my fingers click on hang on the haunches as I run my hand from loin to hip to table. Haunches that stick out lead to hocks that are shaped like a V, creating a space where the hindquarter should be well rounded and full to the floor.
When I turn the rabbit over, I put some pressure on the feet and evaluate them. Ideally, they should be wide set and very parallel like skis. Usually, if I felt the haunches sticking out, I'll see the legs make a V, even once some pressure is applied (any feet can hang around in a V shape when they are just lying there relaxed - you are trying to see what the feet would look like if you could place the rabbit on a glass table and look through to the natural feet placement).
Occasionally I will feel the haunches sticking out, but the legs are pretty parallel. In that case, it's probably a lean loin causing the problem. It's a bit rarer in the Hollands I've seen, but occasionally I find one that is thinnest in the middle.
Back to the hindquarter now. Sometimes the hind feet are parallel but set very close together. That will also cause a void in the lowest part of the hindquarter on either side. So you see, hindquarter and hind feet are really two sides of the same coin. The very best hindquarters rely on straight, wide-spaced hind feet.
Another problem that often crops up in hindquarters is pin bones. You cannot have a smooth hindquarter with pin bones. However, make sure you pose your Holland before trying to feel for boniness. You can always feel the bones in the hips more when your Holland is lying down than when it is posed. Try it. You do not want to get rid of a good rabbit because you think he has pin bones when you felt it in the prone position. Once you've ever felt real pin bones - they are surprisingly sharp - you probably won't confuse it again, though. By the way, pin bones are sharp even when your rabbit is in good flesh. Any rabbit can feel temporarily bony when in poor condition.
Do not bother breeding a rabbit with pinbones - the sharp ones that you can feel even when the rabbit is posed. They are difficult to breed out.
In fact, hindquarter is one of the more stable pieces of a Holland. If I have to choose between a nice hindquarter and a nice head, I will always choose the nice hindquarter, all else being equal.
Make sure your look at your rabbit's hindquarter from the side, as part of the overall top line. Then look at the hindquarter from the back. It should round over the top. You do not want a flat top, or worse, valleys between the haunches and the top of the hip. Check the hindquarter from the top view, too. Again, you want to see roundness and not a square hip. If none of these suggestions makes sense to you, you may want to look at the diagrams on page 37 of the current Standard of Perfection.
It is my personal belief that does with good hindquarters have less problems kindling. Even tiny does have no problem when they have wide, open hips. A great thing about hindquarters is that, if you get it right, you have a higher chance of reproducing that quality in your offspring. Another good thing about hindquarters? Even judges who don't really understand the Holland standard just might know a good hindquarter when they find it!
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry
Holland Lops Of Distinction
Precious Pet Rabbits
Pet Rabbit Care Information, Quality Pet Rabbit Breeders, and Rabbit Fun ¶ 8:55 AM
Let's start with the standard, as we should when learning about any part of our breed. Let me say that we as breeders do not want to fall into the pattern that all too many judges have seemingly fallen into (judging according to what they personally like versus what the standard says). We never want to stop referring to the standard. Sure, it's your hobby and you can breed for whatever you want to. But I hope you want to breed rabbits that conform as closely to the standard as possible.
Here's the most important statement in the Standard about hindquarters:
- "The hindquarters should be broad, deep, well rounded, and well filled at the lower portions."
There is also mention of the hindquarters in the portion about the shoulders. If we read it from the hindquarters point of view, then we understand that the hindquarters should be slightly wider than broad shoulders. We definitely do not want a hindquarter that is more narrow than shoulders!
Generally we see narrow hindquarters on rabbits that are narrow all down the length of their bodies. I personally struggle to get wider shoulders, so I'm not likely to ever have a rabbit with shoulders wider than hindquarters anyway.
Depth at the hindquarters is a huge problem in Hollands, if you ask me. Too many Hollands slide off or slope off and do not maintain their depth over the hindquarters. It ruins a top line to have lack of depth over the hindquarters. Now I am going to commit Holland Lop blasphemy and tell you that you can evaluate depth over the hindquarters when your Holland is lying down, posed like other compact breeds. I am officially an outcast after that statement, I'm sure! But you can see easily whether the rabbit is deep over the hips or whether it peaks in the middle of the back or whether the animal is rather flat overall when they are posed like a mini rex or polish.
Occasionally I hear a judge ding a Holland for being too square in the hindquarter. Since our standard indicates that our rabbits should be well rounded in the hindquarters, this is a fair criticism. Hollands should be round, round, round!Brace yourselves: here comes the hardest part of all. To produce Hollands that are well filled at the lower portions, we first have to learn what that means and how to identify it. It's harder than it seems.
First of all, when you run your hand firmly over the top of the hindquarters and down to the table, you may be very satisfied with what you feel. Often a judge does a quick evaluation and is satisfied with the hindquarter. But if you go a bit slower and really feel your rabbit, you may notice that your hand actually goes up and under as it rounds the rump and heads to the floor. Sometimes fat, fur, and skin may fill in the gap for you, but you really want that area filled in with something more substantial. You want your hand to go straight to the floor - even at a slow speed.
When I evaluate a hindquarter, the first thing I check is whether my fingers click on hang on the haunches as I run my hand from loin to hip to table. Haunches that stick out lead to hocks that are shaped like a V, creating a space where the hindquarter should be well rounded and full to the floor.
When I turn the rabbit over, I put some pressure on the feet and evaluate them. Ideally, they should be wide set and very parallel like skis. Usually, if I felt the haunches sticking out, I'll see the legs make a V, even once some pressure is applied (any feet can hang around in a V shape when they are just lying there relaxed - you are trying to see what the feet would look like if you could place the rabbit on a glass table and look through to the natural feet placement).
Occasionally I will feel the haunches sticking out, but the legs are pretty parallel. In that case, it's probably a lean loin causing the problem. It's a bit rarer in the Hollands I've seen, but occasionally I find one that is thinnest in the middle.
Back to the hindquarter now. Sometimes the hind feet are parallel but set very close together. That will also cause a void in the lowest part of the hindquarter on either side. So you see, hindquarter and hind feet are really two sides of the same coin. The very best hindquarters rely on straight, wide-spaced hind feet.
Another problem that often crops up in hindquarters is pin bones. You cannot have a smooth hindquarter with pin bones. However, make sure you pose your Holland before trying to feel for boniness. You can always feel the bones in the hips more when your Holland is lying down than when it is posed. Try it. You do not want to get rid of a good rabbit because you think he has pin bones when you felt it in the prone position. Once you've ever felt real pin bones - they are surprisingly sharp - you probably won't confuse it again, though. By the way, pin bones are sharp even when your rabbit is in good flesh. Any rabbit can feel temporarily bony when in poor condition.
Do not bother breeding a rabbit with pinbones - the sharp ones that you can feel even when the rabbit is posed. They are difficult to breed out.
In fact, hindquarter is one of the more stable pieces of a Holland. If I have to choose between a nice hindquarter and a nice head, I will always choose the nice hindquarter, all else being equal.
Make sure your look at your rabbit's hindquarter from the side, as part of the overall top line. Then look at the hindquarter from the back. It should round over the top. You do not want a flat top, or worse, valleys between the haunches and the top of the hip. Check the hindquarter from the top view, too. Again, you want to see roundness and not a square hip. If none of these suggestions makes sense to you, you may want to look at the diagrams on page 37 of the current Standard of Perfection.
It is my personal belief that does with good hindquarters have less problems kindling. Even tiny does have no problem when they have wide, open hips. A great thing about hindquarters is that, if you get it right, you have a higher chance of reproducing that quality in your offspring. Another good thing about hindquarters? Even judges who don't really understand the Holland standard just might know a good hindquarter when they find it!
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry
Holland Lops Of Distinction
Precious Pet Rabbits
Pet Rabbit Care Information, Quality Pet Rabbit Breeders, and Rabbit Fun ¶ 8:55 AM
