Properly Posing Mini Rex, and other Compact and Commercial Breeds
In the middle of the 'dog days' of summer, and before the fall showing season begins, I wanted to bring up the subject of posing, proper and improper.
I come accross many websites where the animals are improperly posed, either too long or too short, and it distorts the overall VISUAL quality of the animal. I can see through this from experience in raising rabbits, but many people are only looking at depth and overall shortness of the body, and ususally want the rabbit that is overposed, because its TOPLINE looks better. The same animal, if too streched out, will look long and flat, ususally showing some kind of shoulder issues, because this rabbit was bred to be in a proper pose, and when all laid out, the shoulders will also look flat and unbalanced with the rest of the rabbit.
I am not looking to open a can of worms on the subject, and no, you wont find my name in any sweepstakes listing, and you dont really have to take my word for it, but it just bothers me that so many people are posing rabbits just how Joe Snow told them how to, and hold it as though it were gospel. I have decided to take on the more diffucult varieties, which tends to keep me off of the B4C and BIS listings, as well as the BOB/BOS also, but I HAVE had these placings. I had a BOB/BIS winning with a Chinchilla MR doe last year at NePA rabbit show, and this year I managed to take BOS in extremely heavy competition with the doe's son, also a Chinchilla, and a georgeous one at that! Just because I am not a 'big deal' does not mean that I do not know how to pose a rabbit, and I feel that EVERYONE who is showing, breeding, and exhibiting Mini Rex (or another COMPACT or COMMERCIAL typed rabbit)should know how to properly pose their animals, not only for themselves, but to show off their rabbit's good attributes properly.
Rabbits hind feet shouldnt be in their ears, or even in their elbows for that matter, they should be in line with the knee joint. Their front feet shouldnt be knuckled over with their elbows sticking out for lack of anywhere left to put them, nor should their ankles be bent over for the same reasons...their toes should be even with their eyes, center of the pupils prefered.
Shown below are 3 photos of the same animal, BITF Etra, a Broken Castor Mini Rex SRD, owned and bred by Jeremiah (Jeremy) Gordon of PA. This doe just makes the 10% color crieteria in our opinions, and has not yet been DQ'ed for her markings, but instead has earned 2 legs at the 4 shows she has been to, and taking second place only to a more mature coated SRD who also went to take BOB twice.
In this photo below, the doe is overly streched out, but even this pose is better than some that I have seen. Her feet are flat on the table, which shows her topline well, and although she is improperly posed, you can see that this doe has the potential for depth in profile.
I come accross many websites where the animals are improperly posed, either too long or too short, and it distorts the overall VISUAL quality of the animal. I can see through this from experience in raising rabbits, but many people are only looking at depth and overall shortness of the body, and ususally want the rabbit that is overposed, because its TOPLINE looks better. The same animal, if too streched out, will look long and flat, ususally showing some kind of shoulder issues, because this rabbit was bred to be in a proper pose, and when all laid out, the shoulders will also look flat and unbalanced with the rest of the rabbit.
I am not looking to open a can of worms on the subject, and no, you wont find my name in any sweepstakes listing, and you dont really have to take my word for it, but it just bothers me that so many people are posing rabbits just how Joe Snow told them how to, and hold it as though it were gospel. I have decided to take on the more diffucult varieties, which tends to keep me off of the B4C and BIS listings, as well as the BOB/BOS also, but I HAVE had these placings. I had a BOB/BIS winning with a Chinchilla MR doe last year at NePA rabbit show, and this year I managed to take BOS in extremely heavy competition with the doe's son, also a Chinchilla, and a georgeous one at that! Just because I am not a 'big deal' does not mean that I do not know how to pose a rabbit, and I feel that EVERYONE who is showing, breeding, and exhibiting Mini Rex (or another COMPACT or COMMERCIAL typed rabbit)should know how to properly pose their animals, not only for themselves, but to show off their rabbit's good attributes properly.
Rabbits hind feet shouldnt be in their ears, or even in their elbows for that matter, they should be in line with the knee joint. Their front feet shouldnt be knuckled over with their elbows sticking out for lack of anywhere left to put them, nor should their ankles be bent over for the same reasons...their toes should be even with their eyes, center of the pupils prefered.
Shown below are 3 photos of the same animal, BITF Etra, a Broken Castor Mini Rex SRD, owned and bred by Jeremiah (Jeremy) Gordon of PA. This doe just makes the 10% color crieteria in our opinions, and has not yet been DQ'ed for her markings, but instead has earned 2 legs at the 4 shows she has been to, and taking second place only to a more mature coated SRD who also went to take BOB twice.
In this photo below, the doe is overly streched out, but even this pose is better than some that I have seen. Her feet are flat on the table, which shows her topline well, and although she is improperly posed, you can see that this doe has the potential for depth in profile.
In this photo below the doe has been over tucked...you can see how her elbows are cocked out, and her hind feet are touching them, and how her hind quarters appear undercut. However, this pose shows incredible depth and shortness of body, which can be a nice selling point, but in fact, I feel this is false advertisement, and continues to promote improper posing of rabbits.
This is Etra posed properly below. Her hind TOES are in alignment with her KNEE, showing her highpoint over the center of her loin. Her front feet are in a comfortable pose, not overtly tucked or overly streched, and the only reason why I had to hold her was to stop her from wandering...LOL! Her front end shows strong shoulders without lengh or dips, flowing smoothly into her strong midsection...also note how the hindquarters no longer look undercut as they flow smoothly to the table. Of course, she is longer bodied looking compared to the overly posed second photo, but this is her true type, showing strenght and balance.
I hope this has helped some, and fortunately this time of the year when the shows are slow, or none at all, you can practice properly posing your animals to help you choose properly typed kits to retain for your show stock, without the need for a judges opinion only.
Kelly :)
Midori no Daichi Rabbitry
Mini Rex in BEW, Chinchilla, Himalayan, and Seal in north eastern PA
*Working on Sable, Smoke Pearl and Silver Marten*
Kelly Garrity
fubarbun@ptd.net OR chinmr2@epix.net
http://www.chini-mini.com
AOL Instant Messanger : Chini Mini Rex
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Blue in the Face
Mini Rex in Blue, Opal and Red in north eastern PA
*Working on BEW*
NEW ~ Flemish Giants in Light Gray & Sandy!
Jeremiah Gordon
blueinthefacemr@yahoo.com
http://www.chini-mini.com/bitf
AOL Instant Messanger : xxmrchainsaw81x
***
Majestic Mini Rex Specialty Club President
Regional Mini Rex club serving PA, NJ, and surrounding areas!
Open and Youth welcome!
http://www.chini-mini.com/Majestic
(Y)
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