Posing Holland Lops

Why Teach Your Holland Lops To Pose?

One thing I see on Facebook forums all the time is people saying that if your holland lop won't pose correctly it means that there is something structurally wrong with it. I HATE THAT! I hate reading it, I hate hearing it, I hate that people keep spreading it around because it has one VERY BIG flaw and that is that it fails to account for the rabbit's temperament and experience which makes this statement very misleading.

Yes, if your rabbit doesn't sit correctly WHEN RELAXED, there is something wrong structurally, but I just want you to imagine someone walking up to you and grabbing you by the face and pushing you into a sitting position. How do you think you will look? Probably not your best.

So that being said, despite so many incredible show breeders out there insisting that they should just pose naturally and leaving it at that, I feel the need to thoroughly elaborate on this subject.

When your rabbit is just relaxing in his/her cage is a great time to assess for structural faults. In my opinion, it is the best time. Watch your rabbit for a while and just see how it sits naturally. If your rabbit has an improper topline while relaxed without any human interaction, there is something not right about it structurally. This first assessment of your Holland Lop is so important and I do not recommend anyone skips it. This is also a great time to assess ear carriage and crown placement as the rabbit needs to be relaxed for those to be properly assessed as well. You can assess their front limb, chest depth and width and features of the head as well. Take the time to just watch your rabbit move naturally. How does its back feet move when it hops?

So if you can get all this from just watching, why is posing practice important? Because when you take them to the shows, they will be posed in a stressful new place. Practicing before the show allows the rabbit to gain an understanding of what you expect from them prior to being thrown into a new environment full of unfamiliar noise, smells, sights and sounds, with a person they have never met before touching them all over. Just try to imagine yourself put in that position and consider how you might react. I think I would be a biter, but running away or freezing up and locking all of your muscles are very valid responses as well. I have seen a rabbit who was not used to being handled at its first show, kick the judge, jump out of their hands and land on the ground breaking its back. I would love it if I never saw anything like that again in my life.

While this very extreme case is not the norm, I do frequently see rabbits who sit nicely in the cage, then get into the judges hands and lock up, looking like a very different rabbit. In order to give your rabbit the best opportunity for a proper assessment, it is important to get them on a show table at home and teach them to be comfortable being posed.

One important thing to remember is traction. If your rabbit is on a slippery surface, it is not going to able to sit properly. Most breeders use a small carpet to practice posing on, but I personally prefer to use my fake grass scraps. I am sure there are other options out there, but it is very important that the rabbit is not slipping around on the table.

If I start my rabbit out really young, our first posing practice is usually on my lap while I am propped up in bed. The entire purpose of the first time for a young rabbit (4-6 weeks range) is to show them that you want their head up. Since they are prey animals, they tend to want to stay low and sniffing as they begin to explore new places, so I touch under their chin to gently remind them that I want them to relax with their head up. It is very important to not grab their faces or hold them in place. The goal is to encourage relaxation in an upright position. At this point in training, I am not worried about if they are posed correctly, just that they have their heads up off the table (or me if I am doing it lazy in bed). It may sound weird that I do this in bed, but it is so important to be relaxed when introducing them to this concept so I stand by it.

Once they have had a few short practice sessions and they really seem to understand that they should be sitting up with minimal corrections, it is a good time to start correcting their pose. Their head should placed so their eye line is equal to their topline, and their feet are directly under their eyes. The front limb should also come straight down to the table from the front, meaning there should be space between the feet and they should not be pulling them together. Getting your Holland comfortable in this position will allow judges to give you the absolute best assessment for your rabbit, which is critical when making breeding plans. At this point you can start to gently hold the rabbit's head while sliding your hand down its body because this is how the judge will assess things like shoulder, HQ etc). If your rabbit tries to pull away, let it and try again later. It isn't about force, just relaxion through assessment.

If your Holland Lop is in the correct position and legs are not straight to the table, you either have weak ankles or limb that is too long to balance with the rabbit. This is an example of a structural fault that people would be talking about. Another is, if your rabbit is posed correctly and the topline is not correct (too long or flat in shoulder, rises before it falls, etc). If your rabbit is relaxed it should not be slopey. I will talk more about these faults and more on the Assessing Holland Lops page.

I hope this has been helpful in explaining what is meant by "teaching" your holland lop to pose, and if you have questions feel free to send me a message, I love to know where I can add helpful things to my page.