showing holland lops

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Brittney915

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Hi everyone I am new to holland lops! I would like to show them. I have two show quality hollands and i have a BEW . I would like to know the requirements for showing the BEW hollands and just showing any of them them in general. What are the rules and what disqualifications can the have.
 
The first thing to do would be to get yourself a copy of the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) Standard of Perfection (SOP)
https://arba.net/product/standard-of-perfection/https://www.kwcages.com/2021-2025-standard-of-perfection.htmlhttps://www.allthingsbunnies.com/ARBA-Standard-of-Perfection-2021-2025-p/arba105.htm1706125000798.png
That will give you every detail of what makes a good Holland Lop. It looks like it is on back-order from the ARBA, but you can probably order a copy from one of the other sellers above.

I'd also suggest joining the ARBA Join the ARBA You'll still have to buy the SOP, but membership gets you a guidebook as well as a bi-monthly magazine with great articles, including ones about breeds and judging.

The ARBA SOP is copyrighted, so I can't reproduce the Holland standard for you here. But I can tell you that Blue-eyed White Holland Lops are shown along with all other varieties of Hollands. They don't have any special rules or disqualifications that the other varieties don't have. All varieties have rules about their fur, eye color and nail color which vary from variety to variety, but the rules about body type, weight, etc are the same for all varieties of Hollands.

You're looking for a short, thick, compact, rabbit with thick, heavy bone and a high head mount (when posed, it stands with its front legs straightened so that its chest is visible and its head is above its shoulders, not flattened to the table). An equal number of points are allotted to its body and bone (42 out of 100), as to its head, ears and crown (42 out of 100). Its head should be big and wide with a short muzzle; ears should be relatively short and thick and should hang right behind the eyes, and as close to straight down as possible; crown (the ridge running across its head from ear to ear) should be strong and prominent.

No matter what color they are, Holland Lops are shown in only two classifications: Solid Pattern and Broken Pattern.

Solids are rabbits that have a solid-colored body. This class includes varieties such as himalayan - even though they have colored areas on their nose, ears, feet and tail, their body is white, thus they are shown as solids. Your BEW would belong in the Solid class.

Broken colored rabbits have more than one color on their body, so any rabbit that is white with spots of color on its body, including tricolor (white + two colors), is shown in this class.

Within the show classifications, Holland are sorted into color groups, and within those Groups are the specific varieties. The Groups are Agouti (7 varieties), Broken (2, meaning broken and tricolor), Pointed White (1), Self (6, including REW and BEW), Shaded (5), Tan Pattern (1), Ticked (1), and Wide Band (4). Honestly, color carries the least points of anything (4 out of 100), so as long as there are no DQs, you don't have to worry about it too much. Mostly watch for white or mismatched toenails in Solids (but no worry in BEWs or REWs); there are a few other variety-specific color DQs, but BEW doesn't have any as long as their eyes are blue!

Here's a website with a pretty extensive description of assessing Holland Lops, with lots of photos. It uses a lot of technical terms, but the photos will help you learn what those terms mean:
http://www.lotsoflops.com/judging-the-holland-lop.html
The other thing to do is to just go to a show! Don't worry about your rabbit being disqualified or faulted, it happens to most of us at one time or another; in the meantime, you're getting professional feedback on your rabbits. And you might be surprised at the different opinions you'll get from different judges - the SOP leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Whether you enter your rabbits or not, standing across the judging table from the judge and watching while he or she handles the rabbits and comments on their quality, is one of the quickest ways to learn. (Don't give the judge any hints about which rabbit belongs to you or anyone else.) You also may be able to talk with other breeders/exhibitors, who can show you their rabbits and tell you what they look for in their show and breeding stock. Shows can be very busy for exhibitors, but you'll probably find someone who is happy to talk about their Hollands!
 
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