Evaluating/Judging your Himalayan:
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Hello! Today I wanted to touch upon the subject of interpreting the Himalayan SOP. Obviously, there is waaaaaay too much information to go into it in it's entirety (unless you are into novel length posts) in one go. So I will stick to the basics and what I have gleaned over the years. DISCLAIMER: I am not an ARBA judge or Registrar. Just a Himmie breeder that would like to share some personal observations.
I have spoken to a few different judges on the subject of how they approach judging our lagomorph. Most of them have said that they consider type, then markings. Last would be fur and then condition. Others have given me slightly different answers, but usually a variation of much of the same. One of the rogue ones I have gotten (that actually made quite a bit of sense when looked at from her perspective) was from ARBA judge and former himmie breeder, Bonnie Burdick. We conversed about himmies and I asked her what she was looking for when judging the breed. She had always remarked on the quality of the meat/carcass itself. It was the first time I had EVER heard a judge remark on that aspect of a Himalayan, of all breeds. But it got me thinking. Himmies were originally used as a FUR animal due to it being very close to ermine fur. Buuuuuut, as the fur industry faded into the background, there really SHOULD be another purpose to this beautiful little rabbit than JUST a fancy breed. Our rabbits became dual purpose. The quality of the carcass is just as important to us because it isn't just a fancy breed. It is an excellent source of lean protein. She then touched on how many points are alloted to different parts of the Himalayan. Not just on the standard 41 type and 41 markings, but how many based on each part of the body. The majority of your points, 31, are based on type, which actually includes the quality of the meat. ROUND AND FIRM is in the SOP. It describes the body. I want to be able to judge type on a Himalayan blindfolded. The head, which includes the ears and nose, is actually worth a cumulative total of 30 points when we consider the sum of it's individual parts. Ears and head are alloted 5 points each in general type and an additional 10 points each in markings. Finally you add in the 10 points alloted to the nose marking and you now have 30 points just for the HEAD. So the vast majority of points alloted are seen before you even consider the boots, stockings or tail. This, perhaps obscure and, maybe even unorthodox, approach is one that has helped me when considering stock to keep. The last, and perhaps one of those traits we have lost over time, is the fur itself. It is worth a total of 13 points when you consider the fur itself is alloted 10 points and the body color is alloted 3. The fur should be short, fine, silky. I had asked ARBA judge Jacinta Taulbee what the correct fur was and she said it should feel like the satin edge of a blanket. That has become my standard for judging the fur quality. The other feature we always work on here is BALANCE. I always say that even if you know NOTHING about a breed, you can always pick out a nicely balanced rabbit. It's a theory that has worked out in practice. Not 100% of the time, but enough that we know it means something. This is one of the approaches we take when deciding on keeper stock and breeding stock. It works well for us and I'm hoping someone finds one or two of these suggestions helpful. |
A video below on balance and color vs marked.
Visual representation of how I score/eval my himmies based on the ARBA point system. Only numbers not written in the total are the 18 allotted to the legs and 5 for condition.
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