Judge Allen's Demo Photos

In the current issue of Domestic Rabbits, Betty's article "Judging and Handling English Angora" is the lead article.   Betty took the photos of judge Allen demonstrating the process of judging English Angora in June during the California Rabbit and Cavy Shows held at Fresno.

The layout of the photos in the Domestic Rabbits cropped out some of judge Allen's image to concentrate on the rabbit.   It may be interesting to see the original photos.



Allen sets the rabbit on the table and pose, also check the back legs.



Allen feels the body type on the top line, the side and flips it over to check the tummy. 




Allen checks the tips of the wool and to feel the texture.




The wool should be visible all the way down to the skin.   No rabbit is "too dense to see the skin".   If a judge cannot see the skin, the wool is webbed or felted.    The judge could blow into the wool but if blowing into the wool does not give a clear picture, use hands to push down wool to see whether the webbing and felting is so severe that the skin is no longer visible. 




The wool around the rear is very hard to maintain.   Though grooming should not be a primary criteria for placing, if there are two rabbits that are very close, checking the wool just above the tail can give the judge a good idea of condition of the wool.




Another hard to keep area is behind the ears.   Due to the friction caused by the ears, the nape area get tangled easily.   Rabbits sometimes also chew on their shoulders.    Once again, these little things are not the primary criteria of the worthiness of the rabbits but they could be a separation between the class winner and the rest.




Some lines of English Angora has weak ear carriage.    If a judge does not pay special attention to the ears, the weak or even flop ears could get through without being noticed.     The ears should be the shape of a narrow V, have good substance, median length with tassels.   Do not accept the explanation of heavy tassels that drag the ears down; if the rabbit has strong ear base, no matter how much tassels are on the ears, the ears should stand erect.





An English Angora should look like an English Angora.   After having close encounters of the rabbit, it's important for a judge to stand back a little too see the entire package.