Holland Lop Breed Standard
What makes a show quality Holland Lop? How does a judge choose between so many cute bunnies?! Whether you're just starting out in the breed or an old pro, a refresher of what to look for in a quality Holland Lop is always important. I hope to share with you what my own personal idea of a quality Holland Lop is and what to look for when evaluating your own herd.
Posing and Topline
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Correct Pose and Topline
Generally speaking, a correct pose and a good topline go hand in hand. A correct pose is also imperative when evaluating your Hollands, to ensure that you get a true critique without hidden flaws or faults. A correctly posed Holland will rest his front toes in line with his eye and the back toes will sit in line with the hip. This can be seen in the poses above. A correct pose creates a soft topline that curves gradually to the table.
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Incorrect Pose and Topline
In more recent years, it has become standard practice to overpose Hollands. This usually makes the rabbit appear shorter and more compact overall, but totally throws off the topline. The topline can really tell on you if you're not posing correctly! In these two pictures, you will notice that the front toes are in the correct position (in line with the eye). But the back toes are pushed up, touching the front toes and more in line with the ear than the hip. As these toplines come out of the neck, they curve a bit at the upper hindquarter and then take a dive to the table. This makes the body appear almost square rather than a gradual, half-basketball curve like the two Hollands above.
Head
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Good Head
The staple characteristic of a fantastic Holland Lop is a good head. When evaluating the head straight-on, you want to see a nice, wide forehead. The forehead should be of almost equal width to the muzzle, forming the appearance of a blocky, heavy head.
In the top picture, I have drawn a triangle over the rabbit's head. If the Holland has a good, wide head, the triangle formed by the nose and eyes will be a wide, acute triangle. |
Poor Head
The two pictures above show examples of a poor head. In this case, the forehead of the Holland is much narrower than the muzzle. You can see that this gives the Holland a narrow appearance, and it is clear that they don't have as much "mass" as the two Hollands to the left.
In the above picture, you will see that a nearly perfect triangle has been formed by the nose and eyes. This rabbit is very narrow, in comparison to the rabbits on the left. |
Ear
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Good Ear
A good ear is short and rounded at the tips. Many refer to a correct ear as "teaspoon shaped". You want to see the ear lay wide and open against the head.
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Poor Ear
The ears in these two pictures are too long, and you can see that they don't balance with the head as well as the ears in the previous two pictures. Generally, you do not want the ear to fall longer than 1" below the chin.
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Crown
 Correct Crown
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 Incorrect Crown
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The crown can be one of the hardest things to learn, and happens to be one of the most common faults on Holland Lops. A correct crown will begin on the top of the head, carrying the ear so that it falls directly behind the eye. In the picture to the left, you can see a correct crown. I placed a large dot at the beginning of the crown, and traced it right down to the back of the eye. I also placed a large dot at the back of the crown, to hopefully exaggerate the view of exactly what the crown is for you- in other terms, the "poof" of top of the head. In the picture to the right, you can see a slipped crown. Again, I put a large dot at the beginning of the crown and traced it down. This time, the crown begins on the back of the head, near the shoulder, and holds the ear a distance away from the back of the eye. A good way to measure a slipped crown is to place your finger between the crown and the eye. A finger's width is slipped, but acceptable. Generally, you do not want to see 2 or more fingers width between the back of the eye and the beginning of the crown.
Bone
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Thick (Good) Bone
Hollands are known for their massive appearance, and good bone contributes to that! You can evaluate bone by the front legs. Ideally, you'll want to see wide, thick "tree trunk" legs. They will also be very short from top to bottom and straight onto the table. The picture above is a nice example of good bone.
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Fine (Poor) Bone
This rabbit has finer bone and longer legs. The bone is noticeably less massive than the picture at the left and the leg appears much longer and slightly curves onto the table, rather than being as short and straight as the bone in the other picture. Some breeders may refer to the longer, curved appearance as "weak ankles".
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Shoulder
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Short (Good) Shoulder
Ideally, Holland Lops have a short shoulder. The picture above is a great example of this. The shoulder is measured from the base of the neck to the point where the back begins to curve into the hindquarter (the first and second dot). As you can see, this rabbit has a very short distance between these two areas. This rabbit also has a very "strong" shoulder, you can see that his shoulder is full right up to the line that I drew.
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Long (Poor) Shoulder
This rabbit has a long shoulder, which is displayed by the more extended line and points that I drew. In addition, this rabbit also has a "weak" shoulder. This is illustrated by the red arrow that I drew. As you can see, there is a gap between the line and the shoulder of the rabbit. This is called a shoulder dip and usually indicates a long, weak shoulder.
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Hindquarter
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Full (Good) Hindquarter
Unfortunately, this picture isn't straight-on. However, I placed lines to direct your eye. This rabbit has a correct, full hindquarter. If you were running your hand down the HQ, your fingers would stay equal distance, whether they were cupped around the upper shoulder or the lower hindquarter.
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Pinched (Poor) Hindquarter
Unlike the picture to the left, you can see here that the HQ almost come to a point at the tail. If you were to run your hand down this rabbit's back, you can envision your fingers staying equal distances apart the whole way down, until you get to the lower HQ, where the would pinch in to the tail.
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Full (Good) Hindquarter
From the side, a full hindquarter will appear to curve straight to the table. You can see here that this creates almost a 90 degree angle from the bottom of the rabbit to the rise of the hindquarter.
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Undercut (Poor) Hindquarter
On this rabbit, you'll notice that the 90 degree angle doesn't happen. Instead, the hind end seems to some out at the shoulder, curve over the HQ, and then curve back under to the hind legs. This "wrap" motion is called undercut, because the hindquarter doesn't fall straight to the table. Instead, it curves under.
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Credits
This is intended to be a helpful guide for those starting out in the breed, and although it's not all-inclusive of the thought and detail that goes into full evaluation, it is a basic guide to help you get started! I am continuing to collect pictures from a variety of reputable breeders and will continue to improve and update this page as requests and suggestions come in. Here is a list of breeders who have helped out so far. If you'd like to be a part of this page and donate some pictures, good or bad, please e-mail me for more details!
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Keep's Rabbitry; Kristen Drum, NC
Sugar and Spice Rabbits; Jodi Anderson, ID MugShots Rabbitry; Cody Taylor, Canada Falls Acre Rabbitry; Billi Falls, VA |
