How to Pose the Dwarf Hotot Properly

I decided today that I would start off my 'Posing and Evaluating' series with proper posing of the Dwarf Hotot as you can't possibly evaluate a Hotot without the proper pose. I know that at the Utah shows, many of the judges like to hold the head down on the table like a Mini Rex. I find this to be incorrect. I found that it makes the Hotot's shoulders look extremely long and awfully pinched. It also creates the appearance of a long neck. As the standard states, "The head should be attached to the

body with no visible neck."

 

This doe is posed properly. Her front feet are in line with her eye and her back toes are in line with her hip. Her head is also in the middle of her body.

 

In this picture, I have drawn lines to explain this easier. The vertical line on the left shows how their front feet are to be lined up with their eye. The vertical line on the right shows how their toes are supposed to be in line with their hip. Then the horizontal line show how the head is supposed to be about in the middle of the rabbit's body. 

 

 

Proper posing is very simple, it just take some getting used to.

 

Now I would like to show you some bad examples of posing. Some of you may recognize my "guinea pigs" in these photos. These photos are all months old and many of these rabbits have been sold to take place in someone else's program. Please keep in mind these are bad poses, not bad rabbits. I'll explain what is wrong with each pose.

 

#1: This doe is stretched out too much. She is insisting on stretching her neck out therefore, making her shoulders look severely long. To correct this, you would lift her head to the middle of her body and make her hold it closer to her body.

 

#2: This doe has the same problem as #1. She is stretching her neck out making her shoulders appear extremely long. You would correct it the same way as #1.

 

 

#3: This doe is stretching her neck out, just not as much as #1 and #2. All you would need to do is hook your fingers under her chin and lift/push back gently. This will make her hold her head correctly, therefore creating a compact animal.

 

 

#4: This beautiful buck was very well trained for posing, therefore I had to force a bad pose out of him. Lol! This buck's head is also stretched out creating long shoulders. You would correct it the same way you correct #3's pose. Make sure when you are correcting head placement, you also move the front feet back in line with the eye once the head is correctly placed.

 

 

#5: This buck was also a natural poser. His head is too far forward and his front toes are not in line with his eye. To correct this pose, you would hook your fingers under his chin and gently lift up/back. This will place to head close to the body therefore, creating a compact, blocky animal.

 

 

 

I hope this helped everyone learn proper posing of the Dwarf Hotot. It's always a good idea to start posing babies at a young age (4-6 weeks) so you can easily get a nice pose out of them at a later age. Plus the judges will appreciate it! 

 

Thanks for Reading! Have a fantastic day!

 

Next Post

 

~Evaluating Shoulders on the Dwarf Hotot Rabbit~