Lessons: Lynx Mini Rex

This is a post showing the differences between amber, lynx, wide band lynx, blue fawn, and (incorrect) opal. And here I thought that I didn't have a wide band lynx. Ha! I have everything over here.

The lighting is rather awful. It's been pouring since I got off work and I only had the one overhead light in the barn. My hopes are to get better, more organized, pictures later as well. But we all know how I operate.

This is a lynx (wide band) and an amber. We'll get to explaining wide band later.

A lynx is a lilac agouti with certain modifiers to make the under color white. I'll get to that later, too. It has a fawn appearance with lilac tipping. It kind of gives it a "frosted" look in prime.

An amber is a chocolate agouti. It is not an ARBA accepted color. It has an orange appearance with chocolate tipping. I like to call it a "rusty" color.

Both amber and lynx are agouti based animals. That means they have solid ear tipping and colored bands to their fur. We'll use both of those later on. Agouti also have eye rings, nose markings, jaw markings, and a lighter colored belly.

In this picture, I'm showing the band color of the wide band lynx. Her middle band is not very bright or defined (and my phone combined with the lighting make it even worse). But you should be able to make out a very heavy lilac tipping and a fawn intermediate band that almost goes to the skin. The under color, which is admittedly dark, is very little. In lynx, the standard calls for an even amount of fawn versus under color.

This is the belly to the wide band lynx. The lynx standard calls for a creamy white color over top a dove gray under color. The wide band gene wipes out this under color band on the belly, leaving a creamy white belly.

Note that nonextension, which is your fawns, also obliterates the under color band on your lynx. The difference between a wide band and a fawn is that the wide band has clearly defined rings on the topside, as explained in the picture previous this.

This is a picture of the agouti bands on the amber. You can very clearly see that she's tipped in chocolate over a weak orange band over a slate blue under color. In retrospect, I wish I would have grabbed one of my better ambers. As with the lynx, you're looking for an equal distribution of intermediate color to under color on an amber. Y'know, once I have my army to submit the code of development for them.

This picture has a overhead side by side comparison of a wide band lynx (left) to a SOP lynx (right). The wide band lynx produced the SOP lynx, and I believe make very nice lynx, so don't be discouraged when you get wide band or even darkly colored lynx in your herds. Just know that you can't actually show either of them.

As you can see, there isn't a whole lot of visual difference between the two of them. It's kind of why I forgot I had a wide band lynx in my barn. A wide band lynx IS a little darker than an SOP lynx because the tipping is heavier, but tipping is such a fickle thing even on an SOP lynx that it's difficult to tell. That's why you check the belly bands.

This is a better picture of the wide band lynx (left) next to the SOP lynx (right).

Here it's really noteworthy that her lilac tipping obliterates any hint of fawn intermediate color, whereas it shines through on the SOP lynx.

Another comparison of the wide band lynx (left) to the SOP lynx (right).

While I did show a better picture of her bands earlier, this is the only shot I got of the SOP lynx's bands. You can see how much more equal the intermediate band is to the under color band. You can also see how bright his under color is. That bright white is desired. The lilac tipping isn't its own wide band of lilac, either. It's there subtly enough to give him a lynx - frosted - appearance.

In this picture, I have the wide band lynx (left), the SOP lynx (middle), and my blue fawn (right). Unfortunately, I don't have a lilac fawn on hand to make things a little more even, but it's close enough.

Why is a blue fawn close enough to a lilac fawn? Both the blue fawn and lilac fawn are nonextension colors on a dilute (opal and lynx) base. That means the main color shown is fawn. On chocolate and black based animals, you get your reds. A chocolate based red is actually desired over a black based red because it's less smutty. Well, it's the same concept with fawns. A blue fawn is smuttier than a lilac fawn. So you get a smutty fawn to work with here.

The SOP lynx is still brighter than both your wide band lynx and your blue fawn. That's ... usually not the case with lilac fawns. Usually a lilac fawn is a smidge brighter than your SOP lynx because the intermediate band color on an SOP lynx is the only color you see. A fawn doesn't generally have that lilac tipping a lynx has!

This is an overhead photo of the same rabbits. A wide band lynx to your left, an SOP lynx in the middle, and the blue fawn to the right.

It took two of us to get this picture.

Again, your wide band lynx (left), your SOP lynx (middle), and your blue fawn (right).

This picture shows that the wide band lynx actually does have ring color whereas the fawn does not. It's a fairly uniform color from skin to hair tip on the fawn, but a distinct fawn to lilac break on the wide band.

The SOP lynx in the middle is what you're looking for: a bright band of fawn over that white band. Very, very clearly defined edge to the colors.

This doe just had a litter. Excuse her sparse belly color. But this is the blue fawn. You can see that she doesn't have the dove grey under color called for in the SOP, just like the wide band lynx.

This is your SOP lynx. You can see that he finally sports that dove grey under color that I've been talking about. His belly still appears white, but actually has two bands of color. This color should be even. His color is desired, whereas my picture taking skills are not. He was horny and difficult to manage.

I brought in all of the dilute rabbits I've talked about so far in this picture and added a curve ball. From left to right: wide band lynx, SOP lynx, blue fawn, and opal.

The fact that my fawn is a blue based fawn is apparent next to my opal. As I said before, the color will be lighter and brighter on a lilac fawn.

The purpose of this was to see how much bluer a blue agouti (opal) was to a lilac agouti (lynx).

This is the opal's ring color. She has a very awful intermediate color that's very thin. It makes her tipping very heavy. Her tipping is blue over a fawn intermediate band over an INCORRECT white band. If it weren't for her heavy tipping, one could probably easily mistake her for a lynx. But I have more tricks to identifying opals vs lynx!

This is your wide band lynx next to your heavily tipped opal from earlier. They both sport about the same amount of tipping on their hair shaft. But the lynx is still lilac based for a lynx appearance.

Here I have an amber (left), lynx (middle), and opal (right).

Lilac is the double recessive combination of dilute and chocolate. That means that lilac is both dilute and chocolate expressed simultaneously. It'll exhibit characteristics of both. The dilute, or blue, will make a rabbit greyer. It turns the red intermediate band to fawn. The chocolate will make the rabbit ... chocolatier.... Sometimes chocolate even plays with eye color and will give a chocolate or lilac based rabbit ruby cast eyes.

This is an above shot of the same rabbits: amber (left), lynx (middle), and opal (right).

I think it shows how well a lynx exhibits both chocolate and dilute characteristics, while being its own variety.

This is another way to tell if a rabbit is lilac versus blue. This is the opal's ear tips. The tips of the ears are a concentrated color of the rabbit's base color. In the opal's case, blue.

In this picture, the concentrated base color of the rabbit is obviously lilac.

Lessons: Shows

Let's talk about getting ready for a day of show entry show. I don't have advice on pre-entry shows.

Best place to start is the ARBA website. You can find a list of shows under the Member Resources tab, under Shows, under Find a Show. This page is new to me (all of us), so I don't quite know how to use it. You're supposed to be able to search by state.

Some of these shows have fliers or catalogs you can download. Those fliers have all the information you need to know! Date, location, sanctioned breeds, price per entry, judge list, cage dealer, etc. Some of those shows don't have an available catalog. You can email the secretary with the provided email ... or hop on Facebook and find it. The reason I still use Facebook is to find shows and sell rabbits.

The first picture is a screenshot of the ARBA website. The second is of a flier of the show I'm attending today! You can see what I'm talking about in those screenshots.

The next step is then preparing for a show. Don't forget your rabbit(s)! I find it helpful to make a list of whom I'm bringing with tattoos and classes written out. I'll explain classes later. I also like to bring my rug-topped carrying case, which holds my binder and pedigrees, check book (I have one specifically for rabbit shows because I've left it behind too many times), pen, grooming equipment, nail clippers, tattoo equipment, and every remark card I've never thrown out. A dolly or cart is EXTREMELY helpful. Chairs if your show allows them. If I remember, I also like to bring coop cups and a gallon jug to water my rabbits at a show.

All of this fits into my ittle car every time. See picture three.

I personally like to pack up the night before if it's not hot out, and drive to the show the morning of. I've left at two in the morning a few times to make it to the show by seven. Showing up early is BEST!

When you get to the show, pick your spot out and unload. Then find the secretary's table. Here is where you pick up your entry form, comment cards if the show uses them, and where you will pay for your entries. Usually, the secretary's table is pretty easy to find. This show loves to decorate!

I find it easiest to fill out the entry form first, as shown in picture five. Mark which shows you'll be entering: A, B, C, or D when applicable. Mark whether you're open or youth. Personal information, most of which I have blacked out on here (sorry, not sorry - I have WAY too many crazies and ARAs to worry about). Always include an email, even if there's no place for one!

Next, you list your show entries. I've gotten very lazy over the years and shorthand my entries like this. Today, I'm just showing one breed. The form will ask for a breed. Write it out. Do not abbreviate. The form will ask for variety. This is what color or group your rabbit falls until. With Mini Lop, we have two varieties: solid and broken. Many breeds show under individual varieties: black, otter, tort, etc. Some show under colored or white. You might have to ask another breeder if you're confused. The form will also ask for your rabbit's class. This is junior (under 6 months), intermediate (6-8 months in a six class breed), or senior (over 6 months in a four class breed or over 8 months in a six class breed), and then buck or doe. Most forms aren't as nice as this one.

Then it's time to work on the comment cards! I fill out the bare minimum. Ear number, show (there is not a place for this!), your name, breed, variety (as written on the entry form), and class. You need one comment card per rabbit per show. Picture six is one of mine filled out.

Turn in your paperwork, pay for your entries.

Then you can use the time to browse, groom, socialize, or play on your phone. Picture seven shows Zum Teufel all prettied up and ready. Picture eight is kicking back to relax!

ALWAYS ask questions if you're confused. Rabbit people are pretty friendly. We like to help.

When I have help at a show, I'll maybe write about further show processes and etiquette.

Lessons: Butts

Let's talk butts.

First and foremost, I will openly admit that I am a Mini Lop person through and through. I want Mini Lop kind of type on my Mini Rex, and that means butts! We also like a good mug, but that's a different story. Disclaimer. These are my opinions, what I breed for, and should not be taken as gospel. I'm merely looking to teach.

In our first picture, displaying HB's Birthday Party Cheesecake, we see a decent example of what I like to see from behind. She still has some room for improvement, but she's the best I got at the moment. What are we seeing? Y'know, besides a bunny butt. We'll start at the table. You want a rabbit touching the table with the same width as the width through the rise of the sides. She's almost there. A tail 
should be pulled up from under the rabbit in a proper pose. I tried with Cheesecake and she sat on it again. From the table, you want a nice horseshoe shape. That means the wide base, often referred to as the lower hindquarters, rises with the same width through the knee and up through the loin. A well filled loin, much like Cheesecake's loin, shouldn't have any dimples. You can also see the pinch, or lack thereof, of the upper hindquarter from this view. I'll get to exclaiming that later.

This second picture here is also Cheesecake. She was leaning forward in that picture. Same rabbit, taken seconds apart as I tried unsuccessfully to fish her tail out from underneath her. She loses a bit of her horseshoe shape here throughout her loin simply because she has more weight to her front than her back. She's a tick more triangular up top. It suggests that she could still use some muscle through her loin. If you felt her hands on, you'd be able to feel that little bit of softness to her flesh. THAT alone is why you trust your hands over pictures.

Another bit of information about me. I ALWAYS evaluate through pictures when going through babies. But only after I've run my hands over them and noted their muscle and flesh first.

This is Cheesecake again. From above. This view really shows the width of the loin and hips/upper hindquarter. You don't really get a great picture of a rabbit without the behind or above 
views. I don't buy a rabbit hands-off without an above shot. It's hard to hide a pinched hindquarter or hollow loin with it. Here you can see how much width Cheesecake has in the hind end and how her width of 
hips correlates to her width of body.

The next two pictures to the right are of a resident lynx. She displays the best width of lower hindquarter in my barn. You can see how wide she is at the base versus the width of her body, loin, and upper hindquarter. You can also see that she lacks in the loin in comparison to Cheesecake from behind.

The most noticeable difference is from above. That's where you can really see the pinch she has in the hips, and how that consequently leads to a narrower back end.

The next picture is one of my blacks, one of my favorite rabbits. She's the mother to Birthday Party Cheesecake. She's HB's Black Betty Bambawam. From behind, the view suggests a beautiful rabbit. Almost full to the table (don't let her skirt fool you completely), beautiful horseshoe shape showing a well filled loin. But she has one fault.

From above, you can really see Betty's fault. She's a little narrow in that hip, leading to a less rounded animal from above. She's far from tightly pinched, but the lack of width in that hip unsettles the balance nevertheless. If you look hard enough in the picture from behind, you can see that narrowness from that angle as well.

We move on to the next rabbit, a chocolate by the name of HB's Princess of the Forest. We're moving from some of my best rabbits to lesser rabbits now. Princess is a little narrow in those lower hindquarters. You can really start to see the taper to the table after the knee. She still has pretty good muscle and loin, however, above that knee. The point of Princess is to show a general lack of width. One of 
my biggest pet peeves in showing is when a narrower rabbit like Princess wins over a more balanced rabbit because her lack of width can be posed into a tall rabbit. Princess is a grand champion. Registered and granded and all. Maybe it's because she's just a chocolate. Granted, she isn't terribly pinched anywhere back there, but she is a narrower rabbit overall, and is easily the narrowest rabbit I'll be using as 
example tonight.

The next chocolate, starting with the pictures below, is HB's Bun with a Hex. Don't get me wrong, I love this boy, he feels great, and he's one of the best chocolates I've ever seen. Probably why he's my grand champion BOSV at ARBA Covention guy. Kind of puts into perspective what us chocolate breeders are working with (I have more I may or may not like better, but I'm just not showing them off). But he's also going to be an example tonight. Of what?

Hex is my best example of a narrow base. I wouldn't go so far to say he's pinched in the lower hindquarter, just narrowed. A pinched hindquarter will give you a sharp V-shape from knee to table from behind or a sharp V-shape starting from the hind end from above. I don't have great examples of this. I've culled for it. So we're going to use Hex as an example of just how pinched I'm willing to tolerate. This 
narrowed base makes his knees stick out much further than any of the does before him. He loses that horseshoe shape.

Hex has good muscle, but he's lacking just a little bit in his loin. You can see that dimple above his knee. It's more pronounced than any of the does before him.

Then from above, you can see that Hex isn't really pinched in the hip. He's wide from start to finish. But you can also see where he's lacking in the loin again. He isn't continuous from rib to hip. There's a dip where his knee starts. This is lacking in loin from above and behind.

I think I've pretty much covered everything I can think of when it comes to butts. It's something I've culled HARD for the past few years. It's difficult to pull together a proper lower hindquarter or base, an upper hindquarter that isn't pinched or narrow, and a well filled loin. That isn't even counting the muscle, which is really hands-on only! All FOUR of those points are very common faults in this breed. Any breed? Definitely something I think more people need to be aware of.

Lesson: Ribs

Here I'm going to explain a little bit about ribs. I have two rabbits here. Both broken castors, but they're easy enough to tell apart. The first two pictures are of a younger doe that I just culled yesterday. I stupidly didn't get enough pictures and I'm out of hideous rabbits for the rest of the year now. The last two pictures, second rabbit, is one of my nicest grow outs of the year. He ended up taking third broken junior buck out of 64 at Convention in 2018.

We're focusing not on the entire rabbit, but simply the chest.

In the first picture, you can see that the doe is pulling her head up off the table. She has a high head mount. Mini Rex are to have a very low head mount, where their chins brush the table top. I could 
probably fit a good three fingers in the space between her chin and the rug.

Now, her toes are almost perfectly in the right spots in that first picture. In the second picture, I pulled her head down to the correct mount and held it there to take that picture. Do you see how much nicer 
her type looks from the first picture? It is very, very easy to hide faults with pictures. Her shoulders aren't obviously narrower from her hindquarters, her shoulder isn't even terribly low. But naturally, as soon as you let her go, her head goes right back up like she's offended. She's not offended. She was simply very uncomfortable.

Now compare her to the junior buck, pictured last. I don't need to hold my hand there to keep him in place. Partially because he's a barn favorite and I touch him all the time (but all my rabbits still know how to pose and sit or they don't go home). But the main reason is that he has such a nice front end compared to her.

What is rib spread? What am I talking about? How can rib spread cause a low or high head mount?

Rib spread is the width of the chest through the rib. A narrow chested rabbit will have its feet closely held together compared to a correctly chested rabbit. I, unfortunately, didn't think to take that picture of the doe. But you CAN see how much closer her front leg is to her cheek than the buck. A rabbit can start with a decently wide chest, but never spring, so to speak, off the ribs. A rib cage should widen the farther you move down the rabbit's body. It's what gives the rabbit its width on the front half. An open rib cage such as this allows the rabbit to breathe properly as it sits on the table - thusly, allowing the rabbit a better 
head mount.

A narrow rib spread will cause a narrow and possibly long shoulder. The shoulder blades don't have anything to support themselves without the ribs there, after all. A narrow rib spread will never produce 
a wide rabbit, throwing off the balance.

You want a Mini Rex rabbit to look like a circle from above, more or less. The standard technically calls for a slight taper. This is where the fourth picture comes into play. I guarantee that the first rabbit 
would look nothing like him from above. I just wish I could prove it.

I'd also like to note that you can't have a truly short rabbit with depth on a rabbit that doesn't have a rib spread. If your rabbit is narrow, you are pushing up the rib into the topline to achieve the shape and length of body from the side. So you can either have a short rabbit where the rib is properly aligned, in which case you don't have the depth. Or you have a long rabbit that you're pushing up into a display of 
depth.

I actually didn't think I'd have so much to say on rib spread, and almost feel like I glanced over a couple aspects. These are simply my opinions, as almost all type-related topics are, but they are opinions that I breed for within my rabbitry and typically do quite well on the tables with.

Lesson: How NOT to Pose

Let's talk a little about posing. In this case, we'll use a Mini Rex for a low head mount compact example because it's typically I see Mini Rex getting abused. *I will elaborate further on HOW to pose later.

The goal in posing rabbits is having them sit still without touching them. In the first picture, my hand is not on his face. He's sitting there all on his own accord. This isn't a conversation about type here, but he's well typed ENOUGH that he can physically sit properly. That picture more or less shows his type well.

Sometimes it's attention span that keeps a rabbit from sitting still. But after a while, you can tell when it's a physical deformity that causes a rabbit to "pop up" off the table. A narrow chest will cause a rabbit to lift its head to expand its lungs in order to breathe properly. You can push that rabbit's head down to the table all you want, but it will FIGHT YOU. In my barn, that's a cull. Sometimes, a rabbit will keep its head low enough, but pop its elbows up off the table. This is often caused by a poor shoulder. If a rabbit will not keep its elbows down, I'd also consider that a cull. Your goal is to get the rabbit to sit still properly for evaluation.

In the second picture, I posted my usual "hands on" type picture. Not ideal in the least bit, but I am not pushing on his head or shoulders. Note the placement of my thumb. It is not over the ears, over the shoulder, or along the leg. I'm simply holding my fingers to his forehead to keep him still. You can see his type isn't skewed from the first picture.

In the third picture, I did my best to replicate smashing his head into the table. He wasn't happy, so I couldn't go as extreme as a lot of pictures that I see. But why wouldn't he be unhappy? His head. Is getting smashed. Into the table. It's popping his elbows up, pulling his shoulders forward, and causing his hindquarters to slope off. You should not have to do this to a rabbit to get it to pose.

In the fourth picture, I did my best to replicate the single most annoying pet peeve in my book. I am wrapping my fingers completely around his head, over his neck, and pulling everything forward. This poor boy had no idea what to make of it and I almost thought I wasn't pulling it off. Never place your thumb over the shoulder or neck when posing or taking a picture. This makes his shoulders look incredibly long and is making him pull his hind feet forward to balance himself.

In general, be firm but gentle. Practice often. If a rabbit fights a pose, it's probably never going to pose properly.