Commercial Body Type Assessment
Both of the breeds we have here at Dichrome Rabbitry are commercial type breeds, though harlequins definitely suffer in the body type department (since only 10 points are allotted to all of general type in them!). We strive for good body type, and we are working on improving it in our harlequins, while still keeping markings. That means it is a long, slow process, however we have made significant improvements. But what is good commercial body type? While many people are pretty good at assessing body type from side profiles, the top and rear profiles so often get left out of the discussion! Commercial body type is type meant to pack the most meat onto a rabbit. While not every commercial breed rabbit will be used for the purpose of meat, that was what the breeds were originally intended for. We understand this may upset some readers, but please keep in mind that this was the original intent of commercial breeds.
Keep in mind that the topline can only be fully properly assessed if the rabbits are properly posed! Please view our article on Posing Commercial Breeds for more information on how to correctly pose your rabbit!
Side Profile (AKA "Topline")
Good commercial type has medium length. It is not as cobby as compact breeds. We're not looking for extremely short like we would be in a mini rex or a Dutch. The deepest part of the body (called the 'peak') should sit right over the center of the hips when the rabbit is properly posed. We will discuss posing tips at the end of this article! The rise of the topline should start immediately behind the neck and rise gradually up to the deepest part of the body (called the 'peak'), which should sit right over the center of the hips. Avoid hindquarters that cut off abruptly or slope off. While the side profile is not the best angle to tell pinched hindquarters, you can see it if you look closely.
Young rabbits lengthen out! Young rabbits tend to be shorter than they will be as adults (especially in the shoulders!), so if you see extra length at evaluation age, expect it will only get worse with maturity. At evaluation age, you want to see almost a compact type body, because it will lengthen out. Still look for a peak right over the center of the hips, flowing into a rounded hindquarter. Also keep in mind that young rabbits are notorious for fighting posing! They will hunch shoulders (making them look long and low in the shoulder), stretch out (making the loins look too long and depth of body look terrible), and do the most bizarre things with their rears (making hindquarters look chopped or sloped). As a quick tip, keeping your hand over their head but not wrapping it to their neck or ears will help keep them from elongating as much. Otherwise, just keep working with them until they stop fighting you! For most commercial breeds, sometime between 8-12 weeks is ideal for evaluating. We like to look at 8-9 weeks for topline, as they tend to go into the ugly growth stage and elongate over the shoulders soon after that!
Good Examples of Toplines
A rex with a very nice topline. We can't fully assess the shoulders, as the ears are over them, but from what we can see, she tapers nicely up to a peak over the hips and rounds smoothly into a nice hindquarter. Photo credit Shady Brook Rabbitry
An 11 week old rex junior doe with a lovely short body and roundness to the hindquarter. Notice how much shorter in body this young rabbit is compared to the mature one to the left. She is probably just about to hit her 'ugly stage' then mature back to a nice profile. Photo credit Shady Brook Rabbitry
A 4 month old silver fox junior doe with fantastic depth of body. She holds her depth even without a hand in place, showing she tends to naturally fall into a correct pose. Always a good sign! Again, notice that she is cobbier than ideal for commercial type, but she should mature into the medium length commercial type.
Photo credit Silver Havens - Loveland, CO
A very nice mature chocolate silver marten showing a lovely topline and a smooth transition over the hindquarters. Photo credit Plute Family Farm
This French lops shows fantastic depth of body and appears to peak properly over the center of the hips, despite the photo being not fully from the side. Photo credit Aiden Rose Lapinel
Another nice rex. Photo is not quite fully side profile, but you can still see the excellent depth of body, peaking very close to the center of the hips, and rounding nicely over the hindquarters. Photo credit Hidden Maple Rabbitry.
Specific Topline Faults and Strengths
This rabbit peaks early. Notice the highest point of the topline is over the midsection rather than centered over the hips (red vertical indicates approximate center of hips where the peak should be, horizontal red line shows the actual peak). It does otherwise have a nice length of body and flows into a smooth hindquarter (yellow line) that does not slope off or cut off. The shoulders also start immediately and rise quite nicely (green line) Photo credit Sculps Hill Rabbitry
This is a mature doe. She peaks too early (vertical red shows where her hips are, back further than expected due to the longer midsection, which is likely contributing to her early peak which is indicated with the short horizontal red line), is a bit long and low in the shoulder, and is a bit pinched in the hindquarter. Notice the way the hips stick out (pink arrow) instead of blending smoothly. This is typically a sign of pinched hindquarters. As you look at the lower hindquarters, you can see they appear to cut in under the hips (circled in white), another indication of pinched hindquarters. Along with the hips sticking out, the shadow in front of the hips shows an indent there instead of smoothness to the hips. Also notice the dip in the shoulders (green line) and how the rise starts well back of the nape of the neck. This is a combination of low and long shoulders. Photo credit Rambling Rose Ranch
This palomino brood doe (6.5 months old) has shoulders longer and a smidge lower than idea (green line), but her peak is set over the hips (vertical line is center of hips and red horizontal line is where her peak is, very nice!) and rounds smoothly (yellow line) into a nice hindquarter. Photo credit 3B Rabbitry
This is the same palomino doe as above, only at 4.5 months old. You can see how she lengthened in just 2 months.
Ariadne is our best type harlequin so far. The breed severely lacks in type, so we have been working hard on it! She peaks a touch early (red vertical line shows approximately where we would like to see the peak, red horizontal line shows where it actually peaks). We would like to see it move back a little. You can see that her shoulder is just a tiny bit long (circled in blue), though this may be due to her age, too, as she is not quite 5 months old. Notice, however, that her hips do poke out a bit, and you can see that there is an indent (circled in green) from the hips to the lower hindquarters. This is a sign of pinched hindquarters. The yellow line denotes what a nice turn over her hindquarter she has! She is massively improved from our starting type, though, so we are quite happy to have bred her!
This young harlequin doe shows severely low shoulders (green line). Pink line indicates how the shoulders should rise, though she would still be long in the shoulders with that pink line. She is also too long through the midsection (blue line) and peaks far too early (red line is where she should peak). She does round off fairly nicely through the hindquarter (yellow line), though, and she is not too badly pinched. This was a doe we chose not to keep for our breeding program, despite her nice marking clarity.
This buck is long throughout. He is a little low in his shoulder (green line), but really the biggest problem with his shoulders is just far too much length (lower green line). There is very little rise from shoulders to hindquarters (green line). The length means he lacks depth, respectively. The pink line indicates a better shoulder. He peaks too soon, over the midsection rather than the center of the hips (ideal peak indicated with red vertical line, short red horizontal line is his actual peak). He does round off nicely to the hindquarters (yellow line), but he shows signs of a slightly undercut lower hindquarters (black line). That means instead of rounding off, it either falls straight down or even (in his case), angles in. This is a buck from our markings line. We are slowly integrating our markings and type lines, but it is a very slow progression so we don't lose markings while chasing type!
This is a young silver fox x continental giant mix. She peaks far forward (almost at the shoulders), which causes her to slope off dramatically (yellow line). Vertical line shows approximate ideal peak position for this rabbit, while the short, horizontal red line shows the actual peak. Photo credit Crazy Cluckers
This was a doe we used for one specific part; her peak. Her peak is a bit too far back (unusual!), which contributes to her hindquarters being chopped off (white line). The red horizontal line shows her actual peak, while the red vertical line shows where her peak should be. This helped us move the peaks in our herd back to over the center of the hips, as we were struggling with the peak too far forward. She was also very long in shoulder (green line), though her shoulders did show a nice gradual rise so were not low.
Top Profile
From the top view, you want to see well-developed shoulders that are slightly narrower than the hips. There should be a slight taper from shoulder to hips. The hips should round nicely into a well-filled hindquarter. This is a good angle from which to check for hollow loins, prominent pinbones, and narrowness throughout.
When evaluating young rabbits, loins and upper hindquarters tend to fill in more. It is often worth growing out a young rabbit that has yet to fill in through those areas. Pinched hindquarters will not improve with age and often get worse.
Good Examples of Top Profiles
Atlas (our one Californian!) as an intermediate buck shows well-developed shoulders tapering gently to the widest point at the hips. His hindquarters are well filled from loins all the way to the table. The hips show excellent roundness from this profile. Notice how nothing sticks out as obvious. He is likely to fill in even more across his hips with maturity. Being a smidge nit-picky, we could see even a little bit more width to his shoulders to make the taper just that much smoother, though part of this is the angle of the photo (taken to try to really show off that nice rear, I could have instead placed the camera more centered over the body; shows how much camera placement can affect things, too!)
A nice junior American Sable. She is likely to fill out that little bit of narrowness to the hindquarter as she matures. Her shoulders appear a smidge narrow, but she also looks to be leaning slightly in this photo, which can cause that. Photo credit Rambling Rose Ranch
This rex shows a very nice top profile. The shoulders are very well-developed and taper just slightly to the midsection, which flows fairly smoothly into the hindquarters. The hindquarters show a slight indent in the middle, indicating extreme meatiness due to very well-filled hindquarters.
Photo credit Hidden Maple Rabbitry.
Specific Top Profile Faults and Strengths
This is a buck we unfortunately lost to stress during 4th of July fireworks. He shows excellent width throughout, tapering nicely to hips, and with full, rounded hindquarters. You can see where his shading makes him look a bit hollow under the hips (green arrow), but that is just color. The fault we notice from this view (blue arrow) is how low his shoulders are. He was right in the 'uglies' during this photo (14 weeks), but he was long and low during evaluations, and we had kept him for his fantastic width and fullness.
This is a doe we moved out of our program. You can see more obvious evidence of hips (pink lines show the hollows), indicating hollow loins here. She also lacks fullness through the hindquarters (yellow lines show how she should be filled out). You can also see evidence of low and long shoulders by the placement of the shadow in the green circled area, as well as how they kind of dip in a bit instead of tapering smoothly.
This doe is from our marking lines. She is a hot mess, type-wise. She has narrow and a bit long shoulders (green lines). She has protruding hips (blue) and hollow loins. She has pinched hindquarters, and you can see (yellow line) how lacking in fullness she is throughout the upper hindquarters and loins as well. We are slowly integrating our type lines with our marking lines, but it is a serious work in progress!
Rear Profile
From the rear view, the hindquarters should be well-filled and rounded. The hip bones should not protrude, and there should be no roughness over the spine. Some loins will be so full that there will be a slight dip over the spine. This is fine and is an indication of good commercial traits! Bear in mind when evaluating young stock that loins may fill in quite a bit with age, but they should not feel rough or truly sunken. Different lines fill in the loins at different ages, so it helps to keep track of best ages to evaluate different traits in your lines.
Good Examples of Rear Profiles
The single Californian in our barn is once again showing off why Californians so often win best in show! He is round and well filled throughout, with no hint of any roughness, no catch over the hips, and beautiful width to the table. He was an intermediate here and filled out a bit more over the hips and through the loin. You can see the slight dip over the spine due to his well-filled loins! He is just barely shy of equal depth to width, but he is almost exactly square!
This boy showed excellent width and fullness. Notice that his height and depth ratio is just about perfectly equal, such that I can put a square on him. He was about 14 weeks old in this photo and would likely have filled in quite a bit more. You can see his slight dip over the spine due to well-filled loins. Sadly, we lost him due stress during 4th of July fireworks.
While this very young senior is leaning to one side, we can still see that he is well filled across the loins. If you look at the side he is not leaning onto (look to the left in this photo), you can see that his fullness comes down to the table. He is lacking a bit more width than the first buck so is a little less balanced width-to-height ratio than the other two. I suspect this is mostly due to the way he is leaning, though. Shows the importance of mastering posing!
Specific Rear Profile Faults and Strengths
While this 9 week old buck has some decent smoothness throughout, he lacks overall width to balance with his depth. If we could get just a bit wider base and carry it up, we would be great! He may widen out with time, but we suspect he will always be a bit narrow. My mouse drawing skills are terrible, but the yellow line indicates about where I would like to see this view.
This harlequin has two common problems found in the breed. She has hollow loins (pink line), indicated by the clear dip from the back to the hips. She also has pinched hindquarters, easily seen by the way her hindquarters narrow from the hips to the base (green lines). The yellow lines indicate approximately where she should be, ideally.
This is a buck who has a pretty well-filled loin (yellow line), which is unusual for a harlequin. He does, however, have the typical pinched hindquarters (green line) found in the breed. He is also nicely marked, so we kept him for that loin and markings. Hopefully we can add on some topline and lower hindquarters eventually!
Underside View
This is another one no one talks about! While the underside view does not give us a lot of details, it does tell us one very important thing about structure! It tells us right away if we have pinched hindquarters and cowhocks. This is something we can check as early as when the kits start coming out of the nestbox. When you turn them over, you want to see hocks that have a tendency to fall into place in perfectly parallel lines with plenty of width between them. If you can draw a square from toes to end of hocks and between the two hocks, those are good hocks!
Good Examples of Underside View
Lovely straight hocks with decent width between them. Could have a bit more width to make a proper square, but pretty good! Photo credit Nanoni's Lil' Niche
Hocks held at a different angle, but you can s till see good width between them and decent straightness. Photo credit Makayla Soper
Straight hocks and width are a trait that can be seen from a very young age, essentially by the time they are out of the nestbox. This kit will likely end up too narrow, though.
A young kit with beautiful straight hocks and good width between them. Photo credit Nanoni's Lil' Niche
Even at a mere 3 days old, you can check for straight hocks and good width! Photo credit Nanoni's Lil' Niche
Gaston has lovely straight hocks with good width between them! We'd love even more, but this is fantastic for a harlequin!
Nice straight and decently wide hocks on Dragon, a silver marten junior. Again, would love to see even more width between them.
Californian 'sport' silver marten kit with nice wide, straight hocks, though we prefer even more width between them!
Specific Underside View Faults and Strengths
While still better than many harlequins, this doe shows the characteristic "V" shape in how she holds her hocks. This indicates pinched hindquarters and cowhocks.
This rabbit shows lovely straight hocks (teal lines) with only the very slightest turn in, though they are narrow (indicating narrowness throughout rather than merely pinched hindquarters). Pink lines show how narrow his hocks are, forming a rectangle rather than a square. We kept him to grow out, though, as the straight hocks are severely lacking in harlequins!
This young buck shows nice width but has slightly turned in hocks (teal lines). If the hocks were straight, he would be very close to a square shape (pink square) between and along the hocks.
Final Tips
In order to fully assess a rabbit's body type, we highly recommend closing your eyes and feeling. Get your initial impression looking, but don't let it sit too strongly in your head until you close your eyes and feel. Color, markings, and coat can all throw the eye off. Shaded colors (like sable) and pseudo-shaded colors (like tort, sallander, and fox) can sometimes make certain areas look more hollow, make the rabbits look like they have prominent pinbones, etc. Skin rolls, thick fur, and certain shading or colors can make a rabbit appear fuller through the hindquarters than it actually is. Always be sure what you see is backed up by what you feel!
A rabbit that naturally falls into a correct pose is also more likely to be truly correct! If a rabbit simply cannot pose well, even with plenty of work to teach it to, likely something is structurally wrong with it. Keep in mind that some just really like to fight you, so give them time to settle in and get used to being posed! We always do short sessions and reward even a moment of good posing with a treat.
Get your hands on as many rabbits as you can! Ask the best of breed winners in the strong commercial breeds (like Californians and New Zealands) if you can run your hands over their rabbits. Let them know you're trying to learn good commercial type. The more rabbits you feel, the better you will get at assessing commercial type. Listen to judges as they judge. Ideally, help out at the judge's table (write for the judge!), and you will be right there to see the rabbits and hear the comments the judge makes for every breed. If you volunteer to write for a judge, most show secretaries are wonderful about helping make sure you get your own rabbits up to the table on time! Just let them know what table you will be at and that you may need them to let you know when your breed is close to being up (and will need a replacement writer for the table when it does go up!). Some judges may even let you go over rabbits, if you let them know you are trying to learn. Ask before a breed starts, and see if they will let you feel certain faults. Especially if you have not encountered said fault before or are not sure what good or bad of a certain trait is!