Linked from:  ARBA Judges' Education Site Click Here

Balance – Defining and Achieving the Elusive!

Balance, the word heard across the show table time and again. What does it mean, exactly? Most exhibitors get frustrated when they hear the Judge say, "Lack’s balance," without providing any further commentary referring to what the particular problem may be. As with every other comment that comes from a judge, you should be able to use it to make improvements in subsequent generations. Either by culling against or for a particular trait, improvement should occur.

That is, if you are a rabbit breeder. There are actually many types of rabbit exhibitors at rabbit shows, but all are not rabbit breeders.

          1) There are those who buy stock and exhibit it. They get their pleasure
               from the pure essence of winning, and if not for them we’d probably
               have lower prices and fewer showmen.

          2) Another type of exhibitor is the one who merely feeds stock and
              exhibits it. They may buy young stock from good parents, feed and
              rear it, culling along the way, and eventually show it. These folks have a
              lovely herd, because they get rid of poor stock when it is still young.
             They can afford to do this, as the prices they usually pay for stock are
              relatively low. They are taking a risk that the genetics will come through,
              that the youngsters will actually grow up to realize their full potential,
              and that the promise of breeding is fulfilled.

          3) The third tier of exhibitor is the breeder. They listen at the shows, cull
               based upon listening, learning, and handling, and generate stock so that
               the other two types of exhibitors can have a hobby.

All three types are needed to create the showroom experience. None is more expert than the other, but it is hard for the first two types to respond to a "Poor Balance" judging comment. The only way to change balance is to breed and cull into the next generation. Balance cannot be fed out, groomed out, doctored out, or exercised out. It is a structural element that is not changed except by selective breeding and culling subsequent generations.

Balance comes whenever any particular body part is out of accepted proportion for that breed. It is truly an "imbalance" in appearance. It is critical for breeders to comprehend that references to balance must consist of comparing two or more items. The commentary cannot be an absolute comment, based upon a value. It must be relative to something.

Many times the referent is understood, but if it isn’t, the clarification must be asked for and provided. As an example, a comment from the judge may be "Head is too small". This implies that it is too small in relation to the particular body to which it is attached. A more vague and misleading comment may be, "Too low in shoulders" which is an absolute comment. Is the shoulder too low relative to the depth at the hips, too low relative to where the head is carried, or too low relative to the actual start of the top line?

Many balance comments are made when a rabbit is too wide in the rear, too narrow in the shoulders, or too wide or narrow in the midsection… relative to what?? Some judges will help the breeder out with a comment such as " Rabbit is too narrow in the hindquarter when compared to an excellent and wide set of shoulders." This would say to the breeder that the hindquarters might actually be acceptable, if the shoulders were a bit narrower. Narrower shoulders would alter the taper of the specific rabbit, making it more "balanced" and thus more acceptable from a show evaluation standpoint.

Depth over the hindquarter may be "too low" when compared to some very high shoulders, making the top line too level and thus not acceptable for the breed standard. Thus lower shoulders would again bring the rabbit back into balance and make the animal more close to the breed standard. A particularly frustrating comment that is perfectly valid is.. "Good head, very good body type, but animal lacks balance in that the head is far too small for the overall body size." This says you have can have an animal that has excellent "parts" but still isn’t ‘excellent’ in total. The animal is truly the sum of it’s parts, how they blend and morph to present a coherent whole, and isn’t the sum of the points that could be awarded to the parts if they were evaluated separately. This brings the essence of balance into perspective.

"Breeding for Balance" is the watchword for the new millennium. Breeding two matching and balanced parents will be the best direction for odds-on success. However, that is not to say that breeding two animals with complementary traits won’t yield success. The difference with the two methods is that the second requires much more culling and a more practiced eye.

The practice of developing a particular and personal strain will result in more uniform, balanced stock than any other breeding approach. It has been less discussed in the last ten years than previously. That is attributed to the fact that good rabbits are more available than they have been in the past. People didn’t use to ship rabbits, nor did they travel great distances for shows as they do today. The ability of rabbit breeders to import, ship by airfreight, and cross great distances to exchange stock has created a mind set that advances can be made more quickly by bringing in new stock, rather than by the tedious process of years and years of breeding close relatives. The overall quality, uniformity and balance of many individual herds around the country has given many breeders the feeling that they can combine these balanced and winning individual animals together to get more offspring like the parents. Also, it is the prevailing belief that the further away a rabbit comes from, the better it may be!!