When showing rabbits in 4H, do you do showmanship individually in front of the judge or with your age group?

Question

I won a trip to the state fair with my Mini Rex rabbit, but I have never done showmanship with rabbits before. I always had something else I had to get to (I show horses and chickens and other art projects too), so I never had the chance.

When showing rabbits, do you do your showmanship in front of the judge by yourself, or are you with your age group. I am in the senior age group (I'm 17) but this is my first time ever doing showmanship.

Also, does the judge ask you to do stuff, like check the eyes, ears, etc...or does he expect you to do the whole process at once? (If you even understand what I just said).

What order do you do everything? (Ex...check eyes, nose, ears, tatoo, s*x, toenails, etc...)

Thanks a lot!!!!!!

Answer 1

Showmanship is different from state to state. You will want to check with your particular state for the guidelines.  

Answer 2

you show in front of the judge with your age group - beginner, intermediate, or senior. seniors generally have the hardest questions. it depends on the judge what you have to do - sometimes they will have you check all the parts of your rabbit, sometimes just a few. i don't think it really matters the order you check, just that you do them all. a packet i have says to go in this order:

-Check ears

- Run hand over body to check for abcesses and blemishes

- Check front legs for crooked bone

- Check toenails (5 front, 4 back, and they have to be clipped)

- check tail (just basically pull it out gently)

*flip rabbit over*

-check eyes

-check teeth

-run hand over belly to check for blemishes

-check s*x

-check rear legs for straightness

then the judge asks you questions about your breed of rabbit, so you might want to get a copy of the standard of perfection. they also will ask you questions about different diseases the rabbit can get - that's also in the standard of perfection somewhere. so study those things and practice checking ur rabbit beforehand, and u should be fine. so good luck! =D

Answer 3

in showmanship u show individually but u are graded according to age group (beginner, intermediate, or senior) they do this because the judge mostly looks at how well u did in situations like ur rabbit cooperating. in this situation u should be calm and try to calm ur rabbit down. im pretty sure the judge expects u to show the rabbit.

i have a routine that i do with my rabbit so i never forget anything. heres my routine~~

say some sort of introduction mine is"my name is ______ and this is my rabbit______ he/she is a mini rex. he/ she is ____ years old

EARS AND EYES ON RIGHT SIDE- look for any defects like earmites, spots in eyes, blindness. and say if ur rabbit has any of these things ( if ur rabbit has a tatoo in its ear, say the tatoo to the judge)

EARS AND EYES ON LEFT SIDE-same as above

~FLIP RABBIT OVER~

NOSE- say if it has any simptoms of a disease

MOUTH- look at the teeth and say if the teeth are bucked if it has malocclusion stuff like that

FRONT LEGS- are they straight have they been broken

FRONT TOENAILS AND FEET- are the toenails all the same color? does the rabbit have its dew claws? do the feet have any sores on them?

REAR LEGS- are the straight? have they been broken?

HOCKS- look for sore hocks

REAR TOENAILS-same as front toenails(they do not have a dewclaw however)

s*x OF RABBIT- this easy male? or female?

TAIL- is it straight? has it been broken?

~TURN BACK OVER~  

FUR- is it rollback, flyback etc? is it in its prime. does ur rabibt have fleas or anyother defect? this is where i do my rabbits breed markings  

TYPE- show each side of the rabbit(front back left and right side toward the judge) for example if i was showing the right side i would say" This is my rabbits right side as u can see, the ears are straight, the tail is straight, the back of my rabbit gradually curves from the base of the ears to a high point point over the center of the hips and then round downward to a full lower hindquarter at the base of the tail.

at the end to some sort of conclusion. the judge will ask u questions

it is a good idea to know alot about ur breed of rabbit. do a lot of research. i have bought a book called the standard book of prefection it is a book about each breed of ARBA rabbit and stuff about them. it is a huge help.

also if u still dont know how to show, go to ur extension office. they might have a movie and maybe even little books on showing rabbits. mine did. i hope this helps. if u have any questions email me.