Going through years of pictures from so many meets over the years has really been an education! One of the things I've been struggling with is toplines and tail sets. Having worked with horses (Arabians - level top line is crucial!) and show dogs (various, but most recently Labradors), I understand the concept of toplines and tail sets, but wasn't sure if I was visualizing it properly.
So, being the computer nerd that I am, I decided to put a few to the test - and hopefully, in the process, train my eye for correct topline and tail set in Ameraucanas.
First, I had to look up what the APA standard says about topline (back) and tail sets. Since both the bantam and large fowl are identical (Note - there is an error for female large fowls in the APA 2010 Standard of Perfection that will be corrected in the next issue), I'm only copying and pasting one for males and one for females:
Males:
- Back: Medium length, broad, carried slightly elevated at the shoulders.
- Tail: Well spread, medium length, carried at 45 degree above horizontal, sickles well-curved.
Female- Back: Medium length, relatively broad, slightly elevated at the shoulders.
- Tail: Medium length, well spread, top two feathers slightly curved, carried at 40 degree angle above horizontal.
Ok, so now I know what it is supposed to look like. But, I'm a visual person and need to see something to really get it soaked into my brain. So I drew the following picture with three lines. One is a flat horizontal line, one is a slightly elevated topline (The standard doesn't give an angle. I used 12.5 degrees and it seemed to work fairly well. Some may vary a little below or a little above this). The third line represents the tail set, or angle. Remember this is 40 or 45 degrees from horizontal - not from the angle of the back (I had to keep reminding myself of this).
Males:
Females:
Well, that helped some, but I really needed to see it actually applied to some images of Ameraucana chickens - both bantam and large fowl.
The following pictures are all pictures that were taken from the various Meet Results. The image of the bird was cropped from the background, and solidly colored so as to remove identifying characteristics.
Bantam Males:
This first one was not a surprise. I could tell it just wasn't right, but until I applied the graphic, it was hard to tell what was wrong.
This one is much better!
Bantam Females:
Large Fowl Males:
Large Fowl Females 
I welcome any comments, critiques, or other feed back!
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