To discuss a standard is a very complex topic as you will invariably find yourself between the standard text, birds you have seen or bred and your own opinions. One of the hardest things to do is actually to stick to the requirements of the standard and not to be carried astray by personal likening.

I will in this section try and dwell on the standard text and highlight the things I feel are the hardest to understand or need attention by breeders and judges. To do so I need to quote from the official IBTC Standard. Standard quotations will appear in italic.

General Appearance:

The Bokhara is a large full-bodied exhibition pigeon. In shape and

station it is low standing, broad, short-necked, and close to the ground. Its station is one that approaches a position that is parallel to the ground it is long, low, and broad. Its legs are widely set and short. It’s feathering is profuse, soft, long, wide and with strong quills. The breed is distinguished from other double-crested muffed Trumpeters by its extremely well-developed rose, wrapping shell & boots. In all aspects it alludes to massive size and dense feathering.

The general appearance describes the bird as it shall appear at first impression. Notice that low and broad are stressed over and over again. Far too many Bokharas today are neither low nor broad(wide).

The correct low seal-like appearance on widely set legs with a gracefully arched bull neck and the circle-in-the-circle rose/shell combination facing you, when you study the bird at eye level is what you should aim for. Not just part of the package as so many do today, like stressing one feature only such as wrap in the shell or overly long boots. The word long appears in overall appearance but I must stress that this refers to the overall size of the bird and the width of body required will not allow the bird to appear long.
Long also means narrow optically and this is the last thing you want to see in your Bokharas. Pay attention to the words profuse and dense describing the feathering. It is this feather combined with the physics of the skeleton that creates the true solid Bokhara appearance.

Rose (20 points):

The rose is a crown of feathers emanating from a point slightly

forward of the center of the skull and lying in all directions. The longest feathers of the rose are as nearly as possible of equal length forming a perfect circle, which covers the eyes and beak. The rose is flat and densely feathered. The rose is to have a smooth flowing appearance without looking coarse, all feathers are to be in place. The rose feathers are from the point of contact with the skin, to take the shortest path to the outside edge of the rose. The larger, rounder, flatter and more densely feathered the rose is the more valued it shall be.

Covering the beak means just that, the tip of the beak shall not be visible. Regardless how good your Bokhara otherwise is, if the tip of the beak is visible it is a poor show Bokhara. Covering the eyes does not mean the rose feathers shall drop down as to cover the eyes, it means they grow to the side and in such a manner and at such length and thickness that seeing the eyes is no longer possible unless you take the bird in hand, even then you should not be able to see the eyes without a bit of searching. Smooth means just that, the ideal rose appears

as one solid piece and the individual feather not readily noticeable. Flat means that no feathers shall rise from the surface of the rose nor shall the rose drop around the head. That does not mean the rose shall be like a pancake but certainly, a feeling of flat must come to mind with studying it.

Roundness (6 points):

To be perfectly round, if a measurement was to be taken with the ruler running through the centre point from which the feathers emanate to any diameter across the rose, the measurement should be the same. The outer circumference is to be continuous & unbroken with a smooth edge. Faults: Any splits or gaps in the rose, usually found over the eyes. Oval rose commonly narrower across the eyes. Feathers not taking the shortest path to the out side edge of the rose. Middle of rose off centre. The outer circumference having a saw tooth effect.

When the first group of Bokharas reached England in 1865 it was the size and roundness of the rose that stood out, alongside with the full chest and large size  of the Bokhara compared to the Trumpeter

pigeons known at the time. This is what was breathtaking to people who then only know the common older type Trumpeter which much less developed head
To this day we must remember this, we want the rose as large as possible but even more we want it round, flat and thick.
Round is not hard to understand, the diameter from left to right shall be the same as from the front to the back, through the center of the rose. For the rose to appear truly round and smooth the upper layer of feathers must be slightly longer than those below to have even edges  and not too many birds have that. Many large roses will give the appearance of the lower layers being longer in feather than the upper layer creating rough looking edges.

Size (6points):

To be as large as possible while still being in proportion with the rest of the bird. The ideal is based on a 2 1/2" rose. Faults: A severe fault would be a rose that isn't large enough to cover the beak, (When viewed from above or the front) In this case no points are to be given for size. Oversize rose that's not in proportion with the body & boots.

Were the standard written today the text would likely read a 2 3/4” rose as the ideal. Reality is that round roses come from 2 1/2” to almost 3”. Certainly, there are birds that are over 3” across the eyes or more but then most often the length from front to back is 3 1/2 ”

From a show point oversize is as much a fault as undersize. The oversize is readily seen when the rose of the bird does not meet the required balance to balance out the bird. The rose is simply too large for the shell and body width to give the front view required by the standard. The standard is based on balance and offers dimensions of the various parts in correlation to the rose. A 3” rose needs a much larger body, shell and boots to keep to the standard than a 2 ½” rose. Very few 3” rosed birds have the required body width for the size of the rose.

Flatness (4 points):

The rose is to be as flat  as possible with the outer edge having a gentle curve down, The rose is to havea smooth appearance.

Faults: Any feathers in the rose not laying flat, Spikes or side burns pushing through the rose. Pinched rose, Excessively drooping rose. Coarse looking rose lacking smoothness.

A pinched rose is still and have always been a major issue in Bokharas. It is also referred to as the V shape rose. The front part of the rose seems to drop down on the sides of the beak. This is a MAJOR fault as it affects size – roundness – the flatness of rose all at the same time.

This fault is a combo of two things – lack of strength and thickness (and sometimes too much curve to the feather) in the feathers in the rose and lack of width of skull. The shorter the distance is from point where the beak is set to the center of the eyes the wider is the skull and the more support does the skull offer in helping the rose feathers growing flat on the front part of the head.
To understand the mechanics behind it imagine a rose on a long faced bird like the English Show Homer and one a short faced bird like the English owl. The wider short owl skull will  support in keeping up the rose feathers growing to all sides at an even manner and while a good Show Homer is also wide in skull it is also long and the rose feathers will hang around the head in an oval fashion as the length of skull does not correspond with the width if a round  rose is the goal.
We want the rose feathers blending together smoothly together so that the individual feathers are not readily noticed. This effect is easiest obtained on blue Bokharas as the last many shows have clarified and this is, one of the reasons behind the dominance of blues in the winners’ circle.
Feathers rising from the surface is another problem area, like the upper layer is too short to lie flat and will stand slightly up, enough to greatly disturb the impression of flat. Especially the birds with correct massive necks seem have been plagued with this issue, no doubt there is a correlation between feather type and visual appearance and our challenge is we probably need more feather types on the same bird than nature allows us

Thickness(4 points):

The rose is to appear thick & densely feathered, made up of

many layers.

Faults: Sparsely feathered & thin looking rose.

Gaps in the rose are just not a fault, they are a major fault. The Bokhara at first stood out for its large thick round rose and while I am sure that the 1865 rose by no means met what we have achieved 154 years later we must never compromise the ideal rose shape in judging our Bokharas. There shall be enough layers that the rose appears thick. Problem area is most often over the eyes on either side of

the head where some otherwise good birds are at fault, being down to 1 or 2 layers of feathers which very easily gives the impression of a split rose. A split rose is a MAJOR fault as it affects roundness and thickness.

The rose fault we did not foresee

And therefore, it is not mentioned in the standard. As shells have gotten thicker with much more wrap on the sides of the skull they have also gotten thinner in the middle with a tendency to split and we see now in some cases this split will continue into the back part of the rose (or probably emerging from there). As if the

feather will grow left and right but not straight back. This must be watched carefully, or we will end up with major issues to deal with, more than we already have with the split shells becoming more and more dominant.

The feather type needed in rose

To breed a good rose you need a strong wide feather with a slight downward curve to the end. If you stick to a straight feather you will get a bigger rose but you will also get a thinner looking rose, not appearing as dense and smooth as it should (Not to take into account the multiple issues straight feathers lead to in

other areas of the Bokhara).
The feathers needed for a correct shell are partly offering trouble for rose size and flatness but helps smoothness as these feathers show a great deal of curve and width but to such a degree they tend to curve too much in the rose and if the skull is not correct you get those birds with impressive wrapping shells and V shaped appearance in the front to the rose.

Judging the rose

No part of the Bokhara is judged individually as such but must been seen in correlation with overall balance of the bird. We judge them both on the floor and in the hand and want a pigeon which does not change its appearance when picked up and handled. Easier said than bred.

Some roses faults will only appear in the hand or more readily and be more obvious, gaps and V shape being two. On the other hand, smoothness is often better in hand than on the floor as the bird will tighten its feather when handled. Here the judge must use a reasonable gut feeling. While the ideal is our goal no Bokhara is a ideal to the present standard. I can not tell you what to do as the standard offers the opportunity for the judge to judge and it is not a check list but keep in mind what the breed is made from and what sets the Bokhara apart from any other pigeons. These are also the areas where fewest faults should be tolerated.
A good judge will use words wisely – do not use a word like “gap” if you mean “slightly thicker over the eyes”. You can easily corner yourself on words where people will then feel you did penalize the faults you just listed.