Show Jumping

[FoxFire]

[ame]http://youtube.com/watch?v=cNPOdffkkLo[/ame]

anyone ever seen this? heard of it? done it?
i want to teach mine to do this... maybe not on a profesional scale,
but... it would still be something fun to do with them :biggrin2:

 

[Mikoli]

Oh yeah. I so call answering this question.

[align=center]Hopping High
[/align]Rabbit hopping (also known as rabbit show jumping, or kaninhop in Danish), is a sport in which a rabbit on a harness and leash jump over a set course of obstacles. Their round is timed, and they are faulted on how many times the rabbit knocks down a jump, goes around it, goes off course, or an error of the handler.

[align=center]Introducing Ollie
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[align=left]Ollie is a one year old dwarf lop rabbit living in Victoria, Australia. He is a very outgoing and curious rabbit, and loves the great outdoors. He does not like being an indoor rabbit, so he is now an outdoor rabbit. This little fluffy bun and his owner discovered a sport when he was around 4 months old. This is the sport, of rabbit hopping.

He has shown a reasonable level of talent for this unique sport, and has his jumping height record currently at 53cm high. What makes him unique in this sport, however, is the enthusiasm he shows when completing a course. He may not be the fastest, the fittest, the best bred or the most talented, but he puts his heart into it when he jumps, and tries his best to do whatever his handler asks him.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of competitions around this area, Ollie has never competed in a proper competition. However, he often competes in practice, or "training" shows with rabbits owned by close friends and family. He has had a good amount of success in these, and adjusts to new surroundings quite quickly.

[align=center]"Natural" Rabbit Hopping
[align=left]Natural rabbit hopping was a discovery of my own, and is relatively new. Not many people have heard of it, and it is not recognised amoung the rabbit hopping community as a common practice, but it is an excellent way to train new, nervous or unconfident outdoor rabbits to do rabbit hopping.

Natural Rabbit Hopping uses everyday objects, such as logs, ditches, wood, small ponds etc. and uses them to train the rabbit to jump. These are objects which, in the wild, rabbits do not find unusual. It allows the rabbit to jump confidently, without having to get used to any new jumps. The rabbit can get fit and learn by jumping over these jumps, before starting on the more common jumps, to allow him to be jumping high and in a nice style before the proper training even starts.

[align=center]Rabbit Hopping Websites
[align=left]If you're interested in getting into Rabbit Hopping with your rabbit, there are a number of useful websites that can point you in the right direction as far as rabbit hopping goes. Below is a quick list of them. If you need any one on one training advice, feel free to send me a message.

http://kaninhop.dk/uk
http://mikolikaninhop.tripod.com/ OR http://www.freewebs.com/mikolirabbithopping/ (Currently moving)
http://rabbitagility.com/ (Similar to Rabbit Hopping)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RabbitHopping/ (If you are a member of yahoo)
http://www.freewebs.com/mikoli--ollie/ (Ollie's website).


I hope that helps,
Rachel.
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[TK Bunnies]

Yeah I saw that. It was post up on line a couple weeks ago.I would love to get my buns into jumping.

It's sooo cool that Ollie show jumps. I wish I could get mine to that. I bet Teacup would be really good.

-TK

 

[FoxFire]

hey thanks for the info!
i wonder how much it wuld cost me, in regards to equipment, if i decided to build my own jumps.... i would probably get funny looks from the locals if i even mentioned show jumping rabbits.....

 

[Mikoli]

FoxFire, what country do you live in? I know that in America, Denmark, Sweden, and in some parts of Australia there are some rabbit hopping organisations.

And making rabbit hopping equpitment is very simple. If you go to an old furniture repair shop or if you have any old wood lying around, all you need is two long posts, a base, some round poles and a bit of common sense to put together a simple jump. If you don't have enough things to start with, you can use two buckets and a few sticks to make a simple jump, or, as I mention in natural rabbit hopping, use a few small logs or some grass to make something.

Rachel.

 

[FoxFire]

i live in the southern part of the US, florida to be specific
and yeah i have tons of things to use for jumps lol no worries there, its just that a lot of it is old fallen trees, besides the hickory tree, we also have a fallen pine, and a couple of others, but they're HUGE.. i would need a tractor to move them lol
i would be able to work with some of the branches and a few blocks lying around the place, but if i wanted to upgrade to higher jumps i would probably have to spend some money.

one thing i wonder.... whats the downside to this? is it like with horses? can a bunny get injured, or damage knees and ligaments? and... once they learn how to jump, would it be harder to keep them in an enclosure? i' always wondered how show jumping horses were kept their paddocks.. whats to keep them from just leaping over the fences when ever they want?

 

[Mikoli]

FoxFire wrote:

i live in the southern part of the US, florida to be specific

one thing i wonder.... whats the downside to this? is it like with horses? can a bunny get injured, or damage knees and ligaments? and... once they learn how to jump, would it be harder to keep them in an enclosure? i' always wondered how show jumping horses were kept their paddocks.. whats to keep them from just leaping over the fences when ever they want?

Hmm ... I can't remember off the top of my head if there are any rabbit hopping clubs in Florida, since I happen to live accross the ocean from you, but I'll keep my ears open for one. Do you use Yahoo? There is two active Yahoo groups focused on rabbit hopping which are very good for locating clubs and for advice on building and basic training of rabbits.

Well ... Like pretty much any sport or activity, there is always a chance that something could go horribly wrong and a rabbit could get injured. However, I have never heard of any rabbit getting seriously injured, and minor injuries are very uncommon. I have been hopping my rabbit all his life, and he has had more than his fair share of spills, and crashes, something going straight through a seemingly solid jump, and the worst injury he has ever had was a tiny bump on his leg, that I am 99% sure was not caused by rabbit hopping.

As for keeping rabbits in enclosures - unfortunately, yes, rabbits that have had some experience with rabbit hopping are more commonly hopping out of their enclosures. However, this depends on your rabbit's personality as much as his training. If your rabbit is outgoing, adventurous, and curious, he is likely to jump out of his enclosure, whether he has had any rabbit hopping experience or not. Rabbit hopping only asks the rabbit to jump at your command - rabbits can jump before they have any training. It may increase his fitness and ability, but this can be solved by putting a top on the enclosure, or increasing the height of the fences.

Though, in rabbit hopping, the gains heavily outweight the risks. Generally, rabbit hoppers take the rabbit's safety in the highest account, right down to the surface he lands on and the weight of the poles, so, with these safety measures in place, the risks are minimum.

Rachel.