Saturday, April 25, 2015

Bunny Show Jumping...It's A Thing

I don't know about you, but my levels of horse crazy as a kid meant that every animal my family had was taught to jump at one point or another.  The cocker spaniel jumped courses for lunch meat treats, the cat jumped a sideways stool in the hallway for a tasty cat treat.  I even made courses for myself and jumped them in the backyard (FYI, the set of human jumps my childhood bestie made for me as a birthday present is still one of the best gifts ever!  We also used to set up little courses in her back yard and coax her llama to jump with grain.  We were jump crazy.)  So there you have it.  I was the weird crazy, horse-obsessed kid that liked to jump everything and taught my pets to jump all the thingz.

Fast forward to my adult years.  We became bunny owners in 2010 and again in 2011.  Imagine my shock, awe and pure excitement to learn about Bunny Show Jumping.  Yes, my friends, Bunny Show Jumping is a thing!

You didn't believe me, did you!!!
Photo from horsecollaborative.com

Now, my bunnies haven't learned how to jump anything, though August (who is the more athletic of the two) has been known to leap over the bunny tunnel as a short cut to the Treat Lady (me) or to leap over Heff when he is feeling particularly ornery and tries to chase her. It's rather comical to watch him hop up to chase her, she just leaps over the top of him like, EFF YO GAME, HOLMES!

I imagine this would be an accurate depiction of Heff's jump:
an uncalculated flining of one's body.
Photo from dailymail.co.uk
Anyway, back to the Bunny Show Jumping.  A few fun facts according to Wikipedia:

1.  Bunny Show Jumping originated in Sweden in the '70s with rules based on horse show jumping.  The rules have since evolved to better suit the bunnies.  It came over to America in 2001 with the first competition in the US in 2011.

2.  The world record jump is 39.4 inches by Snoflingans Majesty of Night ("Aysel") in Sweden in 2013. (And I thought there were some silly horse names out there!)

I don't think this is actually an Olympic sport...
but how cool would that be?!
Photo from thesun.co.uk
3.  Bunny jumping competitions consist of a straight course, a crooked course, a high jump and a long jump.  The straight and crooked courses have 5 levels from Mini to Elite (based on height of the jumps).  The bunnies have to earn points to advance to the next level.
This must be the Mini Level
Photo from dailymail.co.uk
And now, because you probably don't believe me, I present to you...BUNNY SHOW JUMPING!!!


Just don't expect to see any adventures into Bunny Show Jumping with Heff and August...this photo pretty much sums up both of their feelings on the matter:

The Disapproval is strong with this one.


14 comments:

  1. Bunny show jumping is the CUTEST! :) Maybe I can train Mr. Topher... Lucky would not be interested!

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    1. Isn't it?! August likes to jump over things, but I don't think she likes to be told what to do. :-)

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  2. Obviously you need to get a third bunny to jump!

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    1. Obviously! But that would be my descent into Crazy Bunny Ladyness. :-)

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  3. Reason #647 I need a rabbit...so cute!!!

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    1. They are so much fun! Their little personalities are 100x bigger than they are!

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  4. Reason #647 I need a rabbit...so cute!!!

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  5. I want to see bunny jumping in person SO BAD

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  6. I haven't been active but... come back! I like your posts!!! Miss you.

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    1. Aww, thanks! It's been a bit crazy around here! I moved, work is going nuts and trying to get ready to show leaves me with less time to blog! Apparently, they don't like it when you try to blog at work...(work? what's that?!) I will post soon!

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