Show Jumping

[Jaded]

I want to start show jumping my bunnies

The rabbits I have chosing for this is a mix breed bunny (anogora lop x nz rex x rex x flemish giant) I have worked with the breeders to produce this breed, i beleave it will be a good jumper. Shes 10 weeks old.

The other breed is (NZ) Rex, I just got this wee girl the other day im not going to start with just yet. Shes 4 months old.

Any advice on what age to start to train them at? and how to?

Thanks!

 

[la~la~land]

So cool I'd LOVE to start jumping with my MR Brier if I can ever get him off his lazy butt lol

 

[Jaded]

lol.
Yeah I was going to jump with my satin but I heard the bigger the breed the harder hes to fat anyways.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

I would wait to do too much until they are about 4 months. You can start harness training ans doing a very low jump younger. Training the younger one to follow you on leash and building a good bond will really help. You don't want to over work them when they are too young as it could cause problems later on. You could also try training weave poles or just to go around a pole for fun.
Larger rabbits can do it, but they aren't going to be as fast and shouldn't be allowed to jump too high. My Lillian is a Giant Angora. She isn't too fast and usually won't jump more than 5 poles on a good day. She does enjoy doing it though.

If you are serious about doing it, I would build some simple jumps to work with. They don't need to be higher than 2ft (you can build taller ones later) and you don't need very wide wood. A 1X2" piece of wood or a 1" square dowel will work. You do need to make it stable. I use plastic film canisters as the jump cups and 1/2" dowels as the bars. If you are creative, you can do just about anything.

 

[Jaded]

Thank for the advice Kate, one of the bunnys is 4 moths old now, i will make jumps this weekend