April Fool! USEA Announces Partnership with AHARC

Just in time for Easter, the USEA announced today, that based on the growing popularity of rabbit show jumping, they are expanding their leadership in partnership with the American Hopping Association for Rabbits and Cavies (AHARC) to create Rabbit Eventing. This groundbreaking effort aims to broaden the horizons of eventing and bring it to a larger audience.

The sport of rabbit show jumping or “Bunny Hopping” was first developed in Sweden in the 1970s, but it wasn’t until 2013 when the AHARC was established that the sport took the country, and the internet, by storm.

“Bunny Hopping was actually based on equestrian show jumping when it was initially created back in Sweden, so in a way it’s like we’re taking it back to its roots,” said USEA CEO Rob Burk. “But we’re also going to take it to the next level by making it a three-phase sport.”

Given that rabbits are generally more affordable for a larger number of people, Rob anticipates that rabbit eventing will help to bridge some of the socioeconomic gap that equestrian eventing creates. The events, “Rabbit Trials,” would also require significantly less land which means locations for hosting them will be easier to come by which, again, would increase their reach.

Those knees! Photo via Imgur.

“We’re always talking about building the sport of eventing and making it more accessible to larger numbers of people,” said Rob. “We think this will be a great way to do that.”

“Once folks dip their toes into rabbit eventing and get involved, we’re hoping they’ll be hooked on the sport and want to take the next step and get involved in the equestrian version,” he explained. “After all, there are many similarities between both species–they’re both hindgut fermenters and they both love carrots.”

While the exact rules and procedures are being ironed out, the USEA confirmed to EN that the three phases of rabbit eventing will be named for their equestrian counterparts. Clearly they’ll look a little different considering that rabbits won’t be under saddle, but the spirit of combined training will remain.

As she did for the creation of the 2018 eventing dressage tests, Marilyn Payne will lead the committee charged with designing the rabbit dressage tests. The committee is considering a similar format to the FEH/YEH conformation judging, where the handler leads the animal in a pattern and scoring is based on conformation, movement, and general impression.

“There’s still a lot of research to do–each rabbit breed has a little uniqueness in their way of going, I’m learning a lot about it,” she said. Marilyn has also been very involved in the existing FEH/YEH programs, and expressed her excitement at eventually developing FER and YER programs in the future: “Baby bunnies! How adorable!”

Some rabbits have impressive scope. Photo via Rabbit Jumping Great Britain.

Similar to equestrian eventing, the cross country phase of rabbit eventing will feature natural fences to be jumped over, but will also include some additional obstacles suitable to the species such as burrows and culverts. Fitness and stamina will be paramount to the handlers as well, as they will be required to run the course alongside their rabbit.

“For anyone involved in eventing both species, working with the rabbits should be a great way to stay in shape and crosstrain for riding,” Rob said.

The final phase, show jumping, will be very similar to the existing sport of rabbit show jumping.

“We know that there’s already a cohort of very accomplished Bunny Hoppers out there,” Rob said. “But what will really be interesting and different from the existing sport is to see how the bunnies handle the show jumping course on tired legs after having completed cross country. Just like the horses, it will be a real test of their endurance.”

The official Rulebook and Omnibus will be finalized over the next year, with the aim of being issued on April 1, 2019.

As precious as rabbit eventing sounds……..

……..April Fool!