Putting fun back into rabbits

With any club, group, or organization, there must be a strong leadership. A strong leadership keeps the group together and moving forward towards a purpose. In fact, an entire community would fall apart without a strong government or leader. But as with any group, a strong leadership can't fix everything...

No matter how strong, charismatic, trustworthy, or simply-great a leader is, problems will eventually stir up in the mix. Arguments happen, friendships break, grudges are held. A once close community is forced to take sides. Although there comes a point that there are so many unrelated difficulties, that there is no one to blame. No matter how strong, any club will experience these problems to some degree. It's healthy and normal. Without it, problems wouldn't get solved and small difficulties would grow into enormous catastrophes. It's only when the quarrels interfere with the purpose of the group that one needs to reassess the situation.

Lately, local rabbit clubs within Idaho have crossed that line. To prevent more problems, I will not go into specifics of the issues. The examples listed above may or may not reflect the things Idaho's clubs are experiencing.

Although the problem's we are experiencing are being dealt with one at a time, the gossip, scape-goating, and friction-in-general is still going strong. I haven't been involved in these groups for long so I do not know the details of long-time perhaps personal problems the cliques may have. I do know, though, that they are majorly affecting the goal of sharing a love of raising rabbits/cavies to have more fun with our hobby.

My request is that we all step back. What are we here for? Do we want to win? Collect sweepstakes points? Make money? I sure hope not.

There is nothing more great than a close relationship with animals and people who care about them. There is nothing more fun than eating at a restraunt with friends after a long show. There is nothing more fulfilling than watching a pair you sold to a first timer win. Rabbits should be all about sharing the fun with our closest friends.

Producing nice stock, winning state sweeps, or working for Best in Show should not be what comes first. Showing who's superior, gossiping on one's latest fallback, or complaining (again) should not be what come first. What comes first is the enjoyment of our hobby and having fun with it!

Sure, I'm only fourteen. Some people have tried to convince me that this is "adult business only" that "I don't understand" and maybe I don't. But is it wrong to think that if we go back to loving the sport and working together that the business side will mend on its own?

I know that many of the problems are serious and cannot easily be solved, but is it so hard to keep the drama out, and put the fun back into rabbits?

~Gwen

Stopping to smell the Irises

As some of you know, Treasure Valley's Iris past away due to sudden heat stroke. She was a doe that I sold to Lilly, a girl in our 4-H group, along with her sister. It was very unexpected since she past away back in April when it wasn't hotter than 81 in the sun.

This was the first death of a senior from my rabbitry (We have only raised rabbits for three years) I struggled with grieving for a couple of weeks; eventually, I accepted it. About a week ago, wild Irises blossomed in our backyard. Somehow, the Irises got me thinking...

It's hard not to think about the future. Especially when something exciting is going to happen. Who doesn't like to think about their summer plans during the dull school year? Maybe you can't wait to settle down in a house of your own. Or perhaps something as simple as waiting for the weekend.

As rabbit breeders, we can't help but think of the future. Waiting for that big show or those juniors to grow into their coats. It can be hard to not get excited about what's coming up and constantly think about more plans for your rabbits. But when we do that we tend to miss something...

Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in planning for Fall nationals in the spring that we don't stop to enjoy the present. Yes, breeding for convention juniors is important, but are you enjoying yourself while you wait? We rabbit breeders need to stop obsessing over next month's plans. Instead, we should take the stop to love the animals and laugh at their quirky antics. We need to call up a friend a talk about what we're enjoying each day, not what we'll enjoy tomorrow.

~Gwen