It was a hopping good time in the Rabbit and Poultry Barn at the Northwest Montana Fair Thursday morning. Competitors ranging from young “sprouts” to experienced adults coaxed, cheered and tickled their rabbits through an obstacle course at the Rabbit Hopping Competition while a large crowd cheered on the bouncing bunnies.

“We saw that in the paper and how could we resist?” said Carol Cole, a spectator visiting from Venice, Florida. “We got up especially this morning to see this.”

The rabbit hopping competition was not judged based on height or length of the jumps, but rather on each rabbit’s speed in hopping through an obstacle course with six hurdles. There was also an additional obstacle made of an elevated platform with rolling sticks on top of it, which proved tricky for many of the competitors.

“The hardest part is the logs,” said Madisyn Hall, whose rabbit Sadie had one of the fastest runs in the senior competition. “The bunnies think it’s solid so they try to walk on it, then they fall under it.”

The competitors were broken into sprouts, junior—up to 12 years old, senior—13 to 18 years old and adult. The rabbits’ time started when they crossed the first obstacle and finished when they jumped over the last hurdle. Their handlers ran beside them through the course, offering words of encouragement and often a little nudge to keep them hopping through to the finish.

Imagine the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, but instead of poised professionals guiding elegant animals through a variety of obstacles, rabbits hopped willy-nilly across the floor and sat stubbornly in front of a tiny hurdle while schoolchildren pushed and pleaded with them to hop to it.

Five-year-old Olivia Druyvestein divulged the secret to getting a rabbit to hop through the course. “You have to tickle his buns,” she said with a shy laugh.

Druyvestein, who was appropriately decked out in a pink bunny T-shirt, was back with her rabbit Butterfly for her second year of rabbit hopping. Butterfly took fourth place last year in the fair’s inaugural bunny hopping competition.

For Druyvestein, it was only natural to start competing with her furry friend. “He’s a bunny and bunnies hop,” she explained.

Some of the competitors took a more deliberate approach to the competition. Hall said she and her rabbit Sadie “train a lot.” Hall went into detail on their regimen: “I set up jumps in the hallway a few times a week.”

Hall started this program for her rabbit after her previous rabbit would “stand and flop” in competitions. She added this training helps the bunnies navigate the treacherous log challenge. “You have to do it until they figure it out,” was her advice.

The key to rabbit hopping lies not only in the preparation, but also in the relationship between the hare and its handler. Depending on the handler’s commands, tickling technique and use of a leashed harness, some rabbits would respond by jumping into the nearby wall, running off the course or turning around at the finish line and heading back for a victory lap.

Many of the rabbits ran the course multiple times with different human companions in the various age categories, with parents and older siblings taking rabbits like Butterfly and Nugget for a second or third run.

“It’s busy but it’s rewarding,” said Jennifer Griffith, who finished second in the adult category with her daughter Ella’s rabbit Zoe.

Because of the repeat runs, the winners were judged based on the time for each human handler, rather than the rabbit.

The top three winners were announced in each of the four categories, with the senior and adult champions earning small wooden rabbits for their performances.

The overall reserve winner, with a time of seven seconds, was Emily Hall. The overall grand winner, clocking in at five seconds, was Colton Oedekoven.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at bserbin@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.