Occasionally Butterflies
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My first Imports from Holland arrived in the UK in 1989, and out of quarantine in1990. These were very disappointing not only from a quality point of view but from a condition point of view. I needed to reassess my options for quarantine for sure and make sure whatever was brought in again would be looked after for the six months of their stay in government approved premises. The following year I brought some more in in mainly Agouti and Sooty with a couple of Butterflies as well. These were of much better type and overall quality than my first ones and at last I felt I had something on which to base my line. After the setbacks encountered with sending someone to Holland to pick stock for me, I decided it was about time I went myself and selected my own rabbits, so that I would not be disappointed again with animals brought in for me. I went to Holland on a couple of occasions after this and found just what I was looking for.
On later trips to Holland in 1993 I introduced Red Eyed Whites to the stud and it was with these that great success arrived at Ruskin. I obtained a buck on one of my trips, from Wijnand van Leeuwen and a couple of does followed shortly after. Pure de Cock lines were also located and the opportunity arose to purchase a number of rabbits from this stable. The introduction of these breeding lines gave me the 'blue blood' I had been searching for, and the foundation to work with to produce what I felt was to become a great line of Miniature Lops. Ch.Thor (3BS 140) as he was to be known was a fantastic specimen with huge skull and a small compact body. His coat was of the best. He had a presence about him that just shouted 'I AM'. He was to become the first Miniature Lop to win BEST IN SHOW at a UK show. This was at the Yorkshire & Humberside Lop Club's Summer Stock Show held at Rotherham Championship Show on 11th September, 1994.
He did this on another nine occasions. Six of his BIS wins were at breed club stock shows and the other four were at all breed shows where he had previously taken Best Fancy and then went on to win the Grand Challenge. He was also a fantastic producer. His son, Ch.Ruskins The Real Macoy was yet another BIS winner for me and his litter brother Trooper went to live with Paul Harper (Velvetvale) in Staffordshire. He was to become the first Miniature Lop to win Best Fancy at a 4 STAR Championship Show. Thor's progeny have gone on to help in the foundation of other prolific studs through the mid 90's, including that of Susan Carlile who I'm sure you will all remember for going BIS at the London Championship Show 1999 with her Agouti buck Ch.Solo's Morris Minor. The only Miniature Lop to have achieved such an accolade.
One of the Sooty Fawn bucks that I had imported at the same time as Thor was a tiny little fellow called Twoten (Ch.Ruskins Twoten), so called as he only weighed 2lb10oz. He wasn't shown when he first came over to this country as he was already 3 years old at this time. He had a wonderful head and ears and a body reminiscent of Netherland Dwarfs from years ago. He was originally supposed to be used as my stud buck, but it became evident one day that he too could go out and win. He moulted out his winter coat and replaced it with a fantastic jacket. He was shown very sparingly as he didn't like travelling very much but he managed to amass enough CC's to gain his crown and on three occasions attained BIS. Once at Breed club level and then twice at all breed shows. My next challenge was to see if he could produce like my whites had done for me. I mated him to an Agouti (also an import) and the resulting litter was breath-taking. One Sooty Fawn, one black and two Agouti's. I retained the whole litter until it was about six months old. They developed at the same rate and just got better with each passing day. I decided to keep the Sooty and one of the Agouti's, the other Agouti stayed in the UK and the Black was exported to Sweden where he did exceptionally well for his new owners
The rest, as they say, is history and here we are, nineteen years after my first imports arrived and I am still enjoying the Miniature Lop more than ever before. They are fantastic little characters, great show rabbits and now, with my lines well and truly fixed, great producers too.
