|
The Thrianta rabbit was first standardised in the UK in the early 1980`s. Its history dates back to just before the second world war when a Dutch breeder, a Mr Andrea, bred together Tans, Havana's and Papillion to produce an orange coloured rabbit. It was only recognised by the Dutch after 1945, but because the standard first laid down was difficult to achieve the breed was withdrawn. By 1971 the standard was renewed and the Thrianta was reastablished in the Netherlands before finding its way over to the UK.
With my wife and I already having an established stud of Miniature Lops, I decided to introduce a second breed into our shed and the Thrianta fitted that bill. Finding stock in the UK was a problem though. Not many breeders and the mixing of other breeds into the lines, meant a long search to find a true Thrianta. I met a breeder in the north of England who supplied us with our first trio (see pic of breeders at London Champs, first left Les Bramley) the buck went on to win our first BiS at our local club (see Thrianta buck Jaffa pic) before retiring as a stud buck.
Interest at agricultural shows and other rabbit clubs had more breeders enquiring about them. So much so, that by the time the Bradford Championships 2002 came round, 19 Thriantas had been entered into the show beating in quantity many of the more established Rare breeds already entered (as can be seen in the pic Judging the Thriantas…)
So where does the Thrianta go from here?...well with the breed doing well at other shows hopefully from strength to strength. With Bernard Wrigley (3rd left in Thrianta breeders pic) and a few breeders up north as well as myself (2nd left in Thrianta breeders pic) and a few breeders down south we can establish this breed throughout the UK.
Now that the internet plays a bigger part in our lives, many breeders can communicate with each other, especially breeders from abroad . This can be seen with the Thrianta going through its standardisation process in the US and many of these newer breeders contacting and sharing info with us in the UK
|
|
