Back in June, 7-year-old Jamie Snedden was competing in the Washington State Rabbit Breeders Association Rabbit Royalty competition in Cashmere.
She won the title of “Rabbit Lady,” earning a chance to compete nationally at the 101st American Rabbit Breeders Association convention in Louisville, Kentucky.
There, she won the second runner-up award for the national “Rabbit Lady” title along with the first-place Junior Achievement Award for the American Rabbit Breeders Association District 1 junior division.
The American Rabbit Breeders Association has a total of nine districts. District 1 includes breeders from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and international breeders from Western Canada, Japan and Taiwan.
“Rabbit Lady” is a title awarded to those in the junior divisions who are not only successful rabbit breeders but demonstrate extensive knowledge about the animals and are able to identify rabbits by breed.
Jamie competed in Kentucky alongside her mother, Natalie Merchant, and aunt, Shannon Clevenger, during the 101st American Rabbit Breeders Association convention, which ran from Oct. 26 to Oct. 30.
The Chronicle spoke with Clevenger on Thursday, Nov. 7, to talk about their trip to the national convention and Jamie’s awards.
“She did really well at nationals for her first time out. It was a fun trip,” Clevenger said. “Jamie and I showed rabbits together.”
While Jamie was excited to attend, she was not expecting to actually win anything at the national level.
“She was surprised, and what she was most surprised about was she also entered the Junior Achievement, which is, ‘What have you accomplished throughout the last year?’” Clevenger said. “... It was a good experience for Jamie. For the Junior Achievement, which she won, she’s actually a pre-junior and they put her with the juniors and still won.”
The cutoff for the pre-junior division is 8 years old, meaning Jamie was competing against kids as old as 11 for the District 1 Junior Achievement Award.
In total, they spent just over two days driving out to Kentucky for the show with 30 rabbits in tow. They sold 16 of them at the convention.
Jamie raises mini lop rabbits. Along with the two awards she received, rabbits that both she and Clevenger raised did fairly well at the convention’s show.
“One of her rabbits placed in the top 10 for the breed, and in her breed for the rabbits, there were 392 rabbits. In the open division there were almost 800 rabbits,” Clevenger said. “... For the open (division), she and I placed two rabbits in the top 10.”
Other rabbits from the American Rabbit Breeders Association District 1 did well at the show, too, she added, with the best in show award going to a Canadian rabbit breeder from within the district.
In total, approximately 28,000 rabbits were brought by more than 3,700 rabbit breeders from throughout North America and some international regions to the 101st American Rabbit Breeders Association convention, Clevenger said.
To prepare for the 102nd American Rabbit Breeders Association convention next year in Indianapolis, Indiana, Jamie, Natalie and Clevenger are already gearing up to show rabbits at regional shows for the Washington State Rabbit Breeders Association.
Clevenger added that bidding for the 103 American Rabbit Breeders Association convention was won by the West Coast, meaning the 2026 convention will be a much shorter drive to Reno, Nevada.
Originally founded in 1946 as the Washington State Rabbit and Cavy Breeders Association, it changed its name to the Washington State Rabbit Breeders Association in 1954 and aims to promote and encourage raising domesticated rabbits for meat, fur, laboratory study and show purposes along with promoting the state’s rabbit industry.
For more information, including how to get involved, visit http://wsrba.net/.
The American Rabbit Breeders Association was originally founded in 1921 and is dedicated to promoting, developing and improving domestic rabbit and cavy breeding. It has almost 20,000 members in the U.S., Canada and abroad, according to its website.
To learn more, visit https://arba.net/ or https://www.arbadistricts.net/district/1/index.htm.
