Two rabbitries gone wild with those little lions that make you drool.....................
I'm bAcK!!!!!!!!!
Wetzel's White Out --- 2006
Hey, I'm back!! It has been nice seeing old bunny friends who I have missed and meeting new ones as well. I missed everyone and am glad to be back again.
There are 2 rabbitries ruled by those lions...
The Highland Thumpers - By Mike and Stefanie Montgomery. We are working hard to put together little lions that make you keep coming back. We are working on COD colors and BEW as well. We have not been attending any shows so far but in 2007 we should be attending a couple of them. We hope to see you there. (Art work on our logo by Sissy Bowles)
Everything Pink Rabbitry - By Jody Apel. Jody fell in love with the little lions. She is working hard to learn what she can about them. She first really liked the REW because of their pink eyes and has moved to other colors as well, even wanting to work on BEW with me. She amazes everyone who is lucky enouph to know her. I know she will do well with her lions. Think Pink cause Pink Rules!!!!!
Leo The Lionhead (blue tort) Lionel (black)
My very first lionheads I bought from Aden Wetzel in 2000 or 2001. Both were single manes.
They are so different now from then
I paid $25. for each (above pic). Now you can expect a lion from Wetzel to be $100. or more and well worth it. These guys have changed so much from what they were when they first came over to the USA that they are just about a whole new breed from then. When the lionheads first came to the States everyone was wanting single manes. The double mane and no mane's only value was in knowing that putting these 2 together would surely give you all single manes. Of course the double manes back then looked nothing like our double manes of today. At that time all double manes looked like tiny angora's or fuzzy lops with out a lop, well, some were even loped.
What a mess at first
Many people were wondering if we were going to get these mane genes to breed true in order to get them even close to accepted into the ARBA and it didn't help having so many people be against this breed all together. There were even some judges who wouldn't so much as look at one. It was bad enough that we were all wondering how to get the mane gene to cooperate but we had a huge chore a head of us to get the colors right with out mismarks or BEW or chocolate or harlequin and a few others that were making this task difficult since they all came over with these genes in them and on top of that there was type. Everything was wrong and we were all wanting to fix everything so bad that everyone was breeding anything you can think of into them. It was almost a mess from the start.
Now look at them
Now we have close to all double maned lions because it was figured out how to get the double mane to breed true. The colors for the most part are pretty much what we want, not so many mismarks like it was, the harlequin is pretty well bred out and BEW and the other colors that were making it difficult to get the colors right.Their type is what it should be, just look at those pretty little heads. I think that some are getting a bit TO small. They should be about 3 pounds. Some are getting to be about 2 pounds. We don't want people to refer to them as a woolly Netherland Dwarf. Also some people want to give the lionheads a holland lop head and more and more a holland body. They are not supposed to be little wooly up right eared rabbits either. They are a rabbit all their own, lets keep it that way.
Pretty BEW lions
From the start I wanted to keep BEW lions. I knew that everyone was wanting to try for the colors on the certificate of developments as well as I wanted to. I also knew that to do that everyone would have to breed out BEW. I wanted to save this pretty lion and one way or another get it accepted. The down fall to this is that people are, I guess you could say, prejudice against BEW lions and their breeders. Its bad enough that other breeders look down on lionheads as a whole and all lion breeders have had to deal with this but BEW lions even tend to get the nose up from other lion breeders therefor making this lion even harder to have and may be even more difficult to get accepted then other colors. As with many breeds, BEW is looked down on mostly because the BEW gene is completely misunderstood by many breeders. Only those who truly love the BEW lions will see them through. We do need more people to help us with these Blue Eyed White lions. There are only a handful of us that are working on them. If you are interested, please take a look at Lone Stares BEW page to learn about this gene http://www.lonestarrabbitry.com/BEWs.htm
It is only fair to add that it is noticed that some people (even a few judges) need to realize that lionhead breeders have put a lot of money and time into these little animals. To treat them as though they are not important is insulting and wrong. They are a real breed, they are a real rabbit, the breeders are real breeders and against the odds we have done what a lot of people said we couldn't do, we deserve that respect.
Thank you to everyone who have been supportive of this great breed. Its nice to hear some cheering on the side lines.
There is a lion show that I have been working on. The computer managed to erase what I had recorded for the site. Soon I will post more on this. I can tell you that there has been a lot of time and planning on this, people who are not even into rabbits have donated their time, land and effort towards this. I will be visiting with Arden Wetzel about it. Please stand by.........
UPDATE: Kayla Wegner and I spoke with Arden about the show. He had good ideas and said that he would like to see this go through. Possibly even in 2007 rather then waiting till 2008. He said he would like to be apart of this and I can't wait to see what happens with this next. We may be looking at the camp site together when he comes back through town on his way home from Convention. I want to thank Arden for listening to my ideas with an open mind and wanting to see this show through.
Visit DJ's Lions and learn about Firebear and his babies.
http://www.lonestarrabbitry.com/BEWs.htm
