Tuesday, June 17, 2025
  • Advertise
  • Submit Story Idea
  • Submit Event
Arlington Today Magazine
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Arlington News
    • Community
    • Commentary
    • Business and Education
    • Featured
    • People
    • Wellness
    • Scene
    • Design and Interiors
    • Uncategorized
  • Current Issue & Digital Archives
  • Join the Newsletter
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Arlington News
    • Community
    • Commentary
    • Business and Education
    • Featured
    • People
    • Wellness
    • Scene
    • Design and Interiors
    • Uncategorized
  • Current Issue & Digital Archives
  • Join the Newsletter
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Arlington Today Magazine
Home Commentary

Meet Ryan Smith, The Rabbit King

Kenneth Perkins by Kenneth Perkins
November 1, 2020
in Commentary, People
0 0
0
Meet Ryan Smith, The Rabbit King

Ryan Smith not only is an award-winning rabbit breeder, he created his own virtual show for fellow breeders that attracted 1,300 entries.

0
SHARES
286
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Kos-Danchak Aug 2020

When the coronavirus pandemic forced us into hiding, school activities darted for cover as well. No sports, no band, no Key Club.

And no rabbit showings.

Related posts

Enduring Leadership, Enduring Impact:  A Culture of People-Centered Leadership at Arlington Classics Academy

Enduring Leadership, Enduring Impact: A Culture of People-Centered Leadership at Arlington Classics Academy

June 2, 2025
ArlingtonClassicsAcademy

Where Tradition Meets Trust: Parents Tell Us Why They Choose Arlington Classics Academy

June 2, 2025

That news nearly wrecked Ryan Smith, age 16.

Not the sports. Or the band. Or Key Club.

The rabbits.

Quarantine for Ryan was watching his furry little friends peer out from their cages, all gussied up with nowhere to go.

Or, better yet, to show.

Ryan is a breeder, a sort of Dr. Frankenstein of rabbitry.

Breeding is not rocket science, but there’s an exact science to it.  Ryan knows what judges desire for the rabbit shows and obliges. That means a little mixing of this and matching of that.

He’s awfully good at it.

His rabbits have won Best in Breed 13 times and Best in Show twice in major rabbit contests in and outside Texas – one as a grand champion, no less.

In fact, Ryan is so knowledgeable about purebreds he has become the go-to student in Arlington ISD for All Things Rabbit.

During a visit to the district’s Agriculture Science Center recently, I watch as the Arlington High School junior rolls his finger over a rabbit’s ears, saying how judges for that particular breed prefer ears to be short and open, not folded, and how the head should not have a flat brow.

“You want it to round over the brow,” he tells me.  “The body must have a short shoulder, not a long one. Same with the midsection. You look at his markings for color in how the eye circles go all the way around. You want it to be nice and full, not thin, or no eye color at all. The idea is to breed to get what the judges are looking for.”

If fellow students ask Arlington High School Ag Science Teacher and FFA Advisor Tanner Smith something specific about rabbits, he speed-dials Ryan.

“There’s an advisor over rabbits and she does a really good job with that,” Tanner Smith says. “But we have 40 to 50 kids who have rabbits and she can’t answer all those questions.”

At the pandemic’s outset, Ryan noticed a few rabbit shows popping up online. So he decided to do the same, but with “some flavor.”

He made digital awards for winners, offered up pictures of the rabbits, and with an entry fee paid out a winner jackpot.

The first show lured 700 exhibitors. Soon his Online Rabbit Show Extravaganza was averaging 1,300 entries a pop and, to make it legit, included a pair of recognized judges from the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA), the national club for domestic rabbit breeders.

“What he pulled off was absolutely amazing,” Tanner Smith says. “He’s been able to create opportunities for not just other FFA and 4H members but opportunities for anyone who has a rabbit to show. This is quite the accomplishment from a junior to be organizing and running a nationally recognized rabbit show.”

Oddly, Ryan didn’t possess a rabbit passion early on. He was sold after his first Freshman AG class.

“I just thought showing rabbits would be easier than showing, like, goats,” Ryan confesses.

Showing rabbits is all about making judges get excited over a purebred fitting its 100-point Standard of Perfection, a grading system based on strict guidelines centered around features such as fur quality, color descriptions, markings and weight.

“Can you get to that 100?” Ryan says. “That’s the goal.”

While there is not much rabbit breeding at the collegiate ranks, post-grad Ryan plans to enter contests as an Open Exhibitor and eventually become an ARBA judge.

He’s off to a good start. He can already give you the lowdown on 40 to 45 unique breeds, right off the top of his head.

Not bad, considering the ARBA lists only 50 of them.

 

 

Tags: Around Town
Gracie Lane June 2020

Follow Us

    The Instagram Access Token is expired, Go to the Customizer > JNews : Social, Like & View > Instagram Feed Setting, to refresh it.
  • Soon-to-open Mansfield H-E-B causes shopping frenzy

    Soon-to-open Mansfield H-E-B causes shopping frenzy

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Gregory “Pappy” Boyington

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • All Star Voting 2024

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 12 Mighty Orphans: There’s a fascinating ‘story behind the story’ regarding this fine film

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Local moms share what makes the day special to them

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Arlington Texas Area News and Events Magazine

Follow us on social media:

Recent News

  • Welcome to our new “Deep Dive” audiomag!
  • Home Sweet Home
  • Downtown Arlington Car Classic

Category

  • Arlington News
  • Business and Education
  • Commentary
  • Community
  • Design and Interiors
  • Featured
  • People
  • Scene
  • Sports
  • Uncategorized
  • Wellness

Recent News

DeepDive

Welcome to our new “Deep Dive” audiomag!

June 8, 2025
Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home

June 8, 2025
  • Advertise
  • Submit Story Idea
  • Submit Event

© 2023 Arlington Today - Designed by

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Arlington News
    • Community
    • People
    • Commentary
    • Business and Education
    • Featured
    • Wellness
    • Scene
    • Design and Interiors
  • Current Issue & Digital Archives
  • Join the Newsletter
  • Contact Us

© 2023 Arlington Today - Designed by