To be sure, the rabbits weren’t agile.

They hopped, they sniffed, they rubbed their noses and scratched their whiskers, waggled their ears and, mostly, sat in place.

They were not — repeat — agile.

Not to worry. Their owners enjoyed themselves and their rabbits.

The first rabbit agility exhibition took place Thursday night at the 4-H building on the Mower County Fairgrounds.

It was Diane Stundahl’s idea. “It’s not a contest,” she said. “It’s an exhibition. Just an opportunity for the kids to work with their rabbits.”

Stundahl knows rabbits.

She and her husband, Bruce, and their three daughters — Stephanie, Crystal and Lisa — are the heart and soul of the annual Mower County Fair 4-H and open rabbit shows. The mother invited rabbit exhibitors to the agility contest to test their pets’ skills.

“These rabbits are either mixed-breed or too old or too fat to be shown in the rabbit shows, so this is an opportunity for them to perform for their owners,” she said.

Everyone took it very seriously … that is, as seriously as rabbits allowed them.

The Stundahl family constructed a ramp, high jump bars, tunnel, obstacle course made of cones, a curved hop-jump device and another ramp.

Stephanie Stundahl, a retired 4-H rabbit exhibitor, helped the children put their rabbits through their paces.

“I got my first rabbit at the Children’s Barnyard at the county fair,” she recalled. “It was a Netherlands Dwarf and after working with it, I showed it the next year at the county fair.”

Kayline Schechinger, 13, is in her sixth year of exhibiting rabbits. Her preferred breeds are Red and Mini-Rex.

“I like to work with small rabbits,” Schechinger said. “They have such soft fur and they’re easy to handle.”

The teen works the year around with her favorite rabbit, Clover, to prepare it for competition.

Her younger sister, Kristine, brought her favorite rabbit, a Caster Rex she calls “Clover.”

As she wrestled on the carpeted running track for the rabbits’ obstacle course, she said handling rabbits was her favorite pastime.

“They’re soft and fuzzy and fun to cuddle with,” she said.

Bryer Kruse, 14, one of the few boys at the agility contest, denied he was there to “meet girls.”

“No,” he said grinning sheepishly. Kruse said he started exhibiting rabbits a year ago. His favorite is a Mini-Rex he calls “Blue.”

“It takes a lot of work to get them to do what you want them to do, but it’s fun,” he said.

The organizer of the exhibition, Diane Stundahl, said no ribbons or trophies would be awarded the rabbits or their exhibitors. “It’s just for fun and for the kids to learn more about rabbits,” she said.

Judging by the exhibitors’ words of encouragement, caresses of their soft fur and tolerance for a misbehaving rabbit — some entered the tunnel obstacle and exited by the same way they entered — the rabbits were all blue ribbon winners in the eyes of the 4-Hers.