From Giant to Village:
The Story Continues
The Continuing History of the Colored Giant Angora in the USA
By Tammy Vaughn, July 2026
This article is a companion to Candy Haenszel’s original 1999 history, From German to Giant. Candy’s important work remains preserved exactly as she wrote it.
This is simply the next chapter.
Candy Haenszel ended her history of the Giant Angora with one perfect sentence:
“And, as with all histories, this is not the end.”
She certainly was right.
When Candy completed her research in February 1999, the Giant Angora had been an officially recognized ARBA breed for only a little more than ten years. Breeders were still debating its required senior weights, and the dream of placing a colored Giant Angora on the ARBA show table had already faced several disappointments.
More than twenty-seven years later, we finally know what happened next.
The Weight Question Was Settled
Candy’s article explains the controversy surrounding ARBA’s proposed increase in the Giant Angora’s minimum senior weights. Although most breeders responding to a 1999 survey opposed the increase, today’s Giant Angora standard reflects the higher minimums.
A senior buck must weigh at least 9½ pounds, and a senior doe must weigh at least 10 pounds. There is no maximum senior weight.
Those minimums help distinguish the Giant from the other Angora breeds and preserve its identity as a large, commercial-bodied wool producer. Size alone is not enough, however. A quality Giant Angora must also possess correct body type, sound health, proper furnishings, and that wonderful three-fiber coat of underwool, awn fluff, and awn hair.
It still must be a Giant Angora, not simply a large wooly rabbit.
The Dream of Color Never Disappeared
The early colored Giant Angora efforts documented by Candy did not immediately lead to an accepted variety, but the dream did not disappear.
Throughout the years, breeders continued producing colored Giants for their beautiful natural fiber. Some carefully worked toward ARBA recognition. Others preserved valuable color genetics, improved body type and wool, shared breeding stock, and quietly kept colored Giants alive in their barns.
Not every contribution was made beneath the lights of an ARBA Convention. Much of the work happened one litter, one breeding decision, and one shared rabbit at a time.
All of it mattered.
Many breeders carried pieces of the dream forward, even when official recognition still appeared far away.
Chestnut Finally Opened the Door
I had raised and shown Ruby-Eyed White Giant Angoras for years, but I could not let go of the dream of seeing a beautiful, properly developed colored Giant Angora receive full ARBA recognition.
I chose Chestnut.
Chestnut was not necessarily the easiest color to pursue. The long Giant Angora coat can make correct ring color difficult to develop and evaluate. We needed more than a brown wool coat. We needed rich surface color, black-tipped guard hairs, properly defined intermediate bands, correct under color, and a lighter belly. All carried on a rabbit that still met the Giant Angora standard for size, type, furnishings, and wool.
Kevin and I invested years in breeding, evaluating, recordkeeping, grooming, conditioning, traveling, and occasionally wondering whether the rabbits had read any part of our carefully made plans.
The Chestnut Giant Angora passed its first ARBA presentation in Reno in 2022.
In 2023, at the 100th ARBA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, our Chestnuts passed their second presentation unanimously. The ARBA Standards Committee awarded the variety an exemplary pass, waiving the normally required third presentation.
Chestnut became the first colored Giant Angora variety accepted into the ARBA Standard of Perfection.
Effective November 1, 2023, Chestnut Giant Angoras became eligible to be entered in ARBA-sanctioned shows. The current ARBA Breed Identification Guide now lists Giant Angoras under both Colored and White, with Chestnut and Ruby-Eyed White as the recognized registration varieties.
Thirty-five years after the Giant Angora became an officially recognized breed, color had finally arrived on the ARBA show table.
That was an extraordinary finish to one chapter. But it was never meant to be the end of the story.
The New ARBA COD Rules Change Everything
The 2026–2030 ARBA Standard of Perfection introduced major changes to the Certificate of Development process.
When Kevin and I pursued the Chestnut COD, the project was necessarily concentrated within the small group of people named on the certificate. The presentation animals had to be bred and owned within that COD team. Friends could encourage us and cheer us on, but only a limited number of people could participate directly in producing the presentation animals.
The new rules embrace a much broader community effort.
The new proof-of-interest requirement calls for developing varieties to be supported by multiple breeders and households. At Convention presentations, there must be a minimum of 25 of the developing variety entered by breeders, from five different households. This is beyond the COD holders.
Working-standard animals may also be exhibited at ARBA-sanctioned shows before final recognition. Although they cannot yet compete for Best of Breed or Best in Show. Breeders can gain valuable opportunities to place these rabbits before licensed judges, receive feedback, educate exhibitors, and demonstrate genuine interest in the variety.
This changes everything.
A successful color project can no longer live almost entirely inside one rabbitry. We need multiple breeders producing, raising, evaluating, entering, and showing quality animals. We need the genetics distributed widely enough that the project can survive the loss of one litter, one bloodline, or even one breeding program.
Community participation is no longer simply helpful. It is woven into the road ahead.
I think that is something worth celebrating.
Chocolate Agouti Is Our Next Great Adventure
Our primary focus now is the development of the Chocolate Agouti Giant Angora.
The goal is not merely to produce more chocolate-colored wool. These rabbits must be competitive Giant Angoras with proper size, strong shoulders, correct commercial type, good health, sound temperaments, suitable furnishings, and the three distinct fiber types required in the Giant Angora coat.
They must also display beautiful Chocolate Agouti color, including rich surface color, visible ring definition, warmth and rufus, correct undercolor, and the proper lighter belly.
Our working goal is to have quality Chocolate Agouti Giant Angoras available for the 2028 ARBA Convention. My admittedly Giant-sized personal dream is to see as many as 100 Chocolate Agouti Giants in show coat by that time.
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Will every breeding take? Nope.
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Will every litter produce the color we want? Certainly not.
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Will every promising junior grow into the rabbit we imagined? Rabbits have a way of keeping us humble.
But for the first time, breeders across the country can participate in a truly organized way. We can share genetics, compare litters, track growth, evaluate wool and type, coordinate transportation, and help place promising stock where it can contribute the most.
That opportunity is bigger than any one rabbitry.
Building the Colored Giant Angora Village
The Colored Giant Angora Village grew from the belief that the future of these rabbits should be built through education, kindness, encouragement, and teamwork.
The Village is the larger, welcoming community surrounding colored Giant Angoras. It includes breeders, exhibitors, fiber artists, pet owners, youth, future breeders, curious learners, and the people who simply enjoy cheering for beautiful wooly rabbits.
You do not have to own a colored Giant Angora to belong in the Village.
The Village is not confined to one Facebook group or website. It connects through Facebook, Discord, WhatsApp, YouTube, newsletters, Zoom gatherings, rabbit shows, websites, and those wonderful conversations that happen beside the grooming table.
Its purpose is to help people learn about colored Giants, celebrate progress, connect with reliable information, welcome newer breeders, and support those performing the daily work behind these developing colors.
The Village Elders Roll Up Their Sleeves
Within the larger Village is a smaller working group called the Village Elders.
Despite the name, becoming a Village Elder has nothing to do with age or the number of years someone has raised Angoras. It is for active breeders and dedicated participants who are ready to roll up their sleeves and help move colored Giant Angoras forward.
Village Elders share breeding plans, honest evaluations, pedigrees, litter updates, growth information, available genetics, transportation possibilities, and future show and presentation goals.
The private Village Elders Rabbit Barn gives participating breeders a place to list available rabbits and offer promising stock within the group before advertising it publicly. Breeders remain completely responsible for their own animals, prices, agreements, trades, and placement decisions. The Village does not control anyone’s rabbitry.
What it provides is connection.
Sometimes one breeder has a promising doe but needs a buck with stronger shoulders. Another may need a particular color gene, an unrelated line, better furnishings, or improved wool structure. A rabbit that cannot move one program forward may be exactly what another breeder needs.
By communicating and sharing thoughtfully, we can protect valuable genetics and help each breeding program become stronger.
We are already seeing newer colored Giant breeders connect with experienced “old hats.” Rabbits and genetics are moving between programs. Breeders are discussing trades, future litters, transportation, and long-term plans.
That is exactly what the Village was created to accomplish.
Chestnut Was the Proof—The Village Is the Future
Chestnut proved that a colored Giant Angora could earn its place in the ARBA Standard of Perfection.
The new ARBA rules now give us an opportunity to build future varieties with much wider participation. Chocolate Agouti is our immediate focus, but it does not have to be our final destination. Lynx and Opal remain very close to my heart, and many other beautiful possibilities are waiting in the wings.
This is not about rushing colors through the process or sacrificing Giant Angora quality for novelty.
Color alone is never enough.
Our responsibility is to produce healthy, beautiful, competitive Giant Angoras with excellent wool, correct type, good temperaments, and colors worthy of recognition. We must preserve what makes this breed special while carefully opening the door to its colorful future.
Louise Walsh and the early breeders created the Giant Angora.
Candy Haenszel preserved its history.
Generations of breeders kept the dream of colored Giants alive.
Chestnut opened the first official door.
Now the new ARBA rules have opened that door even wider and an entire Village is ready to walk through it.
The history of the Giant Angora is still being written. This time, more of us have the opportunity to help write it together.
The sky truly is the limit.
For the love of Giants—Go Team Giants!
—Tammy Vaughn
Life’s just better with a Giant Angora hug.