Ponies Frequently Found Behind Rare Lines
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Waverhead Rob is a pony frequently seen in pedigrees of rare bloodlines. Photo by Miss Jane Glass of the Wolds Stud where he stood
I noted in a previous article on my 2019 rare bloodlines study that the Dene and Greenfield studs were rare and contributed their rareness to many ponies on my 2019 rare lines list. The Gibside stud is now in the same category. Some Linnel, Sleddale, Guards, Waverhead, and Lownthwaite ponies are rare and contribute their rarity to ponies on the list. Most of these studs are or were of long standing, so it isn’t really surprising that they have some lines that are rare.
Shown here as a senior citizen, Townend Samuel is also found behind many ponies with rare bloodlines, especially in North America. Courtesy Claire Simpson
As I was reviewing the pedigrees of the ponies on the rare bloodlines list, several specific ponies kept appearing as ancestors behind the rare lines. They are shown in Table 1 below. In addition to listing these ancestors of today’s rare bloodlines, Table 1 shows the frequency with which these ancestors appear in the 2006 and 2018 foal crops. It is notable that only four of the seventeen ponies in Table 1 show up less frequently in 2018 than they did in 2006. Breeders are always searching for outcrosses, and these ponies, with the four exceptions, have served that purpose, with more foals in 2018 being born with these ancestors behind them than were born in 2006.
Several of these ponies were highly thought of at the time of their contributions to our breed’s genetics. I discussed Linnel Romany Boy and Border Black Prince in a previous article. Waverhead Rob was Appleby Show champion as a yearling and later was the winner of the Supreme Champion progeny group at the National Pony Society Show in 1973.
Lownthwaite Drake, a pony sometimes found behind rare bloodlines. Photo courtesy Ruth Eastwood.
According to the History page of the Lownthwaite Stud website, Lownthwaite Star Trek was “…described by the late Mr Joseph Dargue, president of the Fell Pony Society, as the best Fell Pony he had ever seen.” Star Trek was Supreme Champion at the FPS Breed Show in 1973, but her showing career was cut short by a freak accident resulting in a broken shoulder. She was able, though, to raise ten foals.
Lownthwaite Starbright II is a daughter of Lownthwaite Star Trek, a pony often found behind rare bloodlines.
Lownthwaite Drake was sired by Townend Samuel and out of the Lownthwaite Startrek line. Michael Rawlinson wrote in the Spring 2002 FPS Newsletter: “I bought him at Wigton Horse Sales, in 1988 for £165 where he was champion foal. I took him to the Stallion Show in 1989 and he stood 2nd in the Yearling class out of fifteen. At the summer Breed Show that same year he won the Yearling Colt or Gelding Class and at Keighley Show he won the Yearling to Three-Year-Old Class. In 1990 at the Stallion Show he won the 2 Year Old Class, was the Junior Champion and also the Overall Reserve Champion of the day. I sold him to Gordon Sutcliffe in the spring as I moved to Scotland and could not take him with me. Gordon kept him for two years using him at stud… (Bishopdale prefix) and then sold him to Walter Lloyd (Hades Hill prefix) who kept him until he died of tetanus in 2001.” (1)
Tarnmoor Prince. Courtesy Ruth Eastwood
Tarnmoor Prince was twice champion at the Fell Pony Society Stallion Show. He also received at-home premiums in 1988 and 1992 for covering a high number of registered Fell mares.
Frizington Duke and Christine Robinson at the FPS Stallion Show in 1987. Courtesy Christine Robinson
Twislehhope Druid was on display at the Open Day at Twislehope in the early 1970s. “The stallion T. Druid was brought out for us to see and very well he looked, too. We saw him ridden and then jumped over some little fences which he did beautifully.” (2) In the Autumn 1995 newsletter, Druid was pictured “with his mares and foals in the Scottish Border hills. Druid lived to 28 years old – still covering mares and being ridden. He had spent a working life hunting with the Liddesdale Foxhounds. In his last spring he proved he was still a working horse and cleared a five-barred gate at a trot!” (3)
Twislehope Druid sired Twislehope Rupert who stood at the Drybarrows stud and other places. David Thompson of the Drybarrows stud remembers, “When I was maybe eleven or twelve years old, I remember going with Dad and Sarge Noble to see a pony. We went to Molly Laing’s yard to look at a two or three year old colt. Sarge said ‘Don’t leave the yard without that pony,’ and we didn’t. Twislehope Rupert was the only pony Dad ever showed. He stood second at the stallion show. He was a good horse and bred well for Dad.” (4)
Christine Robinson stood Frizington Duke at her Kerbeck stud. “I rode Duke in the middle of a housing estate, and he wasn’t bothered, so I bought him. He was four years old. He became my favorite pony of all time. We did so much together. We literally did everything. Once I drove him to a show then we competed that day under saddle, working hunter, and driven. I rode and drove him at home for pleasure, took hay to the mares on him, took him hunting once or twice a week in season, and did pony club games. It was easy to compete him driving because he didn’t need a groom; he was that well behaved. I qualified him for NPS national driving champion one year. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. I retained lots of his fillies, and I still have two mares by him; they’re in their twenties now.” (5)
Whenever we are pondering rare bloodlines, it is important to keep two caveats in mind:
The older stud books of the Fell Pony Society (prior to DNA testing) occasionally do not have accurate parentage/pedigree information. Therefore we cannot necessarily draw accurate conclusions about ancestors of today’s ponies.
Sometimes bloodlines become rare for a reason. Breeders may have chosen not to propagate the lines, possibly because they did not represent proper Fell Pony type. Unless we have seen a particular pony in person, it is hard to make that judgment ourselves.
One of the great benefits of this rare bloodlines research has been corresponding with people who knew many of these ponies and shared photographs and/or stories of their relations. I am grateful to Alison Bell, Claire Simpson, Liz Whitely, Ruth Eastwood, Michael Goddard, David Thompson, and Libby Robinson and perhaps others to whom I apologize for having forgotten them.
Rawlinson, Michael. “Lownthwaite Drake,” Fell Pony Society Newsletter Spring 2002, p. 58.
Brook, Joan. “Open Day at Twislehope,” Fell Pony News Volume III, p. 23
Photo caption of Twislehope Druid in Fell Pony Society Newsletter Autumn 1995, p. 26.
Morrissey, Jenifer. “Another Chapter: The Drybarrows Fell Ponies,” Fell Pony Express, June 2017, Fell Pony Society of North America, p. 20.
Morrissey, Jenifer. “Christine Robinson and the Kerbeck Fell Ponies,” Spring/Summer 2015, Fell Pony Express, Fell Pony Society of North America, p. 29.
