It’s a sad fact that, because I’ve been doing pedigree
assignment so long, I usually have to preface any posts on a new breed with a
long rambling backstory, explaining how and why I got to where I am with that
breed. Perhaps I should just cut that part out, but on the whole I feel it’s
useful to keep it there, as it does help to highlight some of the sources
available and maybe even to help others to profit from my mistakes. To keep the
posts of reasonable length, however, this one is the backstory, and the
up-to-date part will come later.
Well, back in 1991, I went to a car-boot-type sale in a
disused mill near where I was then living, in Bolton ,
and I managed to pick up a Beswick Shetland stallion “Eschonchan Ronay”, from
the Native Breeds series, for £10. Even in those days that was quite a bargain,
and I was well pleased.
This was well before the days of the internet, and I didn’t
have a lot of reference material on Shetlands. What I had was the catalogue
from the Ponies of Britain national show at Peterborough from when I had been
there in 1987. The choice of parents in there was somewhat limited, and at the
time it seemed that the safest thing to do was make him a full brother to one
of the yearlings in the catalogue, a black colt called Linacre Duncan, by Minto
of Drakelaw out of Chatsworth Diana. I
named my stallion Linacre Butch Cassidy, being a fan of the film, which
happened to be on TV the day I bought him.
In the mid-1990s I was given a couple of old Shetland Pony
Stud Book Society magazines from 1989 and 1990. These were packed with articles
and stud adverts, and thus were a mine of useful pedigree assignment
information. I read them assiduously and made copious notes, even to the extent
of taking them into the labour room with me while I was having my second son! I
made my poor husband write notes for me as the contractions got stronger… I
don’t think I ever used the notes in the end, but it probably worked as a good
distraction technique for both of us!
Anyway, something I learned from the magazines was that the
real Shetland world in Britain seemed to be largely split into two camps: those
who bred standard Shetlands, ranging from 34 inches up to the maximum of 42
inches, and those who bred miniature Shetlands, which had to be under 34 inches
at adulthood. What’s more, the standard Shetlands were overwhelmingly black, with
most breeders actively disliking any other colour, while the miniature
Shetlands were an array of colours, several breeders specialising in particular
colours such as chestnuts, palominos, or tobianos. I don’t know if this divide
is still as apparent in the Shetland world now, but in the 1980s that certainly
seemed to be the case. Shows were even divided into ‘black’ and ‘coloured’
classes, ‘coloured’ in this instance meaning not pinto, as it often does in the
UK, but simply ‘anything that’s not black’!
In the meantime I had also read a book which paid particular
attention to the growth of interest in miniature Shetlands from the 1960s
onwards, and was generally quite negative about them. The point made was that
while some miniature Shetlands are just naturally small, but have good
conformation and the sturdiness of their breed, others are the product of a
genetic defect known as neoteny/neotenism. Animals with this condition retain
juvenile characteristics into adulthood: in ponies this leads to small size,
but also features such as weak backs and hind legs. Since many miniature ponies were only wanted
as pets, and since humans have a natural predilection to find juvenile
characteristics attractive or ‘cute’, neoteny had become quite widespread in
some miniature lines. The book argued, convincingly in my opinion, that
breeding ponies with a genetic defect that made them ornaments only and not
suitable for work must be to the long-term detriment of the breed.
I didn’t like the look of the neotenic ponies at all, and I
wanted to breed or be associated with ponies which were big and strong enough
to do a job of work. However, I found the ubiquitousness of black ponies among
the standard Shetlands rather boring. I therefore decided to be contrary, and
try to pedigree my models as standard-size Shetlands which were not black. Fortunately
such ponies, although in the minority, did and do exist, and the magazines contained
enough material on them to get me started.
The insistence of many breeders on black ponies got my alarm
bells ringing, and I took another look at Linacre Butch Cassidy, becoming
uncomfortable with the fact that I had a bay stallion from two black parents.
Although his sire was listed as the sire of a brown colt in the show catalogue,
I suspected that this might be a literal description of his foal coat, rather than
his genetic colour, and that this cross was in fact unlikely to produce brown
or bay. I didn’t want to change Butch’s dam, because dams are harder to find
and because this would have necessitated changing his prefix, so in the end I
looked for a different sire. I chose a bay pony called Eastlands Lightning; he
and his sire Lakeland Lightning featured a lot in the magazines as ponies that
did performance not just showing, so I figured they were much more the type I
was looking for.
In about 1993, I got another Shetland: a Northlight. At the
time, they were doing ‘factory special orders’ where you could get a model
painted to your own specifications. I though blue roan would be a good colour –
regular readers will know that I’ve always loved roans. I made this one a mare
so that I had the nucleus of a breeding stud.
Information in my Shetland Society magazines allowed me to
single out a stud which bred standard size blue roans, but to actually to
choose parents for this mare, I had to buy a stud-book. The Shetland stud books
are quite useful publications; they only cover one year, but then again there
are a lot of Shetland foals born every year, so they include a lot of
individuals. In addition they list all the mares producing their first foals
that year, listing sire, dam and grand-dam for them; and also stallions
licensed that year, for whom the dam line is listed to five generations.
However, if you are going to spend money, I actually recommend buying not a
single year’s book but one or more of the Stud Book Index volumes, of which
more next time.
Anyway, armed with my stud book, I was able to find parents
for my mare: she became Clothie Mathilda, foaled 1988 by Hesup of Transy out of
Clothie Jobelle. Interestingly, when I did later get an index volume I learned that
this dam line comes from an upgrading/ inspection scheme such as many of our
native breeds have had over the years.
I no longer have Mathilda’s ‘body’ – I was never totally
happy with the Northlight Shetland and eventually decided it was time for her
to move on – but I have retained her details. So far only one of the progeny of
these two foundation ponies has found a body, and here she is:
This is Clifton Malteser, a Renaissance Resinry model from
the US, with whom I am very pleased.
Next time I’ll tell you more about how my Shetland stud
expanded. I don’t quite know when next time will be, because at the moment I seem to have so many more creative
things I want to do (blogging being one of them) than I have time or
opportunity. I do find this frustrating and I imagine as blog followers you do
too... all I can say is, I do my best and hope for better.
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