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| Prince and Benji |
In my mind I was convinced that Prince and Benji ought to be related and that got me digging through their pedigrees. It was all rather fanciful, but the histories of both of them made me think it would be another amazing coincidence if they were. In fact there were no direct connections between the two of them, but they were both connected to my ponies - and my ponies to each other - in some distant way.
Fritham Nell (Nelly's) sire, Knightway Billy Boy is Hawkhill Safari (Benji's) grandfather. Benji's Great, Great Grandfather, Bright Spark of Wootton is the same as Mockbeggar Yellow Hammer II (Patsy's) Great Grandfather whilst Wellow Aretex (Jack) and Brockenhurst Romany Prince (Prince) share the same Great, Great, Great grandfather, Cedar Sunrise. Knightwood Spitfire is the Great Great Great Grandfather of all of my Forest mares, Marchwood Perky (Blue), Nelly and Patsy, as well as being Prince's Great Great Grandfather twice over. Patsy and Prince also share Penny Farthing as her great, great, great grandfather and his great, great grandfather.
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| Goodenough |
The most distant link of all is that Jack, Nelly, and Patsy, Fritham Nell are all the great, great, great, grandchildren or in Jack's case the great, great,great, great grandchild of Goodenough who is also the great, great, great grandfather of Prince three times over (3/32). Goodenough was one of the few stallions left after World War II and perhaps it should be no surprise that he appears in so many pony passports including Lucky Lane Rollo who has been a Forest-run stallion at Woodgreen for the last three seasons.
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| Lucky Lane Rollo |
Of course the higher up you go through a pony's lineage the more likely they are to have something in common with one another, or indeed to have the same stallion appears in their pedigree a few times. Slipper is Jack's great, great, great grandfather as well as his great, great, great, great grandfather.
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| Fritham Nell |
Knightsway Billy Boy was a very solid and stolid stallion, known for being kind with his mares who all queued up for him the moment he arrived - and followed the trailer when he was taken away again. Apart from his calm temperament he passed on his strength and big ears.
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| Peveril Peterborough |
Blue is related to the stallion Peveril Peterborough (Grandsire), considered to be New Forest royalty, who was a regular winner at all of the top shows.
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| Warren Play-A-Way |
Jack's sire is perhaps the one that looks most like Prince - Warren Play-A-Way.
Breeders of New Forest Ponies usually know the entire histories of the ponies that they breed and many more. They would ask that anyone who owns one of the ponies that they have bred mention the pony's registered name whenever the pony is successful at something. I watch out for Nelly's only surviving son, Sherekhan Cello, who is the son of Bakeburn Jethro whose own great, great, great grandfather was also Knightwood Spitfire.
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| Bakeburn Jethro |
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| Knightswood Spitfire |
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| Sherekhan Cello |
