Rare Bloodlines in the Fell Pony

Introduction

Identifying rare bloodlines is an important strategy for conserving rare breeds of livestock. Breeding from rare lines, for instance, can help maintain the diversity of a gene pool. And if the individuals from rare lines are of proper type, then breeding from rare lines can assist in breed conservation from a type perspective, too. Assessing whether a particular rare bloodline is worthy of conservation is therefore a two-step process. First is identifying rarity, and once rare lines are identified then the more important work of assessing if the rare lines are of proper type and therefore worthy of conservation begins. Identification of rare lines is a necessary first step and is the focus of the information here.

Dr. Claire Winton has identified healthy genetic diversity in her work with Fell Pony DNA, especially on the maternal side. However, she cautioned that we must be careful not to lose that maternal diversity. Following the discussion of rare bloodlines below is a discussion of matrilineal diversity.

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I did my first identification of rare bloodlines in Fell Ponies in 2007 based on the sires and dams of the 2005 and 2006 foal crops (click here to read that study). I have now completed a second analysis of rare bloodlines. It updates the 2007 study and then analyzes the sires and dams of the 2017 and 2018 foal crops. Click here to read an overview of my updated study.

‘05/’06 Study Reconsidered

I did my first identification of rare bloodlines in Fell Ponies in 2008 based on the sires and dams of the 2006 and 2007 foal crops. At that time, there were a number of Dutch Fell Ponies for whom I had incomplete pedigrees. Thanks to detailed research done for me by Joke Postma of the Westerkwartier stud in The Netherlands, all pedigrees are now complete in my database. As a result, I have an updated list of rare bloodlines from the 2006/2007 time period. I used the same methodology as for the 2019 analysis, as described in a previous article (click here).

My key findings from my updated analysis of ‘06/’07 are:

• The complete Dutch pedigrees resulted in changes to the list.

• A decade on from the first analysis, it’s now possible to look at whether the bloodlines that were rare in ‘06/’07 are still in our population or if they’ve been lost.

• As before, a number of ponies show up repeatedly behind the ponies on the new list, indicating that they are a source of rarity.

To read my updated ‘06/’07 analysis, click here.

NA/Dutch Divergence?

In my recent analysis of rare bloodlines in the Fell Pony, nearly 40% of the ponies on the list were born outside the United Kingdom. Most of these were North America-born and the rest were born in The Netherlands. My similar study completed a decade ago didn’t have this large non-UK population on the rare bloodlines list, so the obvious question is: are we beginning to see a divergence in bloodlines between the UK and the two other largest populations of Fell Ponies?

To read my analysis of North American and Dutch divergence of lines, click here.

Ponies Frequently Found Behind Rare Lines

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.

To read my analysis of these ponies, click here.