mystery 4

Mushroom - a Recently Recognised Dilution

The Gletness Connection

The Gletness Stud was established in Shetland. Mainly chestnuts were bred & certainly some mushroom coloured foals were produced. Probably the best known stallion bred there was Gletness Rocket who has a number of mushroom descendants. Gletness Rockall was a three-quarter brother who was exported to Sweden, where he has established lines of very dark liver chestnuts with near white mane & tails, and a few mushroom coloured ponies.

My standard size mushroom stallion is CLIBBERSWICK HAMMERITE. He has been red & silver factor tested at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences at Uppsala, the result of which proved him to be red but negative for silver. He has since been tested at UC Davis & proved to be mushroom.

Clibberswick Hammerite mushroom. Foal reg. dark chestnut.	Cawa of Berry red & white	Ward of Houlland chestnut & white	Sprite of Berry white roan. Foal reg. piebald Gem of Houlland chestnut
	Cawa of Berry red & white	Kalan of Berry black	Bon Bon of Berry grey & white Flaxie of Berry chestnut
	Pearla of Clibberswick black	Gardie Trigger black	Sam of Gudden black Lady of Gardie black
	Pearla of Clibberswick black	Pearl II of Clibberswick black	Clothie Clett black Elita of Clibberswick black

Gem of Houlland was out of Bliss of Houlland who was by Nero of Houlland x Nutkin. Bon Bon of Berry traces to Houlland lines. Sam of Gudden was by Gletness Rocket from whom many mushrooms are descended. Cawa of Berry has 9 crosses of Café au Lait. Pearla of Clibberswick has 10 crosses of Café au Lait.

Hammerite as a foal.

Clibberswick Hammerite
Hammerite as an adult. His mane & tail have a lot of dark hair throughout giving the appearance of silver grey.

Clibberswick Hammerite
Hammerite after being stabled for the winter. He was considerably darker in colour than at any other time. The coat quickly faded in the daylight to his more usual shade. The colour on this day was an even all-over shade as is apparent on his back, chest & upper foreleg, the paler parts reflecting the bright sun.

Clibberswick Hammerite
Hammerite's head on the same early spring morning. Note that his face had remained the same paler shade of his usual colour as in the photograph above. It may be that these ponies do go darker in winter but they fade so quickly, we do not notice it.

Also by Cawa of Berry, is TANYA OF SANDALBRAE. She is a very dark mushroom skewbald that I bought as a foal, registered as 'chocolate & white'. At the time, all the long guard hairs had creamy coloured ends instead of the usual red of a normal chestnut. Her parentage is much the same as some of the preceding ponies. Cawa has 9 crosses of Café au Lait but Jolene of Gudden only has 3 crosses of Café au Lait through Gletness Rocket.

Tanya of Sandalbrae foal reg. chocolate & white	Cawa of Berry red & white	Ward of Houlland red & white	Sprite of Berry foal colour: piebald Gem of Houlland chestnut
	Cawa of Berry red & white	Kalan of Berry black	Bon Bon of Berry blue & white Flaxie of Berry chestnut
	Jolene of Gudden red & white	Gletness Rocket chestnut	Fireball of Marshwood dark chestnut Rose of Belmont chestnut
	Jolene of Gudden red & white	Jill of Gudden piebald	Noggin of Luckdon black Dandy of Gudden chestnut

Sandalbrae Tanya as a foal showing cream mane & foal coat.

Tanya as an adult. Mane is white, tail has dark hair.

Tanya of Sandalbrae

Tanya of Sandalbrae. Note creamy hairs on face.

BAYHALL MAGIC (pictured as a yearling) also traces to the same lines. His summer coat is much the same colour as his winter foal coat.

Bayhall Magic mushroom (foal reg. "dun")	Scapa Fireman chestnut	Jumbo of Bothen chestnut	Gletness Rocket chestnut Rosebell of Bothen chestnut
	Scapa Fireman chestnut	Scapa Flame chestnut	Scapa Reekie grey Scapa Roma black
	Bayhall Bubbles chestnut dun	Zorro of Berry very dark chestnut	Victor of Houlland skewbald Beryl of Berry chestnut
	Bayhall Bubbles chestnut dun	Kexie of Gott cream chestnut dun	Penmorfa Barnaby skewbald Susan of Gott cream chestnut dun

Bayhall Magic

Notes: Victor of Houlland was a great grandson of Fireball of Marshwood. Penmorfa Barnaby traces to Helga of Houlland (see Houlland page 2). Susan of Gott was a great granddaughter of Firedust of Marshwood - a full brother to Fireball of Marshwood.

GARDIE ZARA is white & mushroom but was registered as 'white with chestnut markings'. Her mother, Gardie Rosebud is an unusual shade of chestnut with heavy white roaning through her body & chestnut roaning through her blaze.

Gardie Zara mushroom & white (foal reg. "white with chestnut markings"	Sevenordale Basil skewbald	Gardie Odin black	Majestic of Quendale bay Rhona of Stoorigarth black
	Sevenordale Basil skewbald	Sevenordale Tracey skewbald	Victor of Berry skewbald Pippa of Gatesgarth chestnut
	Gardie Rosebud chestnut	Knock Jolly Roger chestnut	Knock Fanfare strawberry roan, grey Joyful of Waulkmill black
	Gardie Rosebud chestnut	Xyris of Quendale chestnut	Paddy of Quendale black Clivocast Charisma chestnut

Gardie Zara as a yearling

Gardie Rosebud (at 2 years old), dam of Zara.

Gardie Zara has three crosses of Gletness Rocket and two crosses of Gletness Rockall in her pedigree, which also has several lines that trace to Houlland and South Park. In all, Sevenordale Basil has 17 crosses of Café au Lait + 1 of Avening Jupiter. Gardie Rosebud has 15 crosses of Café au Lait + 1 of Avening Jupiter.

The South Park Connection

When one looks at the pedigrees of these mushrooms, they have a double cross of one pony, or a cross of 2 or more of the ponies, usually tracing to Houlland or Avening, both of which trace to South Park blood, more particularly to one mare, Café au Lait 886, a 33½ inch "dun & white" mare born in 1891 & purchased by Lady Estella Hope from Shetland as a filly. Bred by John Laurenson, she was said to be by Lodinn & her dam was black with white markings. As a foal, she was described as "grey". Lady Hope was a first class stockperson who knew her ponies well & gave very detailed descriptions when registering foals. Pied foals had white markings fully described. Dun foals were given the base colour rather than being described as simply "dun". On a couple of occasions, she only described ponies as "dun" - with regard to Café au Lait (mare registration "dun & white") & this mare's great grandson, Cuckoo, who was described as "light dun". Could it be that she did not know how to describe these ponies that may have been mushroom duns? All the pedigrees given so far, trace to Café au Lait on both sides. Many mushroom pedigrees contain Gletness Rocket, Gletness Rockall, Fireball of Marshwood, Houlland or Avening ponies, all of which trace to this mare.

Further details of these early South Park ponies can be found in the recently published book 'The Ladies Hope and Their Shetland Ponies', available from Amazon or other book-sellers. For more on the book, please see this page.

Another name to regularly appear in mushroom pedigrees is Silver Fox, also a South Park pony. He was a 31½ inch blue roan, born in 1924 but has no obvious mushroom connections. He was the sire of Avening Blusterer so the grandsire of Avening Jupiter & Ninepins (comes into the Gletness & Houlland pedigrees). He was also the sire of Firebird so grandsire of Fireball & Fireless of Marshwood. Silver Fox comes into most Houlland pedigrees & virtually all later Avening pedigrees.

Mushrooms are being increasingly found in different countries. Vorden Buddleia, sire of the bay Adam v.d. Spuitjesdom, comes into many of them. Buddleia was out of Park View Betty Boo, registered as "cream chestnut", a mare by Thor of Houlland.

Gletness Rockall, a three-quarter brother to Gletness Rocket, comes into more of the Swedish "mushrooms".

Kismet v. Bunswaard, a chestnut stallion, combines some of the lines I have mentioned in these pages. He is by Golden Fleece of Annandale (Avening bloodlines) x Kipper of Marshwood (Fireball of Marshwood x Kitten of Houlland).

On the following pages, I have given details of some of the mushroom ponies that are found in other countries.

Text & photographs copyright of Beth Mead unless otherwise stated

First Page Houlland Page Firth/Annandale Page Other Mushroom Ponies

Main Index