Descendants of Nora 191

Born: 1925
WPCS Number: 8983
Studbook Volume: XXXI (1932)
Breeder: Mrs. A. C. Lyell

Ness Daffodil was the last pony registered under the Ness prefix. Deducing from the volume in which she was registered. she was only registered as a 7 year old mare. This in itself is not a surprise, as the market for Welsh ponies had significantly declined in the 1920's. Registration did not offer a way for extra value, and therefore many ponies were kept unregistered.

Ness was indeed a unique prefix, used by the Lyell family. In the studbooks, we find listed as breeders a Mrs. M.E. Lyell, a Mr. George James Lyell, a Mrs. A.C. Lyell and a Allan C. Lyell. Only 27 ponies were registered under the Ness prefix, all in Section A (or occasionally in AII). Interestingly enough, 19 of the ponies were in fact purchased from other breeders and only 8 were bred at Ness. The Lyell family registered from Volume XVII to Volume XXXI, which indicates there were ponies at Ness for 15 years. First foal was born in 1918 and the last foal was born in 1925.
Another interesting point at Ness was a strong interest in offspring of Champion Bleddfa Shooting Star. Shooting Star sired 5 ponies at Ness and his son Forest Star Mixture sired 3 at Ness. Ness bred some very influential ponies, even being a small stud. Of note there are:

Ness Sunflower, by Bleddfa Shooting Star, dam of Craven Star Shot (ancestor of Craven Tosca and Vardra Sunflower)
Ness Commander, by Ness King, sire of Criban Cockade
Ness Thistle, by Bleddfa Shooting Star, dam of Winestead Zenia, who started the Revel "P" line
Ness Daffodil, by Forest Star Mixture, subject of this article.

In the wonderful book, "One Hundred Glorious Years", by Dr. Wynne Davies, there is an excellent article on the Ness ponies. Dr. Davies reports that Daffodil was purchased by Tom Jones Evans of Craven stud. Daffodil was shown at the 1947 Shropshire show at age 22. Daffodil was placed second behind Vardra Sunflower (granddaughter of Ness Sunflower) and beat the great Coed Coch Siaradus (then aged 5, 3 years before her first Royal Welsh championship) into 4th place!

Looking at the pedigree of Daffodil, a number of highlights come to mind. First of all, she is a halfbrother/halfsister cross tracing back to Bleddfa Shooting Star on both sides. Besides that, she has a cross of Eiddwen Flyer I on her sire's side and Eiddwen Flyer II (son of Eiddwen Flyer I) on the dam's side. In-breeding to Bleddfa Shooting Star in this way has been popular, think of influential ponies such as the full brothers Tregoyd Starlight and Bolgoed Squire, as well as Touchstone of Sansaw (Twyford "M" line) and Tywysfaen of Sansaw (Coed Coch "A" line), but also Gatesheath Dainty, which we will find through Aston Superstar, through the Rowfant "P" ponies and through Skellorn Daylight. This type of cross has had influence on great studs such as Coed Coch, Revel, Twyford and Criban.

Ness Daffodil seems to have spent most of her life with Tom Jones Evans of Craven Arms, who also owned Grove Sprightly. The prize for best Welsh Pony or Cob at the Royal Welsh show was named after them, the "Tom and Sprightly" cup. At Craven, Ness Daffodil bred the following offspring:

• Royal Star, born 1940, by Craven Cyrus
• Craven Iona, born 1944, by Craven Greylight, one of the foundation mares at Downland stud
• Craven Sir Horace, born 1947, by Bowdler Blue Boy
• Craven Lily, born 1949, by Revel Bluebird

Craven Iona bred a few foals at Craven, most notably the full brothers Craven Debo and Craven Debonair, both by Craven Tosco. Both have left some interesting offspring. One must note that Mrs. Brodrick purchased Rhianned, a daughter of Craven Debonair, to be mated to Coed Coch Madog. This produced Coed Coch Rhywent, who was exported to Holland, to start of the famous Boreas line of ponies (Boreas Ubbo, Boreas Ilias, Gulden Hoef's Vivaldi, etc.). Iona was purchased by Mrs. Cuff of Downland stud to be one of her foundation mares. One must note that Mrs. Cuff started to breed section A's, but moved to section B's with the success of Downland Dauphin. Unfortunately, in direct maternal line, there are not too descendants of Iona left in section A. Most noteworthy could be Downland Icicle, which was exported to the USA. I managed to trace down a descandant of her named Counce Anna at Production Acres stud. In section B, her line has had a great impact. Dowland Dresden, Downland Autumn, to name just a few.