Post by SarahW on Nov 15, 2009 21:35:43 GMT 1
The Lives and Loves of a New Forest Pony
Marchwood Perky (Bluesy) is my six year old blue roan New Forest pony and she lives out on the Forest more or less all year round. She is accompanied by Fritham Nell and a pony that doesn’t belong to me that I have nick-named Thinny. Thinny, as her name suggests, doesn’t hold her weight very well and gets a feed from me and several of my neighbours whenever she calls in. Bluesy and Nelly often bring home their friends for a meal (and to do their washing) a bit like university students. I work on the basis that if I feed them when they come home, they’ll think about coming home if they are ever in trouble.
All of the New Forest ponies are owned by someone. There are 500 Commoners who have the right to depasture their animals on the Forest. The rights attach to property and in this way rights may be passed on from generation to generation or sold to new people altogether. In my case, I acquired my rights by renting a piece of woodland that I have never actually seen or ever actually paid for. Some Commoners own hundreds of ponies and others only own two or three like me; that makes it easy for me to find my little lot and make sure that their feet are trimmed regularly and that they are wormed too; I can bring them in if they are looking in the slightest bit slim. It helps that they are pretty friendly although I do have to watch that they don’t start pestering the tourists. Each of the Commoners is responsible for the welfare of their own ponies but this is all overseen by the five agisters who are employed by the Verderers’ Office. The agisters spend much of their working life in the saddle and are responsible for organising the annual round ups where the ponies have their tails marked (cut into a specific shape for the area in which they live), are branded and separated if they are being brought in. At present it is compulsory to have your pony branded if you want to turn it out on to the Forest. I will choose not to as soon as it is no longer so. As the ponies can go anywhere they want on the Forest, where there are 3,000 ponies, the main argument for it is for long distance identification.
My ponies tend to wander a 2 mile radius from my fields. I can usually find them if I need them although Bluesy does disappear from time to time. It doesn’t help that she has a complete change of coat colour three times a year. Occasionally they will accompany me when I go out riding on my horse, Petra, and although it seems idyllic, there has been the odd hairy moment when they have chosen to go galloping ahead, clearing the logs and streams as they get close to the edge of their haunt.
Both Blue and Nell have had one foal each in the last three years. Kanuthi, Blue’s foal, still lives out for part of the year and lives with a lovely couple in Blissford. Cello is due to go to his new home later this week – he will be living with a lovely boy called Stevie. The two of them hit it off straight away. Unlike many of the Commoners I won’t sell my foals through the sales – indeed they don’t go anywhere until I am convinced that they are going to a better home than I can offer them. Both Kanuthi and Cello lived out on the Forest from the outset and spent glorious days socialising with the herd including the stallion, lots of cows, donkeys and the occasional pannage pig.
The breeding of the New Forest ponies has improved massively over the last few years with only the best 33 stallions being turned out for just three months of the year. This year, in recognition of a failing market, only 20 were turned out and only for one month. Pity then that some of the Commoners chose to take their mares home and put them out with their stallion anyway – sort of defeats the object. There are still some Shetland and coloured ponies out on the Forest but no other stallions. My Welsh Mountain pony gelding, Pie, lives out there and he hangs out with a little group of misfits and calls in from time to time.
The New Forest ponies are extremely important for the natural conservation of the Forest – they are known as the architects of the Forest. The right to depasture goes back to the days of William the Conqueror.
Gill, E. Ponies in the Wild, Whittett Books, 1994, ISBN 1 873580 11 8
MacNair, Dionis, A Short History of the New Forest Pony, 1992 Out of Print
Fear, Sally, Forest Drift,
Marchwood Perky (Bluesy) is my six year old blue roan New Forest pony and she lives out on the Forest more or less all year round. She is accompanied by Fritham Nell and a pony that doesn’t belong to me that I have nick-named Thinny. Thinny, as her name suggests, doesn’t hold her weight very well and gets a feed from me and several of my neighbours whenever she calls in. Bluesy and Nelly often bring home their friends for a meal (and to do their washing) a bit like university students. I work on the basis that if I feed them when they come home, they’ll think about coming home if they are ever in trouble.
All of the New Forest ponies are owned by someone. There are 500 Commoners who have the right to depasture their animals on the Forest. The rights attach to property and in this way rights may be passed on from generation to generation or sold to new people altogether. In my case, I acquired my rights by renting a piece of woodland that I have never actually seen or ever actually paid for. Some Commoners own hundreds of ponies and others only own two or three like me; that makes it easy for me to find my little lot and make sure that their feet are trimmed regularly and that they are wormed too; I can bring them in if they are looking in the slightest bit slim. It helps that they are pretty friendly although I do have to watch that they don’t start pestering the tourists. Each of the Commoners is responsible for the welfare of their own ponies but this is all overseen by the five agisters who are employed by the Verderers’ Office. The agisters spend much of their working life in the saddle and are responsible for organising the annual round ups where the ponies have their tails marked (cut into a specific shape for the area in which they live), are branded and separated if they are being brought in. At present it is compulsory to have your pony branded if you want to turn it out on to the Forest. I will choose not to as soon as it is no longer so. As the ponies can go anywhere they want on the Forest, where there are 3,000 ponies, the main argument for it is for long distance identification.
My ponies tend to wander a 2 mile radius from my fields. I can usually find them if I need them although Bluesy does disappear from time to time. It doesn’t help that she has a complete change of coat colour three times a year. Occasionally they will accompany me when I go out riding on my horse, Petra, and although it seems idyllic, there has been the odd hairy moment when they have chosen to go galloping ahead, clearing the logs and streams as they get close to the edge of their haunt.
Both Blue and Nell have had one foal each in the last three years. Kanuthi, Blue’s foal, still lives out for part of the year and lives with a lovely couple in Blissford. Cello is due to go to his new home later this week – he will be living with a lovely boy called Stevie. The two of them hit it off straight away. Unlike many of the Commoners I won’t sell my foals through the sales – indeed they don’t go anywhere until I am convinced that they are going to a better home than I can offer them. Both Kanuthi and Cello lived out on the Forest from the outset and spent glorious days socialising with the herd including the stallion, lots of cows, donkeys and the occasional pannage pig.
The breeding of the New Forest ponies has improved massively over the last few years with only the best 33 stallions being turned out for just three months of the year. This year, in recognition of a failing market, only 20 were turned out and only for one month. Pity then that some of the Commoners chose to take their mares home and put them out with their stallion anyway – sort of defeats the object. There are still some Shetland and coloured ponies out on the Forest but no other stallions. My Welsh Mountain pony gelding, Pie, lives out there and he hangs out with a little group of misfits and calls in from time to time.
The New Forest ponies are extremely important for the natural conservation of the Forest – they are known as the architects of the Forest. The right to depasture goes back to the days of William the Conqueror.
Gill, E. Ponies in the Wild, Whittett Books, 1994, ISBN 1 873580 11 8
MacNair, Dionis, A Short History of the New Forest Pony, 1992 Out of Print
Fear, Sally, Forest Drift,