Ponies on the New Forest
By kind Permission of the Native Pony Magazine

This year, however, in a revolutionary move to reduce the number of surplus foals born, the Verderers have decided that only 30 will be turned out. Furthermore, they will only run out from June 1 to August I ensuring that the foals will be born during May and June. This is a direct result of the appallingly low prices obtained for foals over the last few years at the annual sales held at the Beaulieu Road Sale yards near Lyndhurst.

Stallions to be turned out will be judged by a panel on the basis of 40 per cent for type, 40 per cent for conformation, and 20 per cent for action.

Five generation pedigrees will be considered to ensure diversity of bloodlines in those selected. Because of the restricted time for which owners will be able to keep their stallions out on the Forest, they will be paid a Premium of £250 once they have removed their horses from the Forest on August 1.

Those owners whose stallions have been passed to run on the Forest in previous years, but which have been rejected this year, will be paid £100 to cover the cost of either disposal or gelding. The scheme is set to run for 3 years, but will be reviewed at the end of each year.

There are, of course, possible dangers in this scheme. One is that some Commoners may decide not to keep any stallions at all, particularly those in the 4-10 year old group, which can still be sold for an acceptable price.

Nonetheless, the Commoners have voted for this scheme, although some knowledgeable people, including New Forest Pony Breeding and Cattle Society Secretary and Verderer, Dionis Macnair, believe that they will never get a better price for their foals until the standard of the mares improves.

At present, there is a mixture of registered, and non-eligible mares of very variable standard, some coloured part-breds and Shetland crosses, plus a number of ‘scrub’ ponies bought in from further south and turned out.

In an attempt to encourage the retention on the Forest of better mares, the Breed Society is planning to introduce a grading scheme. The mares will be judged in July/August, when they are looking well, on the basis of type, conformation, and action. They must also be in reasonable condition; the mare’s foal will be taken into consideration insofar as ‘has the mother done it well’.

The owners will probably be given a ‘one-off’ small premium. It is possible that there will be a special section for foals from graded mares at the Beaulieu Road sales.

It is also possible that passports could play a part in the reduction of poor quality mare numbers. At present, passports are not required for feral ponies remaining on the Forest. It is not yet clear whether this will still be the situation after the end of 2003, when all equines require passports.

Should all need the documents, it is suggested that it would be ideal if there could be cheap passports for good mares that remain on the Forest, and expensive passports for the rubbish — so discouraging indiscriminate breeding from poor stock. It would be even better for the good mares not to need passports unless they left the Forest; the Breed Society could, as it does for foals now, hold the necessary information electronically until it is needed.

The aim of improving the overall standard of ponies on the Forest, is, of course, to produce a registered animal that people want to buy. It is also vital for the genetic diversity of the breed that the wide number of bloodlines found on the Forest are maintained, not least because the genetic diversityof the stud-bred New Forest ponies is much more limited.

The Commoners, moreover, cannot continue indefinitely breeding ponies for which there is no market.

There is certainly a market for ponies that are broken, as everybody wants something they can compete on tomorrow; most, however, are not prepared to, or are unable to break and bring them on themselves. Few Commoners have the facilities to do so.

To alleviate this problem in the longer term, students from various agricultural colleges are being invited to the Forest and given experience of handling and breaking ponies that have come straight off the Forest, and attempts are being made to include such tuition as part of NVQs.

There is also a desperate need for land on which to rear the foals from the time they are taken off the Forest (because they can’t stay with their mothers through the winter) until they are old enough to use. Attempts are being made to persuade the tax authorities to accept them as agricultural, not recreational animals, until they are usable.

Work is also being done to persuade the authorities to allow these feral ponies to be grazed on set-aside land without it penalizing the farmer.

The whole future of the feral ponies depends on demonstrating to the pony buying public that Forestbred ponies are really worth buying. “The ideal pony”, explained Dionis Macnair, “is the one that is bred on the Forest from a good mare, taken off at 5 or 6 months old and fed on through its first 2 or 3 winters.

"Come play with me"

If it’s run out for the first few months of its life, it’s ‘streetwise’, it’s learning to go through water, it’s learning about plastic bags in bushes, about traffic, and it’s also learnt to pick up its feet and to cover the ground.

It’s got space and it’s also stressed its limbs without any weight on them so they’ve grown naturally, and it hasn’t been overfed too young, and has had plenty of others to play with.

This is very important; it is one of the problems on the studs that very few of them have enough space for their foals to really gallop and play, and go up and down hills, and that sort of thing’.

The Pony Publicity section of the Forest Friendly Farming project is mounting a campaign to demonstrate the qualities and the versatility of the Forest-bred ponies. One of the features which should help with this marketing is the plan to build new sale yards at Beaulieu Road. The present sale yard no longer meets statutory requirements, and the new one is to be built on the same site, but with much improved facilities which will, it is hoped, overcome the pony buying public’s seeming reluctance to buy at these auctions.

A number of things have changed in the Forest recently — some of them to the benefit of the ponies.

It remains to be seen whether the implementation of National Park status will be a help or a hindrance to the future of these marvelous animals; discussions are still in progress. There is some concern about the possible involvement in the administration of the Forest of surrounding urban local authorities whose officials may have little knowledge or understanding of Forest life.

It is important that the way of life of the Commoners and their ability to keep feral ponies on the Forest ponies are preserved. To repeat the often-quoted statement ‘They are a precious part of our national heritage’.