How many ponies in the new forest

They watch over the forest and its stock, ensuring that owners meet the requirements of the Verderers in respect of stock welfare. They also attend road accidents involving forest stock, deal with injured animals and even have to destroy them if necessary. That, sadly, is one of the big disadvantages of having ponies, donkeys, cattle and pigs free to graze the open forest with unfenced roads running through. Please remember that these animals, and deer as well, are likely to cross in front of traffic at any time and they do have the right of way.

The maximum speed limit is 40mph on unfenced forest roads and the use of reflective collars on ponies is a measure some Commoners are now using in an attempt to reduce the number of accidents involving ponies. Our closest drift is at Appleslade, just over the road.

During the drift, all the ponies are rounded up by the Agisters, Commoners and helpers on horseback and are counted, checked for health problems and branded. There is also a maximum height for New Forest ponies but no minimum : There is a myth that the New Forest ponies are completely wild, however, they are only wild in the sense that they are able to roam freely around the National Park.

They are in fact owned and cared for by New Forest Commoners. The principle of commoners dates back centuries to when the New Forest was first established, and refers to someone who owns land to which rights of common are assigned. They also employ Agisters, who take care of the day to day issues involving the ponies. The jobs of the Agisters includes attending to road accidents and caring for injured ponies, as well as maintaining the stock pounds in the area and managing the rounding up of ponies when needed.

The New Forest ponies will usually eat grass, especially during the spring and summer when it is plentiful. Their constant grass grazing is incredibly important to the landscape of the New Forest as, without it, the open forest and heathland would soon turn to scrubland.

Some ponies also choose to eat acorns, despite the fact that they are poisonous to them due to the high levels of tannin inside. There are however a few ponies who seem to have a higher tolerance of acorns, and usually eating a few acorns is harmless. If you are involved in a road traffic accident with a pony it is an offence not to report it.

Make sure you carry an animal emergency hotlines card - giving you all the contacts you may need. Skip To Main Content.

Follow Us Facebook Twitter. My Planner To build your own Itinerary, click to add an item to your Itinerary basket. Already saved an Itinerary? Book Experiences. Site Search. Accommodation Search. Flexible visit date? Add Room. Things to Do Search. What's On Search. Any date in the future. Shopping Search. The mother was found by one of the New Forest Agisters as an orphan.

They go round together in their small herds or in pairs and have areas which they graze and return on a daily basis. If you would like to skip to my foal page you'll find lots of my photos here. All the New Forest ponies you see on your visit to the New Forest are all owned by someone - these ponies owners are called Commoners. I'm now a Commoner and you can read my Pony Blog and also see why I wanted to rescue him after I saw him born.

As Commoners we have the right to put our animals out on the forest. However, it is a highly regulated right, and each pony must be kept fit and healthy, and if necessary must be taken off the forest if they become poorly.

The Agisters play a major role in the New Forest in ensuring that all stock, whether it is ponies, horses, cattle, donkeys or pigs are in good health and have not got any injuries. The Verderers and Agisters role is to protect, administer, conserve, and safeguard this unique working environment. My pony wears a florescent neck band so that she shows up at night on the forest roads.

Many New Forest ponies, horses, donkeys and cows are killed or injured each year on the New Forest roads. This is something I feel very strongly about - if you are coming as a visitor or tourist to the New Forest please be very careful. Horses and ponies have no road sense and will either suddenly "spook" or just step out in front of a car. Cows are probably the worst as they just wander around in complete innocence - until often it is too late.

My animal road deaths and accidents page gives you some helpful safety tips. Please take care on the roads and keep to the speed limit. These are lovely animals please help to protect their lives. I thought you might like to know a bit more about the laws and who enforces them, on behalf of New Forest pony welfare. The ponies are allowed out on the forest by an ancient law called "Rights of Common of Pasture" - this is a Verderers byelaw.

Verderers are the managers of the ponies welfare and they are supported by a team of 5 Agisters at this present time. When a pony or other forest animal is injured by a car etc it is the Agister who attends, and most times needs to destroy the pony.