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Learning about and practising commoning on the New Forest. -
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Category Archives: New Forest
New Forest: newborn foals and spring arrive together
The past few weeks of visiting the New Forest to check on my free-roaming mares have been a reminder to all my senses of just how glorious a place this is. The sound of the cuckoo, skylark and lapwing in … Continue reading
New Forest Stallion Areas 2025
Each year stallions are released onto the open forest to run with the free-roaming mares and sire the next generation of New Forest pony. The stallions are carefully selected by the Verderer’s of the New Forest, the New Forest Pony … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Stallion
Tagged areas, breed, breeding, foal, mare, New forest, pony, season, stallion, turn out
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Being a New Forest Commoner
For me, being a New Forest commoner is an enormous privilege that has drawn me into a community of people who share a passion for the New Forest landscape, its flora, fauna and cultural heritage. A commoner is a person … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Commoner
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The ticklish impertinence of the New Forest fly
In 1895 a local newspaper published ‘Notes on Injurious Insects’.[1] Chief among these perilous mini-beasts was the forest fly (Hippobosca equina) aka horse louse fly, side-fly, or crab-fly, a bloodsucking pest that ‘causes great annoyance to the horses in the … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest pony
Tagged cattle, crab fly, equine, Forest fly, George Samouelle, Hippobosca equina, horse louse fly, horses, insect, New forest, ponies, side fly
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The Norman Conquest and being English.
If you had lived in England on this day (16 October) 958 years ago chances are you would be aware that a momentous battle had just been fought, only a few days earlier, near Hastings in Sussex. Even if you didn’t … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged Anglo Saxon, Domesday Book, English, Great Survey, King John, King William, Lionheart, Magna Carta Libertatum, New forest, Norman conquest, Norse, Nova Foresta, Parliament, pirates, raiders, Richard, The Queen Wills It, United States Constitution, Verderer
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Christmas on the New Forest
With Christmas fast approaching I have been thinking about some of the New Forest traditions and folklore connected to the festive season. The idea was sparked during a recent visit to check my stock, when I saw a man harvesting … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest pony
Tagged Boxing Day, Christian, Christmas, Commoner, Culture, Evergreen, festival, heathen, holly, ivy, mistletoe, New forest, pagan, point to point, Red Squirrel, Salisbury Journal, Sciurus vulgaris, squirrel hunt, yew
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New Year and good health!
Shortly after the New Year begins, it seems that we are bombarded with advertising on television, social media, in magazines and via the Internet for holidays in the sun or sure-fire ways of getting fit or losing weight. It always … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Commoner
Tagged Commoner, dogs, fitness, Folk cures, good health, green gym, Healing plants, health, Herb-lore, Herbs, medicine, natural remedies, New forest, New Year, ponies
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New Forest: good fences make good neighbours.
‘Good fences make good neighbours’ is an oft-quoted phrase that could have been coined with the New Forest and its free-roaming animals in mind. Whilst the New Forest is referred to as ‘the largest tract of unenclosed land in southern … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, Pannage season
Tagged boundary, cattle, Common of Mast, commonable, Commoner, fencing, free-roaming, good fences make good neighbours, Lane Creepers, New forest, Pannage, perambulation, pig, piglets, ponies, unenclosed, Verderers, wild
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New Forest: autumn drifts in
A sure sign of autumn in the commoner’s calendar is the commencement of the pony drifts that take place each year. The drifts are round-ups that are conducted by the Agisters and commoners with the aim of collecting together as … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Commoner, New Forest pony, New Forest Pony Drift
Tagged Agister, autumn, Commoner, community, district, drift, New forest, ponies, pony, pound, round-up, Tradition, Verderers
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