New Forest: newborn foals and spring arrive together

Posted on April 29, 2025 by newforestcommoner

The breeding of the New Forest ponies is carefully timed, to ensure foals are born in the spring when the grass is coming through.

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 the early mornings; the aromatic smell of coconut from the blooming gorse bushes; the feel of spring sunshine on my skin; and, the sight of foals appearing among the pony herds, are just a few of the sentient delights of living in such a unique part of the world. The foals are a particularly important part of the commoning tradition and their arrival, from late April onwards, is a cause for much celebration. The stallions that sire these precious youngsters do not roam on the Forest all-year round, in the way that the mares and geldings do, but are released for only four/six weeks each year. The rest of the year they live in a large bachelor herd with other stallions in the breeding programme. By limiting the time the stallions spend on the Forest, means that the pony-breeding season can be carefully managed to ensure the best well-being outcomes for the mares and foals. A pony’s gestation period lasts for eleven months and the breeding that takes place, when the stallions are released from early May until June, will produce foals in the following April/May. The arrival of the foals will then coincide with that of the spring grass and, hopefully, the better weather, making it easier for the mothers and their babies to maintain good health and condition.

Stallion/Breeding Season
The Verderer’s of the New Forest, the Commoners’ Defence Association and the New Forest Pony Breeding & Cattle Society carefully select the stallions that will sire the next generation of New Forest pony. Only approved stallions are permitted to run out on the Forest with the free-roaming mares to breed. At the last Verderers Court the names of the stallions that will be turned out this year, along with the dates they will be at liberty, were announced. Some of the stallions attract an almost celebrity status among the commoners and at the Court session, when some of the names were read out, murmurs of approval rippled around the hall. Although there are no stallions listed for the areas in which my mares have been turned out, it doesn’t necessarily follow that I won’t get any foals next year. Mares have been known to travel many miles out of their territories to find a stallion of their liking; and, stallions too have been known to wander to other areas. The only sure way to be certain that ones mares won’t receive the attention of the stallion is to remove them from the Forest for the few weeks that the boys are at liberty. However, the point of the breeding season is to produce foals that will maintain one of our most historic and endearing pony breeds. Visitors to the New Forest need to take extra care when travelling on the Forest roads, as many of the foals will be grazing with their mothers on the verges, or using the roads to traverse their territories. Give extra consideration at this time to the animals in New Forest and pass wide and slow on the roads; also, admire at a distance any foals or other newborn animals encountered there.

Since 1930 only purebred stallions have been permitted on the Open Forest to sire the next generation of New Forest pony.

The Stallion Areas for 2025 can be found HERE. Continue reading →

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New Forest Stallion Areas 2025

Posted on April 26, 2025 by newforestcommoner

Approved pedigree stallions are released into the New Forest, in selected area, to breed with the Forest mares.

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 Breeding & Cattle Society, and members of the Commoners Defence Association. Only approved stallions are permitted to breed with forest run mares. In 2025, the stallions go out on Monday 12th May and are to be removed from the Forest by Monday 23rd June.

The 2025 stallion areas are: Name of Stallion      –     Area

Bunny II – Nomansland Walhampton Scholars Farewell – Wooton

Cadland Masterplan – Sway

Knavesash Gold Fever – East End

Lucky Lane Warrior – Woodgreen

Lucky Lane Pegasus – Mill Lawn

Bullhill Major – Black Knowl

Mallards Wood Law & Order – Holmsley

Fideleywood Falconer – Culverley

Knaveash Polaris – Longdown

Brookshill Jasper – Ashurst

Wellow Vivaldi – Hill Top

Mogshade Quarryman – Whitten Pond

Carterstone Cufflink – Backley

Brookshill Major 2nd – Balmer Lawn

Knavesash Duty – Bramshaw Golf Course

Jetset Monarch – Wilverley

Lucky Lane Rollo – Acres Down

Nutschullying First Light – Green Pond, Fritham

Hasley Merlin – Linford

Rushmoor Marksman – Broomy

Please be aware that during the stallion season the free-roaming ponies will be preoccupied and their behaviour may be unpredictable.

When the stallions are at large on the New Forest the wild pony herds exhibit much excitement.

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Being a New Forest Commoner

Posted on January 1, 2025 by newforestcommoner
Commoning is a community activity, with everyone working together.

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 who occupies land or property that has Rights of Common attached to it. These rights are: Common of Pasture (grazing), which allows commoners to turn out ponies, cattle, donkeys onto the unenclosed parts of the New Forest to graze. Common of Pasture is the most practiced common right. Common of Mast (pannage) is the right to turn out pigs in the autumn, in the period known as pannage season, to feed upon the fallen acorns. This not only provides food for the pigs but because acorns can be toxic to ponies and deer when eaten in large quantities also helps other animals too. Common of Estovers (fuel-rights), is the free supply of a specified amount of wood to certain eligible Forest properties. (This right is strictly controlled by Forestry England.) Common of Marl (clay) is the right to dig clay as a fertiliser for improving agricultural land and is no longer practised in the Forest. Common of Turbary (peat), which is the right to cut peat for fuel is no longer exercised. There are a few properties on large estates, which were once part of a monastery, that also have the right to turn out sheep on the Forest but this is rarely exercised.

Time immemorial
The common rights of the New Forest are attached to property, such as a house or piece of land, and not to a person or their family. Not every property in the New Forest has common rights. Common rights have existed since time immemorial, undoubtedly predating the creation of the New Forest by King William I (the Conqueror) in circa. 1079. Indeed, some commoning families have been exercising their rights for many generations and, in some cases, can even trace their ancestry back to the earliest written records of the New Forest. Commoning in the New Forest is a pragmatic enterprise as well as a traditional one. People with rights of pasture graze their animals communally and tend to help each other to care for them and keep an eye on them (although the welfare of each animal is the responsibility of its owner). The Agisters, who are appointed by the Verderers of the New Forest*, deal with the management issues of stock on the Forest and work daily with the commoners to ensure high standards of animal welfare. The commoning calendar includes activities, such as the annual drifts or pony round-ups, shows and sales, which give this tight-knit community plenty of opportunity to get together and share the pleasures and privileges of commoning.

The Verderers of the New Forest protect and administer the interests of the commoners.

*The Verderers of the New Forest work through the Court of Verderers and have the same status as magistrates. For more information visit: http://www.verderers.org.uk

New Forest Commoners Defence Association – If you would like to contact the New Forest Commoners Defence Association please redirect your enquiry to: https://www.realnewforest.org

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The ticklish impertinence of the New Forest fly

Posted on December 22, 2024 by newforestcommoner

Forest fly (Hippobosca equine) aka side-fly or crab-fly a pesky resident of the New Forest.

Forest fly (Hippobosca equine) a pesky resident of the New Forest. (Image #1. Dated 1793.)

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 New Forest of Hampshire’.[2] In the summer months, generally between May to October, this parasitic insect preys upon the resident free-roaming New Forest ponies and any visiting horses. It has also been known to feast on Forest cattle. (I’ve even found them on my dogs, in the house. Though the dogs probably carried them in unawares.) The forest fly measures approximately 10mm in length with a wingspan of about 8mm and is variously described as reddish brown to blackish chestnut in colour, with yellow or white spots on its abdomen. Once it has found a suitable host, unless it is disturbed and flies off, or is killed, it will basically stay put for as long as it can. The forest fly is notoriously hard to squash, due to the seemingly armour plating of its body, and must be virtually eviscerated to destroy it.

The forest fly does not store the blood it sucks from its host, which means that it must feed regularly. It is the manner of the fly’s sideways movement across the animal’s body, however, that is much more upsetting to its host than its bite. These tenacious little devils cling on determinedly to their unfortunate hosts and travel, as one observer describes, by ‘making tracks under the ponies coat like a deer wandering through a field of corn’. At the end of each of its six legs are claws that resemble grappling hooks and it is with these that the fly applies a tenacious hold, as it creeps through the hairs of its unfortunate host. Its favourite place to congregate is on the horse’s perineum and additionally, if a mare, the udders or, if a gelding, on the sheath, where there are less hairs and less chance of being dislodged. As you can imagine this can cause indescribable distress and alarm to animals not habituated to such ticklish impertinences!

Stories of panic and distress
As the Victorian newspaper further reported, ‘the method of attack is really irritating to the animals, and in the cases of horses unaccustomed to it, especially, is really a source of serious danger to those in charge of the infuriated victims’.[3] Therein lies the trouble. Good-mannered horses that are otherwise sweetly behaved, trustworthy, and obedient, when at home, can suddenly turn into bucking broncos or demonic savage beasts if a forest fly lands on them when being ridden on the New Forest. I have heard tales of visiting horses being brought to the New Forest driven half mad with terror by the sensation, and normally quiet animals being rendered unrideable. Stories are even told of times past when New Forest ponies, used for transport to other areas, would inadvertently carry the flies away with them. As the flies moved onto the town animals all pandemonium would ensue, with the horses harnessed to tradesman’s vans, milk carts and drays bucking or bolting and causing widespread panic. I once, inadvertently, closed my pony inside the horsebox with a crab fly on him, after a lovely ride on the Forest. He kicked the sides of the box in violent protest as we travelled, all the way home.) The ponies born on the Forest or those turned out to roam the heaths and woods, however, become inured to the insect and generally accept their presence with resignation, if not toleration, making them the ideal mounts or driven animals for people regularly using the New Forest.

Treatments and stratagems
George Samouelle, the celebrated nineteenth century entomologist, writing about Hippobosca equina in 1819 declared, “In the New Forest of Hampshire they abound in the most astonishing degree. I have obtained from the flanks of one horse six handfuls, which consisted of upwards of 100 specimens.”[4] The good news is, however, that the forest fly is found only in the New Forest and, though it may land on you, humans are not generally on its dinner menu. (Naughty Forest boys were said to collect them to put the clinging-critters in girls’ hair as a prank.) For centuries people have been trying to find protection against this dreaded insect and there are some recommended strategies for reducing the risks of forest fly attacks on horses or ponies but none are 100% guaranteed effective. In 1844, one such treatment involved taking ‘mineral earth 8 oz., and of lard 1 lb., and make them into a salve. Some of this salve is to be spread on here and there upon the hair, and worked in with a wisp of straw. After 24 hours the salve is to be washed off with warm water, in which brown soap has been dissolved.’[5] Unfortunately, there is no follow-up to confirm the efficacy of this concoction.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century chemicals were being employed whereby….‘horses may be protected for a few hours by rubbing a paraffin rag over them, a very advisable thing to do in the New Forest, for a horse fresh in the locality when being driven, for pro tem. This undoubtedly keeps off those pertinacious and annoying Forest Flies.'[6] Modern day approaches also include the use of chemical spray repellents that are much more suitable as topical treatments; fly-rugs, and the liberal application of ointments, such as Vaseline or Sudocrem, on the areas of the horse where the flies congregate are also used. The flies are most active in the middle of the day and so early morning or early evening rides across the Forest are the best times to avoid these tenacious little critters. Combining stratagems may go some way to reducing the risk of experiencing a forest fly attack and a possible impromptu rodeo too!

A close-up of a New Forest fly showing the grappling-hook-like feet.

A close-up of a New Forest fly showing the grappling-hook-like feet.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The Hampshire Advertiser (Southampton, England), Wednesday, May 29, 1895; pg. 4; Issue 5109. 19th Century British Library Newspapers: Part II.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Georges Samouelle, The Entomologist’s Useful Compendium: Or, an Introduction to the Knowledge of British Insects (London, 1819), pp. 302-303

[5] Henry Stephens, The Book of the Farm, Vol. 3: Summer & Autumn, British and Irish History, 1844 (Cambridge, 2010), pp. 855-856.

[6] Frederick Vincent Theobald, Reports on Economic Zoology for the Year Ending 1902 (Kent, 1902), p. 147.

IMAGES:

#1: Forest fly (Hippobosca equina) dated 1793.

#2: Forest fly (Hippobosca equina) close-up.

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The Norman Conquest and being English.

Posted on October 16, 2024 by newforestcommoner

The statue of King Richard I - the Lionheart - stands outside the Houses of Parliament.

The statue of King Richard I – the Lionheart – great-great-grandson of William the Conqueror stands outside the Houses of Parliament.

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 know the exact details you would undoubtedly know that the English king, Harold Godwinson, had been slain. How would this affect you? To begin with, probably not a lot. But the victor of the battle, Duke William II of Normandy, later to be known as William the Conqueror and then King William I, would fundamentally change what it was to be ‘English’ during his twenty-year reign. Even today the result of these radical changes are still in evidence but have become so familiar to us that they even form part of our national identity.

Raiders and pirates
The Normans were descended from the Norse (Norseman became Northman or Norman) who were raiders and pirates from the Scandinavian and Nordic regions. They settled in the region of France that became known as Normandy, establishing a powerful dynasty that included William the Conqueror. Prior to the Norman Conquest, if you were a man you might possibly have had a name such as Eadwine, Æthelred, or Gyrth, or if you were a woman, Ælfgifu, Ealdgyth or Cyneburh. After 1066 Anglo-Saxon names became synonymous with defeat and so children were given Norman names, such as William, Robert, and Henry or Alice, Jeanne, and Margaret, to better assimilate them into society. These names seem so familiar to us now and, somehow, more English. From the time of the Conquest Norman-French began to influence the English language, customs and culture in a way that has stayed with us ever since.

Nova Foresta
William I also imported his passion for hunting, for which he created the Nova Foresta in 1079. To protect the beasts of the chase and their habitat, he introduced Forest Law and with it an administrative and legal system that can still be witnessed in the New Forest today, in the form of the Verderers’ Court at Lyndhurst. ‘Verderer’ is derived from the French word for ‘green’ and signifies the area of responsibility for these powerful Forest officials. The first mention in written record of the New Forest occurs in the Domesday Book (Great Survey), to which a whole section is devoted. No other area of the country has this privilege. The Domesday Book is our oldest public record, which was commissioned by William I to inform him of his fiscal dues, and the taxes he could expect to receive from around the country. The Domesday Book remains an effective legal proof of land ownership.

The Queen Wills It
Even today Norman-French is used during the passage of Government Acts through the Houses of Parliament with phrases such as, “La Reyne le vault” (The Queen wills it.). This is because William I, and his royal descendants, bestowed and upheld the basis of English law and the institutions that eventually developed into Parliament. Richard the Lionheart, whose statue is outside the Houses of Parliament, as a patriotic symbol of our nation’s virtue and virility, is the great-great-grandson of William I. He didn’t even speak a word of English. His brother, John, is regarded as the worst king of England (even worse than Rufus the Red, and that’s saying something) but through his negligence and mismanagement Magna Carta Libertatum – better known as Magna Carta – was born (in 1215). For the first time in history an English monarch agreed in writing to safeguard the rights, privileges and liberties of certain of his subjects, such as clergymen and nobles. This legal document has inspired other forms of contract between rulers and citizenry, such as the United States Constitution, and has consequently made British law the envy of the world.

Magna Carta to Forest Charter
In 1217, two years after Magna Carta was issued, the Carta de Foresta or Charter of the Forest became law. Whereas Magna Carta established rights for the barons, the Charter of the Forest gave real rights and freedoms to ordinary citizens. It is often known as the ‘Commoners Charter’ because it relaxed some of the extremes of Forest Law, such as the death penalty or mutilation for killing a deer and made provision for the economic protection of free men, who depended upon the Forest to graze their stock and utilise many of its natural resources. The Charter of the Forest codified local law and customs, which was much more practical to ordinary people. Because of this the Commoners Charter was in use for over 800 years. In fact, the last vestiges of the Charter were repealed only in 1971 by the ‘Wild Creatures and Forest Laws Act’. Section 1(1) abolished ‘(a) any prerogative right of Her Majesty to wild creatures (except royal fish and swans), together with any prerogative right to set aside land or water for the breeding, support or taking of wild creatures; and (b) any franchises of forest, free chase, park or free warren. Thus, it was not until the twentieth century that William I’s medieval forest law was effectively ended.

The bad rule of William Rufus led to the Coronation Charter in 1100 and ultimately in Magna Carta.

Magna Carta Libertatum – for the first time in history an English monarch agreed in writing to safeguard the rights, privileges and liberties of certain of his subjects, such as clergymen and nobles.

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New Forest: forest laws, punishment and reform

Posted on August 24, 2024 by newforestcommoner
The New Forest boasts what is believed to be the highest concentration of ancient trees in Western Europe.

A ‘forest’ was formerly associated with an area where game was preserved for royal hunting, unlike today where we think of a forest as being a place filled with trees.

Nowadays we think of a forest as a place covered in trees but in medieval times it was understood to be a reserve for royal hunting. A ‘forest’ could also include whole villages and other settlements, as well as vast expanses of heathland, areas of woods, bogs, and mires. Its definition was legal not ecological. Indeed, in about 1079, William the Conqueror renamed the area from Ytene (meaning ‘thorny place’ or ‘province of the Jutes’) to Nova Foresta, denoting its legal status as an elite hunting reserve – a New Forest. Such areas were already established in Normandy, where the Conqueror had been born and brought up, but were a novel concept in England. ‘Forests’ quickly became popular with the medieval monarchy and in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, at the height of this practice, one-third of all the land area in southern England was designated as royal forest. (The county of Essex was, at one stage in the 12th century, wholly afforested, while Henry II, on his accession in 1154, declared all of Huntingdonshire as forest.)

As King of England, William I also introduced forest law to protect the ‘venison’ (game animals) and the ‘vert’ (the vegetation and herbage the game animals depended upon for food and shelter) in his hunting reserves. So severe was forest law that it was reported it was designed to ‘leave the English nothing but their eyes to weep with.’[1]. Whereas previously, the people living in the forests had been able to exploit the available natural resources of the landscape to supplement their livelihoods, after the introduction of forest law there were dreadful, even fatal, consequences for those living off the land. For example, disturbing a deer meant punishment that included blinding or having a hand cut off, and actually killing one, even to feed hungry children, could lead to execution. Furthermore, those resident in the New Forest were not allowed to gather wood; nor were they permitted to clear the land or erect fences even if it were on their own property.

Keeping a dog could also have serious consequences, because officials believed they would be used for illegal hunting. Dogs that were unable to pass through a specially designed measuring device would have the middle two toes of their front paws amputated or ‘expedited’ to prevent them from chasing game. (Copies of the ‘Rufus Stirrup’, through which only small terrier-sized dogs could fit, can be found in the Verderers Court, Lyndhurst, and the Heritage Centre, Lyndhurst.) Forest law was harsh and proved very unpopular among the people.

The Forest judicial system 
As well as introducing forest law, William I also introduced a tier of officials and courts to uphold the new legal system. Offences against forest law were divided into two categories: trespass against the venison (the game animals) and against the vert (the vegetation and herbage relied upon by the game animals). The court system was complicated and different levels of the judiciary would hear different levels of crime. The Court of Attachment, was held every forty days, and presided over by Verderers and the Lord Warden, or his deputy. The Court of Attachment did not possess the power to try or convict individuals, and such cases would have to be passed up to the more senior Swainmote Court, which could try offenders before a jury of freemen, but was held only three times a year. The highest-ranking court was the Court of Justice in Eyre. While this could pass sentence on offenders of the forest laws, it was held barely every three years or more. The whole judicial system was unsatisfactory and became subject to inefficiency, neglect, and abuse.

Stable stand Dog draw Back bear Bloody hand
Over time, the laws and legal system, introduced by William I, began to be altered in order to benefit those outside of the royal or aristocratic rankings. After concessions were granted in Henry I’s Coronation Edict of 1100; Magna Carta in 1215; and the Charter of the Forest in 1217, things even got a little bit easier for the Forest’s inhabitants. By 1217 the death penalty for poaching was abolished. Furthermore, officers of the Crown could not lawfully arrest an offender against the venison and vert unless the perpetrator was caught in either of the following situations: ‘Stable stand Dog draw Back bear Bloody hand’. Stable stand indicated that the man had been found with a long-bow or cross-bow bent at the ready or had dogs or hounds on a leash ready to let them off. Dog draw implied that the man had already wounded a deer or wild boar and had been found using a dog or hound to draw the animal or follow its scent in order to catch it. Back bear meant that the man had killed and recovered the animal and had been caught in the act of carrying it away on his back. Bloody hand literally meant being caught ‘red handed’ with the suspect’s hands covered in blood, whilst in the Forest. Any of these circumstances were enough for the suspect to be arrested and committed to prison where they would await trial.

The Verderers’ Court
By the middle of the nineteenth century it was clear that the laws, offices, and institutions of the Forest judiciary needed reform. While the current Verderers’ Court in Lyndhurst has its origins from medieval times it was reconstituted in its present form as a result of the New Forest Act 1877. The Act abolished the former oath of allegiance to the Crown and the Verderers now work in the interest of the commoners, common rights, and the New Forest landscape. The Court meets in ‘Open Court’ (usually on the third Wednesday of each month) at which the public may address the Verderers on any matter relevant to the management of the New Forest and subject to the Court Regulations. It is well worth a visit to see one of the oldest courts in the land perform its functions in managing the New Forest of today.

The Verderers Court
  1. R. J. White, A Short History of England (1967, Cambridge), p.45.
  2. Verderers of the New Forest: website

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Christmas on the New Forest

Posted on December 26, 2021 by newforestcommoner
Mummers plays were traditional folk dramas performed at Christmas.

Mummers plays were traditional folk dramas performed at Christmas.

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 holly boughs. This winter activity, it seems, has been a legitimate part of commoning for decades and has always been a ‘ticket-of-leave affair’ regulated by the New Forest authorities. According to one Victorian account, ‘many of the butcher’s shops in London owe their brightness at the festive season to the New Forest, to the mutual advantage of butcher and forester.’1 Harvesting the evergreens was also an important source of income for the New Forest gypsies, who ‘know well to cut the best berried branches early before the birds spoil them.’2 Nowadays, of course, the importance of berries as a winter food for birds and other animals is much better understood.

Holly, along with ivy, mistletoe and yew, are the plants most associated with winter. They were used in many pagan religions, medicines and festivals. So strongly attached were they to pre-Christian culture that the symbol of the evergreen was assimilated by the Church to represent the renewal of life at Christ’s birth and make the celebration of Christmas more acceptable to the heathens. Yet, their association with the supernatural and, indeed, superstition still persisted. For centuries people believed that an oak tree (another pagan favourite) growing at Cadnam, near Lyndhurst, sprouted leaves on no other day than Christmas Day. The belief of this was so widely accepted that when a lady enquired about the tree on a visit to the area she was told ‘to come back on the Wednesday following’, which was Christmas Day. However, the lady insisted on having an investigation of the tree as she would not be returning and wanted a search made straight away. The Salisbury Journal reported that when the guide, who was there to attend her ‘was prevailed on to ascend, and on the first branch that he gathered appeared several fair new leaves, fresh sprouted from the buds, and nearly an inch and a half in length. It may be imagined, that the guide was more amazed by this premature production than the lady: for so strong was his belief in the truth of the whole tradition, that he would have pledged his life that not a leaf was to have been discovered on any part of the tree before the usual hour.’4

In 1867, John Richard de Capel Wise observed that old customs and traditions still lingered on the Forest. For instance, mummers (actors in traditional folk-plays) still performed at Christmas, and old women go out on St Thomas’s Day (21st December, the longest night of the year) to ‘go gooding’, a custom for the poor widows of the community to go round singing carols and collecting money. However, one of the most riotous activities during the festive season was the traditional red squirrel hunt, which was held the day after Christmas Day. Large groups of men and boys, armed with leaded sticks called ‘scales’, ‘squolyles’ or ‘snogs’, went out on the Forest to hunt for the squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) which, in the 1800’s, were still in abundance. Observers felt that these excursions were an excuse to flout the absence of the game laws on Christmas/Boxing Day. Of course, the days hunting always finished in an obliging alehouse! In 1915 the Deputy Surveyor General, Gerald Lascelles, reflected, ‘Up till recent times the great congregations of squirrel hunters about Christmas time all met together in the evening, at one or other of the local public-houses, and ‘enjoyed great suppers of ” squirrel pie,” the product of the day’s amusement, but of late years squirrels have hardly been abundant enough to furnish material for these epicurean feasts.’5

In modern times, the Boxing Day point-to-point races have become the traditional post-Christmas activity in the New Forest.* Run under the original rules, which developed in the eighteenth century, riders are allowed to choose their own course across the open Forest between the start and finish point and can cross the finish line from any direction. The races are the perfect demonstration for the all-round capabilities of the pure-bred or part-bred New Forest pony – speed, stamina and sure footedness. If you look closely you may even see runner and riders with mistletoe or some other evergreen bough about their person for luck.

*Due to its increasing popularity: Restrictions have now been introduced to control the large numbers of spectators attending the point-to-point, in order to preserve the landscape and habitats of the New Forest. Please follow directions and official guidelines when attending this event. 

The New Forest point-to-point, held on Boxing Day, observes the traditional rules of racing.

  1. Rose Champion De Crespigny and Horace Gordon Hutchinson, The New Forest: Its Traditions, Inhabitants and Customs (London, 1895), p.34.
  2. …..
  3. John Wise, The New Forest – Its History and Its Scenery, p. 178.
  4. 10th January 1786, Salisbury Journal.
  5. Gerald Lascelles, Thirty-five Years in the New Forest (London, 1915) p. 244.

First published: 02 December 2018.

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New Forest: Autumn colours signal pannage season

Posted on September 14, 2021 by newforestcommoner

The colours that nature paints across the New Forest landscape in autumn are just beautiful.

The colours that nature paints across the New Forest landscape are superior to any artist.

Autumn on the New Forest is always a time of spectacle. The breaking dawn bursting upon the ancient landscape painted with reds, lilacs, browns and oranges is a visual treat guaranteed to draw wonder from those who rise early enough to witness it. The colours of the autumnal leaves as they turn to gold, copper, yellow and red are a significant tourist attraction and a warming visual treat before the cold of winter finally denudes the trees of cover. Of course, the autumn also signals important events in the commoning calendar. Apart from the annual cycle of pony round-ups, one of the most unusual sights during the autumn on the New Forest has to be that of pigs roaming loose during pannage season.

Commoners who have the right of  ‘Common of Mast’ can turn out domestic pigs to feed on beech mast, chestnuts and fallen acorns. The dates of the pannage season, when the pigs roam free, are decided by the Verderers and Forestry England but usually start when the acorns begin to drop from the oak trees and will continue for about two months. The pigs serve an important part of the ecology of the Forest and, in particular, relish the fallen acorns that when eaten in excessive amounts are poisonous to ponies and cattle. In former times the numbers of pigs foraging on the Forest during pannage would have been between 5,000-6,000 animals. Today, however, there is more likely to be up to 600 pigs roaming the Forest.

The Wessex Saddleback, which was once associated with the New Forest, is extinct in Britain as a separate breed, but if you are really lucky during pannage season you may see some of the old English breeds of pig – such as the Large White, Tamworth, Berkshire or British Saddleback. Free-ranging pigs, like the ponies, donkeys and cattle on the Forest, have right of way on the roads.

The pigs, though domesticated, are not tame and the same respect (probably more so) that you would show to any of the other free-roaming livestock should be extended to them. There are many stories and indeed videos of people being chased and even mauled by pigs roaming the New Forest but these incidents have usually occurred because of some provocation by hapless humans. Like the ponies and donkeys, it is not a good idea to feed the pigs, however willing they may be, as you’ll soon upset them when the food runs out and you try to walk away. During this time of year you may also find local shops selling pig-shaped chocolates, cakes and biscuits in celebration of this country tradition – for those who like their pigs more sweet than salt.

Pannage season is an important event in the commoning calendar and a popular tradition.

NOTE: Pannage dates: from Monday 13th September until Sunday 14th November 2021 (inclusive) pigs will be turned out to feast on the acorns and mast in the Open Forest. ? ? ? Please take extra care when driving on the #NewForest roads. #pigawareness #add3minutes #realnewforest

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New Forest Stallion Areas 2019

Posted on April 30, 2019 by newforestcommoner
The New Forest stallion season lasts only a few weeks each year and is an important date in the New Forest’s commoning calendar.

Each year, licensed New Forest 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 Commoners’ Defence Association and the New Forest Pony Breeding & Cattle Society.

Only approved stallions are permitted to run with the mares to breed, and do so for only several weeks each year. This year the stallions are released on Monday 13th May to run until Monday 24th June 2019, inclusive.

The stallions and areas for 2019 are:

Cameron Luck of the Irish – Acres Down

Woodfidley Top Gun – Balmer Lawn

Mallards Wood Law And Order – Black Knowl

Lucky Lane Warrior – Busketts

Lucky Lane Pegasus – Beaulieu Aerodrome

Fidleywood Falconer – Leaden Hall

Sturtmoor Top Hat – Hilltop

Lovelyhill Hendrix – Linford

Rushmoor Dalesman – Longdown

Knavesash Polaris – Mill Lawn/Burley Rocks

Bunny II – Backley

Sway Scrumpy Jack – Setley

Bullhill Major – Stoney Cross

Blakeswater Quantum Solice  – Holmsley

Bakeburn Benny – Wootton

Please be aware that during the stallion season the free-roaming ponies will be preoccupied and their behaviour may be unpredictable. Take extra care when out and about in the New Forest, particularly if you are a road user.

When the stallions are at large on the New Forest the wild pony herds exhibit much excitement.

For more information about the New Forest Stallions please visit: New Forest Pony & Cattle Breeding Society.

For more information about commoning in the New Forest please visit: New Forest Commoners’ Defence Association.

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New Forest: one extreme to another

Posted on January 27, 2019 by newforestcommoner
The New Forest ponies can cope with all sorts of weather conditions.

I was checking my diary recently to see what I was doing this time last year. My diary isn’t a detailed chronology of events and on some days there are no entries at all. Strangely, this often means I’ve been too busy to fill it in. Interestingly, as I flick through the pages, going back in time as I do so, the one theme that is constant above all others is the weather. Even if I haven’t filled much else in, I have recorded what was going on weather-wise. Obsession with the weather is reckoned, of course, to be a British characteristic because we have so much of it. Unlike other countries that know tomorrow and the day after and even the day after that are going to be sunny, or who have a regular (almost arrive-on-time) rainy-seasons, we never really know what the weather is going to bring. Last year, for instance, varied hugely in rainfall, temperature, and sunshine.

Beast from the East
In February, we were struck by ‘The Beast from the East’. Plummeting temperatures and thick snowfall caused havoc for many parts of the country. Even the simplest task of wheel barrowing hay to our field-kept ponies became a job for our trusty 4X4 truck, as we simply couldn’t barrow the hay up the hill. For our ponies roaming the New Forest, they were able to find places to tuck out of the biting winds and, while the ground was covered with a layer of snow, were able to eat the gorse that grows so widely there. Gorse is a member of the pea family and is highly nutritious, though somewhat prickly, to eat. Most people think that ponies eat just grass (because generally horses and ponies are kept in paddocks) when, in fact, if left free to roam their diet is considerably varied taking in all sorts of vegetation and herbage.

Heatwave 2018
Of course the bitter-cold start to the year was followed by a heat wave that lasted for months, with temperatures peaking in the 30°Cs. During this time, our paddocks at home shrivelled to nothing and for the first time since we’ve been here we were unable to make hay. With barely any decent length sward for baling, I made the decision to leave what was on the field for grazing and used the last of our barn-stored hay to feed our ponies at home. I knew this meant that I would have to buy in any hay I needed for the winter and that the price would probably increase as the demand rose. (It has!)

Wetland areas
Our free-roaming Forest ponies fared much better. The foals were born in the heat of May and their dams were able to feed on the vegetation sustained by the many wetland areas of the Forest. (Wetland restoration work in the New Forest has, as an added benefit, been improving the grazing considerably. Long may it continue.) The ponies know their territories intimately, and know when, where and how, to find food, water and shelter, even in the most extreme of circumstances. There was plenty of water out on the Open Forest, if you knew where to look. Well-meaning people, leaving buckets of water outside their properties for the ponies to drink from, nearly caused a serious welfare problem, because once the lead-mare has quenched her thirst she will not lead the herd to water. There were instances where the rest of the animals in the herd fought over dribbles of water left in the bucket or had to continue their thirst. Of course, leaving buckets of water, like putting out food, encourages the animals into developed areas where they are at risk of traffic.

Overgrazing?
Of course in such extreme conditions one hears the inevitable accusation that the New Forest is being over-grazed. This is an issue that surfaces every now and again. Commoner’s animals have been grazing the New Forest since before the Norman Conquest and this is the reason they are referred to as ‘the architects of the Forest’ because their grazing, footfall, and dunging maintains and shapes the landscape. Many of the habitats that are vital for a diversity of species, including plants, fungi, insects and invertebrates, rely upon the free-roaming habits of the ponies to maintain them.  If the Forest was overgrazed our animals would be starving – and they’re not. A twice-yearly check, arranged by the Verderers of the New Forest, accompanied by animal welfare organisations, such as the RSPCA, British Horse Society, and the Donkey Sanctuary; as well as vets and DEFRA representatives, ensure that the welfare standards of our stock is maintained.

Marking register
The number of animals depastured on the New Forest has fluctuated over time (seen in decades) and, each time, one species or another of plant, insect, animal, or bird, has been able to take advantage of a change in conditions. It’s a natural part of the ebb and flow of Forest life that cannot be organised according to a scientific formula. The national and international designations that protect the New Forest’s fragile flora and fauna are monitored by statutory bodies, including Natural England, and organisations, such as Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, who recognise the contribution commoning makes to the New Forest. However, some people have inaccurately used the Verderers’ marking register as a record of the number of animals actually depastured in the Forest and are claiming high numbers of animals are being turned out. Not all animals in the register are grazing in the New Forest. The Basic Payments Scheme requires farmers and commoners to present the marking fee receipt in order to qualify for basic payments on all animals. It’s difficult to know exactly how many animals are turned out at any one time. Some commoners only graze their animals for short periods or some of the time, such as in summer only. Commoning is not a one-size-fits-all type of farming.

Rare breed
The facts are, that the New Forest pony is on the equine watchlist of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, and the continuation of this native breed is crucial to the future of the New Forest landscape. In terms of threats though, the biggest threat to the New Forest, in common with us all, is climate change. If there were more areas like the New Forest with large areas of vegetation, wetland and trees, managed in the same way with free-roaming livestock, then perhaps we would not be experiencing the extremes that seem to be a developing feature of our weather systems.

The practice of commoning, which has existed uninterrupted for over a thousand years, is still the dominant influence over the Forest’s ecology, economy and community.

See also:

New Forest Commoners’ Defence Association: Commoners’ Pride & Chris Packham’s Prejudice
New Forest Commoners’ Defence Association: FAQ – Is the New Forest Overgrazed?
Rare Breed Survival Trust: New Forest Pony

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