New Forest: pistols at dawn and rough music!

Posted on January 25, 2016 by newforestcommoner
The New Forest was a popular venue for duels.

The New Forest was a popular venue for duels, which originate from the medieval chivalric tradtion.

In October 1816 it was reported in The Sporting Magazine that a duel had taken place ‘in the neighbourhood of the New Forest’ between a Capt. Fairman and the Hon. Butler Danvers, which was attended by their respective surgeons and seconds. However, things did not go smoothly for the two gentlemen trying to settle their differences in the time-honoured fashion. Apparently the police were aware that the confrontation, which had been planned for several days, was due to take place and were determined to prevent it. Thus constables pursued the two protagonists and their entourage across country for most of the morning. The duelling men had apparently attempted many times to take aim and fire at one another but had been prevented from doing so by the nearness of their pursuers. In the end they had to fire at one another while being charged-down by the police. Both men were arrested and promptly taken to the home of county magistrate Mr Stourges Bourne, where they were bound over to preserve the peace and fined 500l. each. Sadly the report does not mention what caused the two men to undertake such determined single combat in the first place.

Chivalric codes of conduct
The upper echelons of society used duelling foremost as a way of deciding a point of honour, rather than necessarily for exacting revenge or actually killing their opponent, and the cause of the quarrel could be very trifling indeed. Duelling had a strict code of conduct that the combatants were expected to observe. Indeed, many books were written on the subject to aid those unfamiliar with the etiquette of single combat. Duels on the New Forest were not uncommon and one of the first documented examples occurred in the twelfth century. The last duel between Englishmen, which involved a fatality, occurred in 1845 not far from the New Forest. The Forest would have been a place where duellists could sword-fight or, later in history, shoot pistols at one another generally undisturbed. It was not necessarily a private matter either because society gossip would know and repeat what slight, insult or scandal had provoked the duel in the first place, which was probably why the outcome of the duel would be widely reported in the newspapers. Duelling has its origins in chivalry, hence the elaborate rules and manners associated with it, and its demise was due to it becoming socially unfashionable, rather than because of laws imposed against it.

Riding the skimmington or rough music
The common people also had their methods of soothing social tensions and often resorted to ‘riding the skimmington’ or creating ‘rough music’, which consisted of making lots of noise on pots and pans outside the house of the person, or persons, believed to have caused offence to members of the community. In January 1871, a skimmington was reported at Eling where the home of Thomas and Annie Stephens was being noisily ‘serenaded’ by a group of boys. Mrs Stephens came out of the house to fire a warning shot from a pistol, to frighten the boys away, and shot Gilbert Broomfield in the head wounding him. Broomfield admitted that he was on bad terms with the Stephens but said that he only happened to be passing by at the time with a galvanised iron bucket, with which he was going to use for a wash. It was generally agreed though that the shooting was an unfortunate accident. The jury acquitted Mr Stephens but Mrs Stephens, who fired the shot, was convicted.

In 1709 proposals were made to clear the New Forest and build a township for refugees.

When all the duelling and rough music had been done, harmony returned to the New Forest.

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New Forest: the pony, an innkeeper and a judge!

Posted on January 17, 2016 by newforestcommoner
The Rufus Stone.

The Rufus Stone is a popular visitor destination on the New Forest.

I recently discovered a rather amusing but true story concerning a New Forest pony, an innkeeper and a County Court judge, which was reported in the Hampshire Advertiser in December 1891. The events of the story began earlier that year, on Friday 14th August, when a Mr Meek decided to take a friend on a visit to the Rufus Stone. He hitched his New Forest pony to a cart and off he and his companion went. They stopped at the Compton Arms, at Stoney Cross, and put the animal in the charge of the ostler (a groom) telling him to take care of it and to give it a feed. Mr Meek watched the ostler settle his pony into a stall before setting off with his friend to look at the monument marking the spot where King William II (otherwise known as Rufus the Red) was slain by an arrow. Shortly after Mr Meek had gone, however, a party arrived in a large charabanc and the ostler decided to give the stall that had Mr Meek’s pony in it to the bigger animal belonging to the new arrivals. However, Mr Meek’s pony was quite comfortable where he was ‘thank you very much’ and didn’t want to leave the stall. So, the ostler decided that force was necessary and proceeded to try and bodily evict the little equine. Well, the pony was having none of this rough treatment and fought back! The result was that the pony escaped and disappeared into the Forest still kicking, having given the ostler sore shins for his trouble. Mr Meek returned a while later from his excursion only to discover his pony had gone and that he was facing a rather long walk home.

Wise judge, good judgement
By the time the case came to Southampton County Court, some months later, Mr Meek was seeking damages of £50 – which included £25 for the pony, £7 7s for the new set of harness that the pony had allegedly been wearing at the time, £6 14s 6d for veterinary attention and other costs, £1 for reward money and £10 for his trouble. However, the hotel owner countered these demands and denied any responsibility whatsoever. Never was there such a pony, he argued. ‘What moral man could do to keep that wild and furious creature within bounds was done and no more could be done.’ He called witnesses to prove that the behaviour of the animal towards the ostler was ‘worse than that of the fiery, untamed steed of  “Mazeppa”*, and excelled in reckless agility the prancings of the bounding buffalo of the plain.’ Apart from anything else fumed the innkeeper he was still owed for the bucket of oats that the ostler had fed to the pony! (According to testimony the results of the magic grain on the pony’s demeanour was stupendous.) Nevertheless the wise judge ruled somewhere in the middle telling Mr Meek that he couldn’t come to court with ridiculous claims for fanciful expenses, and to the innkeeper that couldn’t escape his liability. He ruled £10 in favour of Mr Meek and there was an end to it. So the moral of the story is never feed oats to a New Forest pony or try to manhandle it unless you want trouble!

New Forest ponies are used to a meagre diet, rather than high-protein rations.

New Forest ponies are used to a meagre ‘natural’ diet, rather than high-protein grain rations.

*Mazeppa was a poem, written by Lord Byron in 1819, in which the young commander of a Cossack unit – Ivan Mazepa – has an affair with a Countess but, upon discovery of the illicit amour, the hero of the tale is tied naked to a wild horse that is then set loose. The poem describes his suffering and trauma whilst on this unfortunate (and uncomfortable) journey.

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New Forest: The Big Freeze 1963-1964

Posted on January 10, 2016 by newforestcommoner
The ponies must be hardy to survive in the wild.

New Forest ponies are hardy enough to survive in the ‘wild’, even during short periods of severe weather.

The rainy weather of late (January 2016) has meant that I’ve had to have a bit of a reorganisation in the hay barn to make room for a vehicle that doesn’t like starting in the wet and cold. I had thought only animals liked their creature comforts but this particular mechanical workhorse, though reliable and trustworthy in all other respects, obviously needed a little TLC and I was prepared to make an exception for it. In order for it to fit into the barn though I had to move a large quantity of baled hay and rearrange the pallets on which they were piled, but it was worth the trouble to preserve the starting capabilities of a much-relied upon vehicle. Adverse weather conditions are always a test for the commoners, as indeed they are for farmers in general, and bring challenges that often need effort and a certain amount of ingenuity to overcome. In some cases, like my recent experience, the solution is simple whereas in others the conditions are so severe that they require the involvement of the whole community and, in extreme cases, the whole country.

The Big Freeze 1963-1964
One such instance started on Boxing Day in 1963, when it began to snow. The softly falling flakes were at first a charming feature of the Christmas holidays but were in fact the prelude to what was to become known nationally as the ‘Big Freeze’. As temperatures across the country plummeted, lakes, rivers, and even the sea in some coastal regions, began to freeze. The winter of 1963/4 is the coldest since 1740, with minimum recorded temperatures of lower than -20 °C. In January and February 1964 more snow arrived and freezing gale-force blizzards created snowdrifts that were reported to be as high as 20 feet (6.1m) in places. The whole country was affected, with many roads impassable, schools and businesses closed, villages cut off and power-lines brought down. Farmers everywhere struggled to tend to their animals. Temperatures remained below zero ensuring that the snow stayed on the ground for months.

Emergency feeding of New Forest ponies
The commoners of the New Forest, quickly realising that the cold weather would be setting in for a while, began to organise supplementary feeding for the ponies across the Forest. However, it would not be until March 1964, when the thaw began to set in, that this ‘emergency’ regime would no longer be required. Feeding stations were set up at strategic parts of the Forest by volunteers who would take hay to a set location at a regular time, and dole out bales to the ponies. The availability and location of barns for storing hay was crucial to the process. It took a while before the semi-feral ponies in each location understood the routine, but once they associated the vehicles struggling through the snowdrifts with food supplies they quickly assembled to be fed. Animal-lovers from across the country sent in donations and local people offered their assistance in setting up other feeding stations across the Forest. The snow was so deep in places that the ponies were unable to travel to their regular watering places and were reduced to drinking from puddles on the roads or eating snow to quench their thirst. Ingenious commoners were able to dig down into the ground to find free-flowing water that created make-shift watering holes. The Deputy Surveyor also gave permission for the commoners to cut down holly as fodder for the ponies because the keepers were doing the same for the deer. No one at the beginning of the year ever envisaged just how long the unprecedented bad weather would last, but the committed effort of volunteers who, day-in-day-out, struggled against the elements ensured the welfare of the animals was maintained and so helped to increase their survival rates.

New forest ponies are very well adapted to the rigours of living 'wild' but need supplementary feeding in severe snow.

During the Big Freeze of 1963/4 supplementary feeding of the free-roaming New Forest ponies was needed.

Top photo courtesy of Paul Chambers.

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New Forest: Wet! Wet! Wet!

Posted on January 3, 2016 by newforestcommoner
The bogs and valley mires are important New Forest habitats.

The bogs and valley mires are important New Forest habitats.

The downpours of late (January 2016) have created lakes in my fields and paddocks and my home-kept ponies are looking decidedly soggy and miserable. The ground beside the field gates has been churned into mud, as the ponies parade up and down the fence line each afternoon in their impatience to be fed. I have to push the barrow loads of hay further and further up the hill in order to deposit the piles onto ground that isn’t poached. On the flip side though, my free-roaming ponies out on the open Forest continue in good health and have kept much of the condition that they gained on the good summer grass. The recent temperatures have been so mild that they’ve not yet had to use their fat reserves to stay warm. Provided the inclement weather is not unduly prolonged they should remain well. The wet weather doesn’t seem to affect the free-roaming ponies too badly as they know all the tricks for avoiding the worst of it.

Danger of bogs and mires
Of course the recent heavy rainfall will mean that the watercourses across the New Forest will be filling up. The Forest catchment is fed by a series of unconnected steams that begin in areas of bog and heathland mire. These bogs and mires are areas of precious habitat that can be deceptive looking, even in summer. Unwary walkers, horse-riders or careless Forest animals have been trapped in their murky depths whilst trying to cross what otherwise looks like ordinary open heathland. Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service are regularly called out to attend such incidents and frequently urge people using the Forest to remain on the footpaths to avoid a similar fate. In times past, before the tracks and pathways were so helpfully laid and maintained by the authorities, strangers to the Forest would be warned of the dangers of traversing the Forest and the bogs in particular. The reason was (and still remains) because the free-roaming ponies and cattle make tracks through their territories that lead to the best grazing, shelter and water. To the uninitiated human traveller these tracks can resemble footpaths that simply lead nowhere and can get them hopelessly lost. Travellers of old were therefore told to follow carriage tracks, rather than hoof prints, especially when traversing the bogs and mires. The ‘wild’ Forest ponies can safely travel where ridden or driven horses can’t. If there were no signs of where carriage wheels had been on the opposite side of a bog even people on foot were advised not to attempt a crossing.

Crossing a swollen ford
In modern times too it is often helpful to have an indicator that shows the way when the reliability of the path to be travelled is in doubt. On a recent trip to visit a fellow commoner, under grey skies and in slamming rain, as I crossed the swollen ford into the village a group of cyclists were eyeing up the flood waters and clearly fancied their chances of getting across on their bikes. On seeing me approach in my 4X4 they decided to watch my progress to get an idea of the depth of the water. As I drove slowly but determinedly through the rapids a small bow-wave formed over the vehicle’s bumper. The audience observed my manoeuvre with an almost scientific interest. With their calculations complete the decision was quickly reached that they ought to dismount and walk their bikes over the nearby footbridge. It was a good job they did. If the depth hadn’t put them off crossing the ford the speed that the water was travelling certainly should have. According to the Royal Life Saving Society two feet (60.96cm) of water moving at enough speed can wash away a car, whilst only six inches (15.24cm) can take you completely off your feet. After safely crossing the ford via the footbridge the little group eventually pedalled off disconsolately but soaked with nothing more treacherous than the falling rain.

Water flow after heavy rain.

The New Forest catchment is fed by unconnected streams that begin in areas of bog and heathland mire.

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New Forest: harvesting holly for Christmas.

Posted on December 21, 2015 by newforestcommoner
Many trees on the New Forest display a distinct 'browse-line', over which ponies cannot reach.

Many trees on the New Forest have a distinct ‘browse-line’, over which ponies cannot reach.

Last month (posted December 2015), as I made my way into the New Forest to check on my free-roaming ponies, I came across several contractors harvesting holly for the Christmas trade. This winter activity has long been a legitimate part of commoning and has always been a ‘ticket-of-leave affair’ regulated by the Forest authorities. In times past the holly would be sent up on the train, from places like Fordingbridge railway station (which closed in 1964), to London to be sold to the retailers for decorating their stores. It was a sign that Christmas was coming. According to one Victorian eyewitness; “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.” But this seasonal colour was not just reserved for the London shops. In 1892 Lyndhurst shops were described as,

Just now wearing a very gay and seasonable appearance, many of the shops being decorated, amongst them the butchers seem determined to keep up their prestige. Mr. J. Strange has a splendid display; Mr. Taverner has also a capital show, their shops being tastefully decorated with holly and ivy.’

The celebrations at the New Forest Workhouse Union, Lyndhurst, would be reported in the newspaper each Christmas, which one year commented on the particularly striking use of Forest evergreen as ‘being prettily decorated, the adornments presenting a fresh and bright appearance.’ Harvesting the evergreens was also an important source of income, particularly for the New Forest Gypsies, who ‘know well to cut the best berried branches early before the birds spoil them.’

A flock of seagulls or a herd of ponies?
As I watched the contractors cutting the holly I could see herds of ponies following on behind like so many flocks of seagulls after the plough. The ponies were taking advantage of the fallen foliage and leaf scraps for a quick and easy meal. They were doing a great job of hoovering up where the men and the trailers had been. Holly, like gorse, is a prickly meal but one that the free-roaming ponies will eat over the winter when there’s not a lot else growing. However, not all holly leaves are prickly. If you stand under a holly tree and look up you will see that above the browse-line, the point where the ponies cannot reach beyond, all the leaves of the holly are smooth. It was these leaves that were being dropped by the men and were being eaten by the ponies. The ponies must be familiar with this curious aspect of human behaviour because as soon as they spied the vehicles and trailers making their way down the tracks, the ponies began to follow behind just as sure as if someone had rung a dinner bell. The lucky ones who managed to get there first and tucked in for the feast must have felt that Christmas had come early!

Traditional healthland management practices are appreciated by the ponies who benefit from the cutting and harvesting activities.

Traditional healthland management practices are appreciated by the ponies who benefit from the cutting and harvesting activities.

Please note: Only contractors licensed by the Forestry Commission are permitted to cut and remove holly (and other vegetation or herbage) from the New Forest.

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New Forest: the bully-boy Conqueror, hunting and warfare.

Posted on December 13, 2015 by newforestcommoner
In medieval times a forest meant an area preserved for royal hunting, and not a wooded area as it does today.

William the Conqueror created the New Forest, in about 1079, for royal hunting.

William the Conqueror is a source of fascination to me. As the man who created the New Forest, his motives and actions also continue to be debated by many historians and scholars. For some he was the first medieval conservationist, as by his policies and laws he attempted to preserve animal species, ancient woodland and large tracts of habitat; and for others he is a tyrant who laid waste to villages, towns and cities, causing the deaths of many thousands of people, particularly in the north. By all accounts William the Conqueror was a man’s man, who was crowned King of England on Christmas Day in 1066. His physical description indicates that he was about 5 feet 10 inches tall, which was above average height for the period, of great strength of arm, and with a deep, gravelly voice. When he wanted to marry Matilda of Flanders she is said to have refused him haughtily, perhaps because he was illegitimate by birth and, therefore, not worthy of a woman of noble descent. He was not happy about her decision. In one account he pulled her off her horse by her long braids and in another he threw her violently to the ground, all in view of her family and their servants. William was not above getting physically violent when it came to getting his own way. At only 4 feet 2 inches tall, Matilda is recorded as England’s smallest queen (according to the Guinness World Records), which in the circumstances perhaps makes William I one of the realms biggest bullies. Apparently his rough wooing worked with Matilda though, and they were married, had a large family, and when she died he was said to have sunk into a deep depression.

Medieval hunting was a practice for warfare
As King William I he established the New Forest, in around 1079, as a royal hunting preserve and created harsh laws to protect the venison (game animals) and the vert (the vegetation that they fed on and which gave them shelter). So keen was he on hunting that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reported: ‘He made many deer-parks; and he established laws therewith; so that whosoever slew a hart, or a hind, should be deprived of his eyesight. As he forbade men to kill the harts, so also the boars; and he loved the tall deer as if he were their father’. Hunting in medieval times was not just about putting food on the table, especially for the nobility. Red deer were the favoured prey of the hunters, particularly the large, mature stags, and there were plenty living in the New Forest back then. A healthy stag could be chased for upwards of thirty miles giving good sport to his pursuers. Such a long pursuit depended upon an unenclosed landscape that was free of fences and other man-made obstacles. The New Forest was ideal terrain for this. More than sport though, hunting was a method of practicing many of the skills required for battle. Hunting required preparation and planning, good horsemanship, the ability to handle weapons and a fair amount of bloodlust. It was also very dangerous. King William’s second son, Richard, and third son, William, were both killed whilst hunting on the New Forest as was his grandson, also called Richard. Medieval commentators saw these deaths as divine judgements on William I as a man and a king. But in reality just as in warfare, hunting carried the risk of death only because sometimes nature fought back!

Medieval hunting was used as a practice for warfare, where knights could practice their skills.

Medieval hunting was used as a practice for warfare, where knights could hone their martial skills.

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New Forest: ‘animal aware’ road users.

Posted on December 6, 2015 by newforestcommoner
The 'wild' ponies use the New Forest road system at all times of the year, day and night.

The ‘wild’ ponies use the New Forest road system at all times of the year, day and night.

In 1903 at Brook occurred the first death of a New Forest animal, a pony, caused by a motor vehicle. Since then livestock injuries and fatalities have become a sad but regular statistic. Information about road traffic incidents, involving commonable animals – ponies, cattle, pigs and sheep – is recorded by the Verderers of the New Forest and shared with the New Forest National Park Authority. The results are published and make grim reading. However, when official records began in 1956 annual deaths were around three times what they are today. There was a huge rise in numbers in the 1960’s, with 1962 being exceptional at 313 animal deaths that year. (That’s almost one a day!!) Of course back then the perambulation of the New Forest was not fenced and animals could get onto the A31, A35, and A337 roads. There was also no traffic restriction on the open Forest and, if your vehicle could get there, you could drive (or camp) virtually anywhere.

Meaures to reduce animal road deaths
During the 1960’s the fragile and irreplaceable qualities of the New Forest began to be recognised. The perambulation of the Forest was fenced and gridded by 1964, and by the mid-1970s the A31, A35 and A337 were also fenced. In 1971 the whole Forest was notified as a Site of Specific Scientific Interest (SSI) and this led to, among other things, the creation of designated car parking areas and restrictions of access onto the open Forest. The number of animal deaths on Forest roads began to reduce and by the beginning of the 1980’s numbers stood around 120 per year. Further measures to reduce animal road deaths, such as a Forest-wide 40mph speed limit in the early 1990’s, were introduced, and so by the year 2000 there were 90 animal deaths recorded. Last year (2014) 68 animals were killed on New Forest roads – 43 ponies, 14 cows, 1 sheep and 10 donkeys.

Glow in the dark animals
Although numbers of animal road deaths have been reduced they still represent more than one a week. There is no room for complacency, and many national, county and local organisations are continually involved in initiatives to reduce incidents further. These initiatives include driver awareness training, speed enforcement operations, reducing the growth of roadside scrub, installing barrier fencing to prevent animals crossing at blind spots, and introducing traffic calming measures. There have also been attempts by the commoners, who own the free-roaming animals, at reducing the number of animal deaths on the Forest roads. Because most of the accidents occur at night florescent, high-viz collars, which glow in the dark under vehicle headlights, are fitted to many of the free-roaming Forest ponies, to warn drivers of their presence. But the collars are not infallible. They are designed to detach if the pony gets caught up in undergrowth, so that the animal is not choked or strangled. So not all ponies wear them.

Animal aware road users
The value to the tourism economy, local business and our cultural heritage of having free-roaming animals is widely recognised. The New Forest is special because of the presence of the commonable ponies, cattle, pigs and donkeys. Other national parks, with free-roaming livestock, are also concerned about levels of road traffic incidents and are currently experimenting with painting large stripes of luminous paint directly onto the animals. I’m not sure how practical that would be to implement as, for example, the ponies shed their coats on a regular basis. One would also need to be able to find them, catch them and paint them just as often. It will be interesting to see the results and study the implications of this initiative. All New Forest agencies and organisations are in agreement, however, that educating road users to be ‘animal aware’ is the key to solving this problem and reducing animal deaths even further. The commonable animals have right of way on the Forest roads and will not get out of your way, even if they have seen you coming (1). Save an animal in the New Forest by reducing your speed to under 40mph, giving them a wide berth and being animal aware when using Forest roads.

The high-viz reflective collars enable the ponies to be visible at night.

The high-viz reflective collars enable the ponies to be visible at night.

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New Forest ponies: search and find or hide and seek?

Posted on November 29, 2015 by newforestcommoner
The ponies are well-adapted to living on the New Forest, which includes good camouflage.

The ponies are well-adapted to living on the New Forest, which includes good camouflage.

The New Forest has taken on a completely different look and feel since the onset of late autumn. Many of the birds that were regularly encountered over the summer months have, like the tourists, migrated elsewhere. The atmosphere is tranquil as I go out in search of my free-roaming ponies, to find and check on them. Only the weather shows signs of turbulence and disquiet at times. The landscape is beginning to reveal itself under the wilting bracken and the hues of umber that stretch away into the distance are broken up by the skeletal frames of the trees, stands of holly and the irregular clumps of gorse. The New Forest is a stunning even in the bleak midwinter. It is getting much easier to spot the ponies though, without the dense tree canopies that shielded them from the summer sun. Even the fallow deer are more visible. The rutting season is over and the fawns will have all been weaned by now, which means that the adults can turn their minds to fattening up for the winter. Their spotted chestnut-coloured coats are swapped for plain brown-grey in the winter. They stay together in herds and will forage for acorns and beech mast amongst the leaf litter on the forest floor. When you see one deer you can be certain that there are others nearby. This also applies to the ponies. Being herd animals if you can find one then the others will not be far away.

Ponies playing ‘hide and seek’
In a ‘wilderness’ setting for a prey species, such as ponies and deer, there is safety in numbers. The multiple sets of ears, noses and eyes that will be alert to danger. It also helps to be perfectly camouflaged against the terrain and sometimes it is only when they move that the pony, deer or even cow, can be seen. Every now and then though, I find myself going off to investigate what turns out to be a fallen tree that just for a moment resembled the familiar outline of an equine form. Its slick, bare trunk fleetingly reminiscent of the wet, shining coat of a bay pony; and was that the flick of a foal’s tail I saw? No. It was a strand of fallen ivy that twitched in the wind. It’s not an uncommon mistake to make, I’m told reassuringly. Are the ponies playing hide and seek with me? Apparently, one just has to keep trying. Yet some of my commoning friends have an almost uncanny ability to know where their ponies are. They seem to have a ‘pony-finding-gene’, which I can only surmise must have been passed down to them by their commoning parents along with the colour of their eyes and shapes of their faces. Such is their knowledge of the New Forest terrain, seasons, weather patterns and pony behaviour. It is little wonder then that some visitors to the Forest have observed an almost symbiotic relationship between the commoners and the Forest. Nevertheless, I have been assured that I too could accomplish a decent level of this understanding but not without a little practice, a lot of patience and a bit of trial and error.

The New Forest is a stunning landscape even in the bleak wintertime.

The New Forest is a stunning landscape even in the bleak wintertime.

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Why did the New Forest pony cross the road?

Posted on November 22, 2015 by newforestcommoner
The 'wild' ponies use the New Forest road system at all times of the year, day and night.

The free-roaming ponies use the New Forest road system at all times of the year, day and night.

When travelling across the New Forest have you ever wondered why the free-roaming ponies will cross the road in front of you, even if they have seen you coming? Their hearing is excellent and they have good all-round binocular vision, even when grazing. Their night-vision is also good too. So, it isn’t because they are unaware of your presence. There’s obviously something else causing this behaviour and it’s all to do with the way their brains function. We, as human beings, are able to conceptualise and anticipate a problem in advance and adapt our behaviour to influence the outcome, but ponies cannot. A pony is not able to perform any feats of logical interpretation or abstract thought. They do not have the ability to rationalise their actions or have any sense of future events. The emotion they are feeling at that particular time will determine how they behave. If the grass looks greener over the other side of the carriageway, or if they want to go and join a herd-mate, then they will cross the road whether you are there or not. They live only in the moment and for the immediate satisfaction of their needs.

Predator and prey – life, the universe and everything!
New Forest ponies, like all equines, are a prey species and much of their mental processing capacity will involve identifying and avoiding ancestral predator enemies, such as wolves. (Yes, we know there are no wolves on the New Forest but the pony’s instinctive reactions haven’t quite worked that out yet!) Their brain function is hard-wired to react quickly – conscious thought takes too long to process – and the fight or flight mode is constantly ticking along in the background. It may seem obvious to say, but ponies only run away from things that frighten or threaten them. Cars are not an ancient predator species and the ponies are not afraid of them. The equine brain size is not, as some maintain, the size of a walnut but is actually fairly large. Most of its function though is busy operating the pony’s acute senses, avoiding predators, controlling the speed and direction of its feet, analysing the body language of other animals (including people), and searching for food, water and shelter, for example. With all this survival activity going on in the brain there is very little room for them to ponder life the universe and everything!

Memory and learning ability
However, the free-roaming New Forest ponies do have very efficient memories and learning ability. This is a basic necessity for surviving on a large open range where there are a variety of habitats and resources. The ability to remember where to find food, water and shelter, especially when times are hard, is essential. Many free-roaming New Forest ponies remember where ‘home’ is and will often make regular return trips to their commoning owner’s holding, sometimes just to check-in. Much of this territory mapping knowledge, along with further life skills, is learned from their mothers and other herd-members. To domesticate and train a horse or a pony we manipulate its learning and memory skills, with positive reinforcement, and overcome their natural fears using a mixture of persistence, repetition and reward. Only when the unusual becomes mundane, such as a having a rider on its back, or an object of fright becomes a familiar aspect of their environment, will the animal accept it. This explains why the New Forest ponies are seemingly content to graze close to the roadsides, even during busy periods of traffic. Not only are they unafraid of vehicular traffic, because it is a regular feature of their daily lives, but the visitors who feed them from their cars, in the car parks or on the verges are positively training them to accept and remember vehicles as friendly allies.

Visitors who feed New Forest ponies are teaching them not to fear humans or cars.

Visitors who feed the free-roaming New Forest ponies are teaching them not to fear humans or cars.

 

Bibliography: 
Waring, George. H: Horse Behaviour: The Behavioural Traits and Adaptions of Domestic and Wild Horses, Including Ponies. (1983)
Budiansky, Stephen: The Nature of Horses. (1998)
Gill, Elaine: Ponies in the Wild. (1994)
Weston, Sarah: No Fear, No Force: A guide to handling and training unhanded and semi-feral foals in an ethical and gentle way. (2009)

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New Forest: mucky talk!

Posted on November 15, 2015 by newforestcommoner
Living ‘wild’ means that ponies cannot be managed in the same way as domesticated horses and ponies but they are managed nonetheless.

Living ‘wild’ means that New Forest ponies cannot be managed in the same way as domesticated horses and ponies, but they are managed nonetheless.

Being a commoner enables me to practice a method of farming that pre-dates recorded history. The ancient commoner would have orally passed on his or her learning and wisdom to the next generation. This ensured that the chain of folk-knowledge, about managing livestock and the resources of the Forest, would continue through those who followed after. Even today scientific studies and ‘painstaking quantification [regarding the social behaviour and ecology of the Forest ponies and cattle] has ‘only’ served to confirm much that has been common knowledge or opinion among commoners for generations’.[1] The commoners tend to take a pragmatic approach to stock management and will solicit natural forces to help them share the responsibilities for their animal’s health and wellbeing. Living ‘wild’ means that ponies cannot be managed in the same way as domesticated horses and ponies, but they are managed nonetheless. The Agisters, who are employed by the New Forest Verderers to assist in the management of commoners’ stock, patrol the Forest regularly often on horseback making sure that the welfare of the free-roaming ponies, donkeys, cattle and pigs is maintained.

Toilet training for ponies
The ponies, having themselves been descended from semi-feral ancestors, are hardy and well adapted to the environment. They range widely and know where to find food, water, and shelter in their territories. It is even said that they know where on the Forest to find the health-giving herbs required to provide them relief from parasites and to prevent illness. Within their territories the ponies will also ‘manage’ their own grazing by selecting latrine areas, which all animals use for their toilet needs, leaving large areas of grass free of dung. The only exceptions to this are generally foals until they have been ‘toilet trained’ by their mothers and herd-elders. Adopting this method of equine induced land management means that internal parasites can be better avoided because rarely do ponies graze the latrine areas. The free-roaming ponies are not routinely wormed with chemical wormers to kill internal parasites, as is the case with domesticated animals. However, if any of the free-roaming ponies show signs of a ‘worm burden’ due to parasitic infestation they are wormed with the appropriate drug treatment. Generally, it is the young stock that are more prone to certain conditions because they haven’t yet learned how to properly self-medicate on the natural remedies of the Forest. The autumn drifts present an excellent opportunity to round up the ponies and check them for health. Any animals that are thought to be in need of treatment, including worming, but have failed to come in will be caught in a colt-hunt which, although it uses similar techniques to the large-scale drifts, is only used for catching individual animals.

Mucky talk!
Because the free-roaming ponies are not given regular doses of wormer, which contain drugs designed to kill internal parasites, the composition of their droppings is not toxic to the microorganisms, fungi and insects that depend upon the excreted animal waste as a food source. These many species of dung-eaters will themselves become food for the many species of bats, birds, and foxes, for example, which are resident in the New Forest. As a result of their benign composition the droppings decompose a lot faster from the ground than those of animals treated with wormers and, as a result, the latrine areas do not become overly soiled. I’ve noticed that the domesticated ponies on my holding have their toilet areas too and since adopting worm-counts, where samples of dung are sent to be laboratory analysed for the presence of parasite eggs, rather than routine chemical worming, I have not only improved my pasture but, if I can collect it in time, the quality of the manure that then goes onto the garden.

The next generation of foals born on the Forest follow an ancient lineage.

New Forest foals learn from their mothers, including good toilet habits!

[1] Tubbs, Colin R, The New Forest: History, Ecology & Conservation, Lyndhurst, 2001, p136.

See also:

The Distribution of Excreta on New Forest Grassland Used by Cattle, Ponies and Deer Author(s): P. J. Edwards and S. Hollis Source: Journal of Applied Ecology, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Dec., 1982), pp. 953-964 Published by: British Ecological Society Stable

Treating Cattle with Ivermectin: Effects on the Fauna and Decompsition of Dung Pats Author(s): M. Madsen, B. Overgaard Nielsen, P. Holter, O. C. Pedersen, J. Brochner Jespersen, K. -M. Vagn Jensen, P. Nansen and J. Gronvold. Source: Journal of Applied Ecology, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Apr., 1990), pp. 1-15. Published by: British Ecological Society.

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