New Forest: Beaulieu Road Sales

Posted on December 1, 2014 by newforestcommoner
The Beaulieu Road sales Yard offers the best facilities for processing semi-feral ponies.

The Beaulieu Road sales Yard offers the best facilities for processing semi-feral ponies.

Last week (November 2014) the final pony sales of the year were held at the purpose built sales ring in Beaulieu Road. Not only is this a chance to see native ponies being auctioned but a real opportunity to witness a glimpse of Forest life. The commoners come together and use the sales as an opportunity to catch up with one another, exchange information, gossip and pass on any news. The sales start at 10.30am but there is always lots of pre-event activity, with stalls, refreshments, and ponies arriving and being unloaded into the viewing pens. The foal show was a particular attraction at this event and the foals on display were a credit to their owners. Many a champion New Forest pony has been bought through the sales ring, and sometimes for a bargain price. There were around 158 lots to view, which consisted mainly of New Forest ponies, but there were also donkeys and other horse breeds included.

Various locations of sales rings
There have been sales of New Forest ponies in the area since ancient times. In Ringwood, for example, the market charter dates back into the Middle Ages and ponies would have been regularly sold there. In 1837 the Salisbury Journal reported on the annual Sheep Fair at Britford, near Salisbury, in which upwards of 43,000 sheep and lambs were assembled for auction observing that there was “a large show of horses of inferior description, and particularly of forest colts, which met with a ready sale.” From the early to mid-1800’s pony sales were held on Swan Green and then the Swan Inn, near Lyndhurst, but the increasing use of the motor vehicles meant that the location of the pony sales had to be moved to accommodate vehicular traffic. From 1922 the pony sales were held at the site of the old racecourse at Lyndhurst before moving to their current location in Beaulieu Road at the end of the Second World War.

Clever system 
There has been much thought and planning gone into the development of the facilities at Beaulieu Road. Nowadays the infrastructure boasts permanent mains water, electricity, lighting, toilet and hand-washing features, which have been relatively new installations. There are even wash-down facilities that enable lorries and trailers to be cleaned and disinfected between loads. But what I find most impressive is the system used to move the ponies from lorry to viewing pen, and from viewing pen to sales ring, and back again, with the minimum of handling and stress. For many of the ponies that arrive at the sales human hands will have barely touched them. These are semi-feral animals that cannot be haltered and led about. So a clever system has been devised that consists of inter-connected chutes that lead from the pens to the ring. The gates to the pens are opened and the ponies enter the chutes from where they are herded into the sales ring. After they have had their turn in the ring, where the sales are conducted in guineas, they leave via a different door to be collected or returned depending upon whether they have been sold or not.

Best facilities
The Beaulieu Road Sales are always well attended and not just by the commoners. Many tourists also find their ways to the sales and are most interested in the proceedings. Present too are the welfare agencies, such as the RSPCA and the New Forest Livestock Society, and there is always a veterinary surgeon on duty to ensure that the high standards of animal health are maintained. The Beaulieu Road Sales facilities are among the best of their kind for receiving and processing semi-feral animals. I find the whole event fascinating. I like to wander around the viewing pens checking the catalogue and making a list of the top five ponies I would buy. Then I watch my choices go through the auction and see what prices they fetch. The sales are still conducted in guineas (21 shillings at pre-decimalised values or £1.05 in today’s money). It is incredibly tempting to make a bid but I have to keep reminding myself that in time my own mares will start producing foals and that, as a result, I will have enough ponies to contend with. It is probably for this reason that I spend most of the auction sat on my hands!

Commoning is a very sociable enterprise, wherever they get together.

Many a champion New Forest pony has been bought through the sales ring, and sometimes for a bargain price.

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New Forest ponies with moustaches

Posted on November 25, 2014 by newforestcommoner
Pony moustaches can be quite noticable and occur in mares, geldings and stallions.

Pony moustaches can be quite noticable and occur in mares, geldings and stallions.

I was in the pub recently watching the rugby (November 2014). Many of the players in the England squad were sporting moustaches, in support of ‘Movember’, to raise awareness of prostate cancer. As I looked around the room there were a few other men who were also using the thirty days of November to grow a moustache. There were some very fine examples on display, from the real hairy caterpillar mouth-brow styles, to the pencil-thin face-stiletto types. Movember has certainly given the moustache a new style of credibility and place in modern fashion.

Pony-mo
In past times many New Forest ponies also sported moustaches during the winter months. The hair on the upper lip, and sometimes on the lower one too, was very noticeable and occurred on mares, geldings and stallions alike. On some ponies the moustache could grow as long as 3 inches (7.5cm) and gave them a somewhat comical appearance. However this facial hair was entirely practical, rather than fashionable, and was a natural adaptation that occurred due to the ponies’ winter diet of holly and gorse. The ‘pony-mo’ provided some protection when they browsed the prickly spines of the shrubs. Gorse is a member of the legume family and is related to peas and alfalfa. It is highly nutritious, but like holly is somewhat difficult to eat. It is an important source of food during the winter months when there is no nutrition in the grass. Their preference for eating gorse has given the ponies the nickname of ‘fuzz toppers’ by the commoners.

Pony-tache
Unfortunately many potential buyers considered a moustache to be a sign of poor breeding and so it became an undesirable feature of the New Forest pony. By the middle of the 20th century it had begun to fade and very few ponies roaming the Forest could be seen sporting a ‘tache’. Even today it is an unusual sight. However, equine moustaches are thought not to be linked to breeding at all but rather to lifestyle. Older commoners recall ponies brought in off the Forest who, living on a diet of meadow grass, feed concentrates and hay, had lost their taches within two or three years. Indeed, improvements in welfare standards and changes to management practices of the free-roaming stock by the commoners, such as removing foals during the autumn to winter off the Forest, are thought to have had far more of an impact in reducing the occurrence of pony moustaches than selective breeding has. As if to prove that the moustache was a temporary feature, one prizewinning New Forest stallion had a more novel way of removing his ‘pony-mo’ in the summer. He simply rubbed it off on his manger.

Gorse is an important food source for New Forest ponies and the reason many developed moustaches.

Gorse is an important food source, particularly during the winter months, and it is believed that many New Forest ponies developed moustaches in order to gain protection from the shrubs vicious spikes.

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New Forest: Lane Creepers

Posted on November 17, 2014 by newforestcommoner
Ponies who regularly wandered beyind the Forest boundary to graze the verges were known as 'Lane Creepers'.

Ponies that regularly wandered beyond the Forest boundary to graze the roadside verges were known as ‘Lane Creepers’.

Before the New Forest was fenced and gridded the free-roaming stock ranged widely outside the official boundary. Commoner’s ponies were known to reach as far as the eastern suburbs of Southampton, down into Christchurch in the southwest, and almost into Salisbury in the north. They were also regular visitors to Romsey, Ringwood, Fordingbridge and other neighbouring towns and villages. The furthest reported case of pony wandering off the Forest was in Abbots Ann, near Andover. The ponies grazed the roadside verges and would take advantage of any gate opened to field, farm or garden. Unfortunately, many Forest ponies became habituated to travelling the lanes, where the pickings were often easier than for their Forest dwelling relatives and it was not uncommon to find half a dozen working their way along the verges. These hardened wanderers became known as ‘Lane Creepers’. Once this habit was established it became very hard to discourage.

Exasperated owners of Lane Creepers, who received regular summonses and fines for allowing their animals to stray on the highway, tried numerous ways to curb the habit. Some commoners, for example, used hobbles, a device attached to the front legs in order to impede the pony’s travel. However, the Forest ponies soon learned to circumvent their bonds and it was reported that some ponies had learned to gallop even in their hobbles! Some commoners tethered the ponies on long chains in the Open Forest but well-meaning visitors would often pull-up the tether-pegs and release the ponies leaving them to wander yet again but with yards of chain trailing behind them. Inevitably the sales ring was where many of the Lane Creepers ended up.

The difficulty with these ponies pursuing their wandering habits was that while they were inside the Forest perambulation they had right of way, but outside the boundary they effectively became trespassers and any damage they caused was liable for payment by their owners. Owners of property that had been invaded were entitled to impound the animals and charge their commoning owners for all costs involved. The ponies that were captured in the public pounds could only be released once the fees had been paid, which included the cost of the pony’s keep. For those poor commoners unfortunate enough to own persistent offenders the costs incurred could be considerable, and certainly more than the pony was worth. So, it was not unheard of for commoners to mount dawn raids on the pounds to release the ponies before they could be identified and their owners fined. However, this tactic was well known and many tales are told of ‘cat and mouse’ games between commoners and the authorities that tell of derring-do and ingenuity of capture and evasion on both sides! Tales that ended, of course, when the Forest boundary was fenced in the early 1960’s.

Ponies are collected and held in the pound for processing.

Pounds are located all over the New Forest for collecting and holding ponies. There were also pounds situated in the towns surrounding the Forest, where persistent Lane Creepers were held (and from where their owners often tried to ‘break them out’!)

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The New Forest and The Great War.

Posted on November 10, 2014 by newforestcommoner
Many New Forest ponies saw active service in the Great War.

Many equines, including New Forest ponies, saw active service in the Great War.

Watching the Remembrance Day service was particularly poignant this year. World War One, which lasted from 28 July 1914 until 11 November 1918, began a hundred years ago. When seeing the expressions on the faces of the men and women surrounding the Cenotaph in London it really did not seem to me as if time had not diminished the psychological and emotional impact of one of the deadliest conflicts in human history. There were over 37 million military and civilian casualties during the four years of The Great War. But alongside these human victims there were also animal casualties. Horses, ponies, mules, dogs, pigeons and camels were just some of the many non-human species recruited to aid the war effort, making up a 16 million-strong army of animals. The lives of 9 million animals were lost. In just one day during the 1916 Battle of Verdun in France, for instance, some 7,000 horses were killed.

In 1914, at the outbreak of war, the British army possessed only 25,000 horses and the War Office needed to recruit half a million more mounts for the cavalry and artillery regiments, to work in the transport and supply chains, on reconnaissance missions or to carry the dead and wounded away from the battlefields. To meet this urgent demand the military authorities requisitioned draft horses, shires, hunters and riding ponies. Although there are no definitive figures available it is certain that many New Forest ponies, and indeed their commoning owners, were called into the service of their country. The Forest pony had already gained something of a reputation during the Boer War, where it regularly out-performed other breeds. Its agility and hardiness proved to be an asset in the rough terrain and privations of the battlefield.

The New Forest itself became a training area, staging post to the continent, site of military hospitals and other ancillary services. The New Forest was used by the military then in much the same way as Salisbury Plain is used today. In the autumn of 1914, for example, the 7th Division was encamped at Lyndhurst with twenty thousand infantry, four thousand horses, artillery and all other necessary equipment. The presence of massive numbers of troops and horses had a major impact on the landscape. As the war progressed from months into years steps were taken to reduce the worst of the effects on the Forest, which included damage resulting from manoeuvres, practice trenches and open pits, widespread litter, disturbance of free-roaming stock and the rising toll of ponies and cattle killed by military vehicles. After the hostilities had ended the Verderers of the New Forest worked with the War Office to return as much of the landscape as possible back to its original form, including the removal of large areas of concreted parade grounds and runways. Today there remains little permanent evidence of the Great War upon the Forest except for the presence of the memorials, which are found in each village, dedicated to the Forest inhabitants, many from long established commoning families, who sacrificed their lives in the war.

The Great War lasted from 28 July 1914 until 11 November 1918.

The Great War lasted from 28 July 1914 until 11 November 1918.

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New Forest: home to the commoners

Posted on November 3, 2014 by newforestcommoner
Commoning is a very sociable enterprise, wherever they get together.

Commoning is a very sociable enterprise, wherever commoners get together.

The practice of commoning on the New Forest fills me with fascination. Learning about its history is totally absorbing and as I discover more about the events, community, and characters that have maintained the commoning system the more I want to know. Luckily for me the New Forest has a wealth of documentation that has recorded many aspects of its economic, political and social structure, its legal system and natural environment going as far back as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and the Doomesday Book. Some place names even pre-date the creation, in the 11th century, of the New Forest and record the natural features, aspects of pagan religion and even individual residents who lived here nearly a thousand years ago.

Several of the commoning families, who have turned out ponies and cattle for many generations, are a great source of information and practical support for me too. Much of the practice of commoning cannot be learned in books and in order to really understand the intricacies of this ancient pastoral system it is necessary to spend time in their company. The advantage to this of course is that I get to hear the personal histories and anecdotes that have generally been beneath the notice of academics and scientists and so haven’t been written down. These are narratives that weave the very fabric of the New Forest into the telling. It is obvious to me that the majority of commoners continue the system, not for economic reasons, but because it is a family tradition and way of life in which they grew up. The free-roaming animals are of course central to commoning and vital to the ecology of the Forest but the social aspect is also a major factor in continuing the practice. Commoners meet during drifts and colt-hunting, at markets or sales, at shows or at the point-to-point races and such gatherings reinforce social bonds and enable community cohesion.

Unfortunately the past few decades have seen a marked decline in the numbers of practicing commoners. Gone are the days of the once abundant Forest commoning smallholders who kept a mixed production enterprise with a high-degree of self-sufficiency; who turned out ponies and cattle and relied upon seasonal work, with local landowners or forestry services, to supplement their incomes. When, in the 1850’s a Parliamentary Commission set out to establish the rights of those living in the New Forest 1200 claims were allowed. There are probably about 500 practicing commoners on the New Forest today. The reasons for the decline are many and varied but one of the causes most often cited is the increase in property prices. The popularity of the Forest as a visitor destination, a trend that began in the Victorian times, has meant that it has also become a favoured location for retirement or second homes. As people seek a rural idyll in the New Forest the cost of housing and land vital to the continuance of commoning has soared. The average property on the New Forest is now priced beyond the reach of most established commoning families. Some efforts have been made to establish a stock of housing available for the commoning community through initiatives such as the Commoners Dwelling Scheme, which was set up in 1992 and is now administered by the New Forest National Park Authority. But, the New Forest Commoners Defence Association, who have been protecting commoner’s interests since 1909, believe that stakeholders also need to recognise that the New Forest is a working forest and to work closely with the commoners to enable them to continue their activities.

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.

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.

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The New Forest: the future of commoning

Posted on October 27, 2014 by newforestcommoner
The New Forest is believed to have the only surviving pastoral economy, based on the principal of common rights.

The New Forest is believed to have the only surviving pastoral economy, based on the principal of common rights.

The New Forest is an ancient landscape that has survived into modern times. It is a place of exquisite natural beauty, which is internationally recognised for its importance to wildlife. Because of its distinctive geography it has never been cultivated or intensively farmed. This has enabled an early form of pastoral economy, which even predated the creation of the ‘Nova Foresta’ in 1079, to survive along with the landscape. Commoning is one of the oldest forms of agricultural management known to man. It relies upon the shared use and management of natural resources and is mostly characterised by the grazing of free-roaming animals, particularly ponies and cattle. When the heathlands disappeared from Northern Europe, in the 19th and 20th centuries, so too did the commoners and their pastoral way of life. The New Forest is believed to have the only surviving pastoral economy in Northern Europe, based on the principal of common rights, that is left.

The future of commoning is inextricably interwoven with that of the Forest itself. Some scientists and social commentators have described the commoners and their animals as having complete interdependence with the Forest, while others have even labelled the relationship as ‘virtually symbiotic’. Commoning has been enshrined in law since the Middle Ages. Even so, that hasn’t prevented attempts to eradicate the practice in order to exploit the New Forest for private or commercial gain. Since the early laws were made successive kings and governments have tried to either control or erode the extent of rights of common or restrict the numbers of Forest inhabitants with those rights. A good example of this occurred in the 1850’s, when a Parliamentary Commission set out to establish the rights of those living in the New Forest. Although 1311 cases were examined only 1200 were allowed. In not one single case did the Commission confirm all the common rights that were claimed. In addition many of the commoners who could not read and write or did not have the finanical means to participate in the proceedings were deemed to have forfeited their rights by default!

Commoning, and consequently the New Forest, was in real jeopardy. Government policy was intent on enclosing the parts of the Forest that could be used for timber production and selling off or privatising the parts that could not. The plan would have left just a sixth of the Forest for commoning and nature. A vigorous campaign by the local gentry, commoners and residents’ captured national attention and the outcry to protect the New Forest and commoning culminated in the New Forest Act 1877. When one considers that this campaign was successfully brought without the aid of social media or the Internet it is a very impressive undertaking. Had this not happened, remarked one commentator ‘the New Forest would now be just a name on the map.’ Thankfully today the role of the commoners’ animals  in preserving the landscape of the New Forest is fully appreciated. The practice of commoning is also acknowledged for its enduring effect on the social, historical and cultural traditions of the area.

Pannage season is part of the ancient commoning rights and a popular tradition.

Pannage season is part of the ancient system of commoning rights and a popular tradition, particularly with the Forest’s visitors.

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Bringing the ponies home.

Posted on October 20, 2014 by newforestcommoner
My ponies know where 'home' is and, now and again, come by to check on us.

My ponies know where ‘home’ is and, now and again, come by to check on us.

When the clocks go back each autumn the daylight hours become fewer and the weather is generally more inclement. It’s a testing time for the commoners and can make searching for stock on the Open Forest quite an undertaking. I like to check on my mares as often as I can to make sure that they are healthy and injury-free. Of course in the summer walking or riding on the New Forest is an absolute pleasure and checking on the stock becomes a leisurely activity. With the majority of visitors coming to the Forest in the summer it’s also an opportunity to take advantage of all those extra pairs of eyes, who will alert the Verderers if they notice any ponies looking unwell. But in the winter it’s an entirely different proposition.

At the moment the sun rises at about 7.30am and there is simply not enough time in the mornings for me to get onto the Forest in the daylight and back in time to get ready for work. I am faced with the prospect of only being able to check on my ponies at weekends and relying on the other commoners to keep an eye on them during the week. There are fewer visitors around too and so the added bonus of other people looking over the commonable animals is also much reduced. In view of this I came to the decision that I was going to catch them up and bring them home. At least if they are on the holding I can check them daily and, if necessary, give them supplementary feeding to keep them in good condition when the worst of the winter weather arrives. Even in the deepest snow the ponies on the Open Forest are still able to find grazing by scraping back the snow with their hooves or by browsing the tips of the gorse. But even so I wanted to bring them home.

Generally speaking gathering the ponies from off the Forest would involve organising a colt-hunting team to go and round them up. However, my mares saved me the bother by one day simply turning up and asking to be let in. It was almost as if they had read my mind! It’s not unheard of for me to go out looking for them on the Forest and for them to turn up at home, usually with a bunch of their friends in tow. My mares know where they live and will, every now and again, come by and check on us! So on this occasion I was able to take advantage of their ‘homing’ instinct and when they appeared I opened the gates to the pasture and, seeing the plentiful grass, they needed no further invitation to move back home for the winter.

In the winter the New Forest can seem an inhospitable landscape.

In the winter the New Forest can seem an inhospitable landscape.

 

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New Forest pony: wild or tame but always clever.

Posted on October 13, 2014 by newforestcommoner
The New Forest ponies should not be stroked or petted, and on no account should they be fed by visitors.

The New Forest ponies are described as ‘wild’ but are in fact ‘semi-feral’.

The free-roaming ponies of the New Forest are often described as ‘wild’ but it would be more accurate to define them as ‘semi-feral’. The only truly wild horse still in existence is the Przewalski’s horse (Equus caballus przewalskii), a breed native to Mongolia, which has never in its entire history ever been domesticated. All other breeds, including the Mustangs of America, the Brumbies of Australia and the New Forest pony, are descended from domesticated stock. However, Mustangs and Brumbies, unlike the New Forest pony, do not have owners. Every pony that roams freely on the Forest belongs to a commoner, who is responsible for its health and welfare. Though they are left to run in a natural state and are able exhibit the behaviour of their wild counterparts, the New Forest pony will be periodically rounded-up for routine management purposes, such as being given wormers, or having florescent collars fitted. They live in an environment in which humans dominate and so will inevitably have some experience of or interaction with people.

Horses are prey animals with highly developed senses and their instinctive self-defence mechanism is to run away from a perceived threat, yet they are equally very trusting of us. Even though human beings are top predators we have managed to form an alliance with the horse. There is something in its innate character that makes us want to befriend it, rather than eat it. For thousands of years our two species have lived in mutually beneficial cooperation. The domesticated horse has enjoyed our protection from other predators, received food and veterinary care whilst we have employed it in sport, agriculture, transport and war. Horses have changed the course of human history and we have changed horses. Through the process of selective-breeding, for example, the New Forest pony can boast qualities that include intelligence, stamina and a biddable temperament. They are easy to train and learn very quickly.

Not everything they learn is good for them however. Visitors to the New Forest love to see the ponies roaming freely but often fall into the temptation to stroke and pet them or, worse still, feed them. Some of the ponies are quick to exploit any opportunity for an effortless meal and soon learn to associate visitors with easy-pickings. This, of course, leads them to congregate in the car parks and roadsides, where they can beg or scrounge for food. It is a sad fact but people who feed the New Forest ponies directly contribute to the numbers of them killed or injured each year in road traffic incidents. However, some of the ‘wild’ ponies have actually been known to use their cunning to raid people’s houses, sheds or garages. In one particular story a Forest resident came home to find a chestnut stallion in their kitchen standing over the sink licking drops of water from the taps. The homeowner shooed the pony out and it made its way down the steps and out of the house. However, it was soon discovered that two loaves of bread and half a dozen doughnuts that had been on the kitchen table were missing! This probably accounted for the pony’s thirst.

Ponies fed by visitors learn to beg and scrounge for food.

‘Wild’ ponies fed by visitors lose their fear of humans and learn to beg and scrounge for food.

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Commoning: cooperation and coordination

Posted on October 6, 2014 by newforestcommoner
When I go onto the Forest check on my mares I check on the other ponies too.

When I go onto the Forest to check on my mares I also check on the other ponies too.

The practice of commoning on the New Forest is generally a very sociable enterprise. The support and cooperation of other commoners is essential for maintaining the welfare of the free-roaming stock. When I go out on the Forest I always check on other commoner’s animals as well as my own and I know that they will be doing the same for me. My mares are running in a herd with ponies that belong to several other owners. The ponies will stay in the same area or ‘haunt’ so I know the territory that they maintain, however I don’t get to see my mares every day. Often one of the other commoners will tell me that my girls have been seen in a particular place at a particular time, so I know that others are keeping an eye on them too. This informal level of support is very reassuring and is naturally accepted as a reciprocal arrangement.

At other times, such as during the autumn drifts, the level of cooperation is much more coordinated and purposeful. The Agisters organise the round-ups and commoners, either mounted or on foot, help to process the herds of ponies that are brought in. I haven’t yet worked my way up to actually riding on a drift, so I am grateful to the riders who recently rounded-up my two mares and the other commoners on foot who herded them into the pound. When they were driven into the chute for processing I was able to get them fitted with florescent collars and also administer a good dose of wormer, to rid them of internal parasites, once again with the help of the Agister and other commoners.

Recently though I actually had a summons for help! One of my commoner friends had a cow in distress and needed to bring her in for the vet. After a brief phone call asking me to come quickly I leapt into action and fifteen minutes later was in a chain of people helping to herd a sick cow off the Forest and onto it’s owners holding. The cow was suffering from mastitis; a potentially fatal infection of the udder, which thankfully had been caught in time. Mastitis can be caused by an invasion of bacteria or an injury to the udder – even an adder bite, which would not be unusual for the New Forest. The vet prescribed a course of antibiotics and predicted that the cow, whose name was Cucumber, would make a full recovery. In typical commoner fashion mugs filled with tea were offered round and, with the emergency over, a social networking opportunity was quickly taken advantage of.

Cows are also commonable animals and roam freely on the New Forest.

Cows are also commonable animals and roam freely on the New Forest.

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Unusual tails from the New Forest

Posted on October 4, 2014 by newforestcommoner
The Agister cuts the pony's tail to show the owner has paid their marking fee.

The Agister cuts the pony’s tail, and it is recorded that the owner has paid their marking fee.

Attending the annual pony-round ups, known as drifts, is an important part of a New Forest commoner’s calendar. The drifts were ordered to take place each year fifteen days after Michaelmas, by Henry VIII in 1540, and continue more or less in the same format to this day. They occur in every part of the Forest, generally from late summer until late autumn and are fast paced events conducted by the Agisters and commoners mounted on horseback. The ‘wild’ ponies are herded together and gallop at full pelt, often in large numbers, towards the pound where they will be channelled by commoners on foot. The pound is a permanent timber structure, which resembles the type of stock pen or corral one might see in a cowboy film, and are situated all over the New Forest. Once the ponies are caught in the pound they are selected for processing and herded in small groups, one-by-one, towards the Agister.

Marking the New Forest ponies
The Agister works with the selected ponies in a chute or small pen and has the job of either worming, fitting florescent collars, or removing them according to the requirements of the commoner owning the pony. Ponies that are sold unhandled, straight from the Forest, generally do not fetch much money so many commoners prefer to take their ponies’ home for handling and schooling prior to sale. Each pony that is to be released back on to the Forest is given a quick health check and set free. However, all ponies that are let loose again will have their tails cut by the Agister, using scissors, to show that the owner has paid their annual fees. The marking or grazing fee (currently £24.00/October 2014) is payable for every single pony turned out on the Open Forest. Each Agister has a distinctive way of cutting the tail, which indicates the area or ‘beat’ of the Forest he is responsible for, which could roughly be interpreted as north, south, east and west. The tails are cut either in three jagged steps to the left or the right, in cuts on both sides half way up the tail, or with one incision half way up the tail to the right.

Thereby hangs a tail!
Although they are often called ‘wild’, the ponies would be better described as semi-feral. The Agister works quickly to minimise the stress on the ponies, some of which will have hardly been handled before. Once the ponies have been processed they are released from the pen. Oddly many do not gallop away but instead, particularly the older mares, seem to know the pack-drill and understanding that their manhanding is over simply saunter off. It is curious to watch them wandering back to the Forest in small groups all sporting very unusual-looking tails. It does make one wonder what kind of a barber the Agisters would make! Journeying around the New Forest is always a pleasure, no matter what time of year, but during the drift season it is always interesting to spot the ponies that have been caught in the round ups and those canny animals that have evaded capture. How can one tell? Why, by their tails of course!

Ponies tails are cut or 'marked' to show their owner has paid their marking fees.

Ponies’ tails are cut or ‘marked’ to show their owner has paid their marking fees.

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