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| NEW FOREST PONIES IN THEIR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT |
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| Registered New Forest Ponies that
are sired & born on the open New Forest are termed
as being Forest Bred. These ponies are often sold cheaply
from the New Forest but can turn out to be real gems!
Some of the Commercial Studs
based within the forest have stock for sale from mares
who are depastured on the forest. In addition, forest
run ponies are sold at the regular sales held at Beaulieu
Road. All Forest Bred foals are sired by Approved
Registered Stallions who are selected for type, temperament
and pedigee. We have included a selection of Forest Bred
ponies in our 'Pony Profiles'
section. |
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| All the ponies which wander freely within the New Forest are owned by people who have the 'Rights of Common of Pasture', which permits depasturing animals on the 37,500 hectares of open Forest. Commonable animals are ponies, horned cattle and donkeys. |
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| All animals must comply
with the Verderers' Bye-Laws: |
- Payments to Agisters, receipt of which is recognised
by
tail marking (cutting) for ponies, and ear tags for
cattle. - All stock must be branded to identify the owner.
- Disease control regulations must be complied with
and vicious or mischievous animals must not be depastured.
- About 500 Commoners use their Right, there is no
limit to the number of animals that may be depastured
on the
New Forest, figures currently are about 3000. Approximately
130 stallions are turned out in the breeding season.
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| THE AGISTERS |
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The New Forest is divided into four districts. Depastured animals are supervised by five agisters each having his own district. Head Agister Jonathan Gerrelli is overall responsible for the management,
he in turn is accountable to the Verderers who are a modern statutory body sharing the |
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management of the New Forest with the Forestry Commission.
The Agisters role within the forest is to deal with the daily management and welfare of the commoners’ stock, including dealing with road accidents involving ponies, cattle, donkeys or pigs. The Agisters also conduct the 'drifts' when ponies are rounded up into pounds for removal from the forest, foal branding, worming and tail marking. The tail is cut into 1 of 4 marks (dependent upon the jurisdiction of the Agister) to denote depasturing fees have been paid. There are about 44 drifts each year between August and October.
Click here for the Agisters contact details and area map. |
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