Over the centuries, the New Forest pony has developed as a breed perfectly adapted to its local surroundings. It is light and sure-footed to move through the mires and thick scrub, hardy for over-wintering in the open and it has developed a hairy face and horny tongue to cope with its prickly winter diet.

This said, the New Forest is full of hazards for these sturdy creatures. Bogs, ditches, litter, ragwort and even acorns (which cause colic if eaten in large quantities) can pose problems for the ponies. However, none is more dangerous than modern road traffic, which is why the Forestry Commission is urging visitors to avoid feeding them and drawing them to the roadside.

What many people don’t realise is that, though wild, the ponies all have owners. No pony can be put out to graze in the New Forest unless it is branded with its owner’s mark and a fee is paid every year to the Agisters, who regularly round up the stock and check their health.

So ponies really don’t need to be fed by visitors to the forest. In fact, feeding and petting ponies encourages them to behave badly – pestering picnickers and hanging around busy roads and car parks.

Part of the traditional forest scene, having been around for more than a thousand years, New Forest ponies were once domestic animals doing work on smallholdings and, by common right, were turned out to graze on the Open Forest.

‘Commoning’ has been a way of life in the New Forest since medieval times.

While it no longer provides a living, it is continued by more than 300 commoners today as a traditional way of life. Commoners are local people who occupy land or property which have certain ‘rights of common’ attached. These include the right to graze stock on the Open Forest and, at present, more than 6,000 ponies, cattle and donkeys are put out to graze in this way.

It is vital that the tradition of commoning is maintained as, without the stock, the New Forest would soon become a very different place. The ponies and cattle are the ‘architects’ of the land, feeding on the gorse and brambles that would otherwise become overgrown.

Without this grazing, the scrub would develop into mature forest, reducing the ecological value of the area and affecting the recreational activities visitors can enjoy across the forest.

Due to the obvious attraction to people and their food, some ponies end up spending a lot of time at places popular with visitors which can increase the chances of them causing harm to children, particularly those mares that are protecting young foals.

It is also worth noting that some human food can actually cause severe colic and could even kill ponies in extreme circumstances.

So the advice when in the New Forest is to admire the ponies without getting too close and certainly don’t feed them. During particularly busy periods, you’ll find volunteers and rangers patrolling picnic spots to spread the word!

Signage has been updated this year to make it more eye-catching so we hope people will take notice and follow this advice.

  • For more information visit forestry.gov.uk/newforest