The New Forest Pony

HISTORY OF THE NEW FOREST PONIES

From Prehistory to 1800

Once upon a time herds of ponies ranged right across Britain. Man came and cut and burnt large clearings in the original forest to grow their crops but where, as in the Forest, the soil was thin it soon leached away in the rain, forming plugs at the ends of the shallow valleys allowing bogs to form, whilst the higher ground became heath. The farmers moved on to enclose richer ground leaving herds of ponies cut off from other herds on the abandoned land. When the ponies passed into private ownership, is lost in the mists of time. The earliest representation of a pony is an unflattering child like decoration on a pot fired at Linwood about 300 AD.

Image on Pottery at Linwood

The Linwood Pottery "New Forest" Pony.

Of about the same date, part of a skeleton of a pony about 12.3 hh has been excavated at the Roman Villa at Rockbourne.

Canute's Forest Law 1066 mentions ponies among the wild animals of the Forest. During the Middle Ages a Royal Stud was maintained in the Forest. In 1220, 18 Welsh Mares were sent to the Forest. In 1217, Henry III ordered the warden of the Royal Stud in the Forest to give the profit for the year towards the building of Beaulieu Abbey. 'Manwood's' Law of the Forest quotes Henry VIII ordering the removal from the Royal Forests of all "Stoned horses of less than 14 1/2 handful1s" and the slaughter of mares "unsuitable for breeding" and regretted these laws were no longer in force. lt is probable they were always 'more honoured in the breach than the observance', he was writing 2 hundred years after Henry. Local people would have known the smaller ponies thrived better and, anyway, they first had to be caught, so this law vas likely to have been as unenforceable as the later Deer Removal Act. However, as this was long before the better land was enc1osed for timber growing, the Forest could have supported a larger pony and Cantinental horses, mainly from Spain and the Low Countries are known to have been imported to improve local stock in Tudor times. Elizabeth, daughter of James I, was reputed to have had a Forest Pony.

The first stallion of real merit was "Marske", the sire of "Eclipse", who was considered too small as a racehorse so covered Forest mares. He was owned by "Butcher Cumberland". Of course, when "Eclipse" started to race, Marske was whisked away to higher things.

William Gilpin in "Remarks on Forest Scenery 1791" has an etching of New Forest ponies described as follows:

"The New Forest horse is often supposed to be of Spanish extraction imagined to have been shipwrecked on the coast of Hampshire at the time of the Armada!. (This myth is recounted about all the British Native Breeds). but I look on this as a species of the ancient vaunt 'Genus of Jove ummo' and to deserve as little attention. Some of them have a form, which would not disgrace so noble a lineage - (The grey horse represented in the annexed plate is amongst the most beautiful.) - but in general, the croup of the Forest horse is low; and his head ill set on, having what the jockeys call 'stiff jaw' (Glenda Spooner called it 'having swallowed the poker'). Their claim, therefore, to high lineage must, in general, rest more on their good qualities, their uncommon strength, and on their agility and sureness of foot, which they probably acquire by constantly lifting their legs among furze. But though the form of the New Forest Horse is seldom beautiful; yet as the ornament of a Forest scene, he is very picturesque. The horse in his natural state, rough with all his mane about him, and his tail waving in the wind as he feeds, is always beautiful but particularly in so wild a scene as this, which he graces exceedingly."

Picture showing the continuing line.

The early years

Deputy Surveyor Cumberbatch, implementing the rolling encloser powers whereby, as one lot of trees grew big enough not to be damaged by grazing animals, that area was thrown open and a similar new area was enclosed for timber growing, tried to reduce the value of commoners rights by proposing to introduce "winter heyning" (prohibiting winter grazing in the Forest) which appears never to have applied to Royal Forests. Knowing this would be unpopular he sought a sweetener and in 1852 borroved an Arab Stallion, Zorah, from the Prince Regent to stand in New Park. The commoners saw through the plot and did not wish to disturb their mares "haunting" by bringing them in to New Park. He was therefore not well supported and what foals he did get, if they were better than their dams, vere sold away from - the Forest, so his influence on the breed was negligible. After four years Zorah got sick, requiring the attention of the most expensive vet in Southampton. Mr Cumberbatch came to the conclusion he was not a very good horse anyway so, on his recovery, he was returned to Windsor by train.