#45 Respect the Ponies
Jun 29th, 2008 by doing better
The ponies in the New Forest, where I went camping last week, are very clever indeed. They have established their own fiefdom with unprecedented pony freedom and special rules for humans. About 3000 ponies roam freely throughout the forest. Their grazing maintains the heath and grasslands, and they also contribute to the local economy and the special character of the place, so they have a lot to be proud of.
The New Forest is not new, and it is not what we commonly think of as a forest. It is an administrative area founded in 1079 by William the Conqueror as a royal hunting ground. It is mostly heathland but also includes woodland, bogs, rivers, and villages, and it stretches down to the south coast of England. People who live on certain smallholdings still retain their ancient rights to graze ponies, cattle, and pigs.
The ponies are well aware of their special status. They require motor vehicles to observe a speed limit of 40 mph so that they can stroll along the roads at their leisure. It is not uncommon to see a line of traffic backed up behind an easy-going pair of ponies. In the villages, people have to put up turnstile gates to prevent the ponies from coming in and eating their gardens. There are signs everywhere advising people not to leave food in tents or to feed the ponies: “They may look cute, but they can bite and kick.” This is a PR campaign by the ponies to toughen up their image; they are tired of being the favorite model for little girls’ toys.
The ponies are very sure of themselves. Whenever I sat down to have a picnic, a herd of ponies appeared as if from nowhere. They pretended to graze nonchalantly as they crept nearer and nearer. When they were almost upon me, I had to flee to preserve my lunch. In the campgrounds they are particularly bold, requiring every resident to pay a food tax on pain of tent damage.
While well-bred ponies can fetch thousands of pounds at the market (the New Forest pony is a pure breed), and many are sold to private families for riding, there is a darker side to the ponies’ story. Because of overbreeding, many of the ponies have been sold cheaply for meat (pet food or human food on the Continent). They are herded by men on motorbikes from the open grazing lands into crowded, muddy markets and sold to the highest bidder, sometimes for as little as £1. Then they are packed into trucks and driven to slaughterhouses.
The ponies’ mistreatment at these markets has attracted the attention of animal welfare groups. The public is also disturbed by the idea of the ponies being sold for meat. For the past few years, the pony association has tried to tackle the problem by limiting the number of stallions available for breeding. They hope to drive up the price so that the meat men will not come calling.
These wild, free-roaming creatures have things their way in the forest, but that may not be enough to save them out in the world.
