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Find out more about commoners’ animals in Lyndhurst 3 Contact us New Forest National Park Authority Lymington Town Hall, Avenue Road and other Commoners’ Animals Lymington, , SO41 9ZG

Main telephone number: 01590 646600 Fax: 01590 646666 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.newforestnpa.gov.uk

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With grateful thanks to the © New Forest National Park Authority 2013 An activity book following organisations that Uncredited images from New Forest National Park Photographic Library helped to produce this booklet: Front page and , and back page Highland cattle © Martin O’Neill for all the family Designed and produced by Generator (Creative Energy) Ltd. Tel: 01425 651951 Illustrations by Buzz Burry How easy is it Q to see the New Animals have right of way The famous five Forest ponies?

The ponies, cattle and other animals can go almost wherever About how many are there? The New Forest National Park covers over 200 square miles. they want across the New Forest National Park’s open landscape. About one-third of this is known as Open Forest – the They are kept in by cattle grids, fences and the sea. They have woodland, heath, boggy areas and grassland where the the right to wander down the road, visit campsites and even commoners’ animals graze. You will find five kinds of stand in the middle of the High Street! animals: ponies, cattle, donkeys, sheep and pigs. Unfortunately, the animals have not learnt that cars and other The is especially famous but all five vehicles are dangerous. Ponies often step into the road just as 2,500 are really important. Local people take care of them, a car is passing, so drive slowly and give them space. If another tourists come to see them and they stop the Forest car is coming towards you as well, be ready to stop! becoming overgrown by eating so much food! 4,500 Many accidents happen at night. Some ponies have special reflective collars that shine in I go slow the dark, but look out for Did you know there are over for ponies 7,500 of us animals on the Forest? ponies without collars too.

Always drive carefully in the New Forest. Place this sticker where it will not obscure your view. You could keep a tally of how 15/7/08 14:16:40 many you see like this: How many NF_P10_Slow_for_ponies_sticker_F1 1 Reflective pony collar ‘I go slow Q for ponies’ 2 car stickers can you spot? Imagine I’m a 400 two-year-old 100

Remember: even at 30mph child standing

look, but don’t touch! don’t but look, an accident can kill an beside the road. over a cattle grid and and grid cattle a over animal and cause a lot Drive past very

Very easy – just go go just – easy Very A 120 of damage to your car. carefully! How long do you Q think a pony lives for: Each pony also has a passport but 20, 30 or 40 years? Branded for life it’s not so it can go on holiday! Are they wild? The passport has the pony’s colours and markings sketched You can tell who owns each of the ponies by looking onto an outline. It also says The ponies, donkeys, cows, pigs and sheep at the brand on their hip, shoulder or . Cattle who the pony’s parents and wandering free in the New Forest National have ear tags with their owner’s brand on them. previous owners were. Park are not wild like the deer. They are all owned by people known as commoners: Colour in the about 700 of them. Each commoner owns or names of the Colour in this pony ready for its rents land which gives them the right to let wild animals passport. You could design your own their animals graze the Forest. in red and the brand using your initials or favourite ones owned by Beaulieu Road Sale Yard thing about the New Forest. Many of the people in blue. animals fend for themselves all year 3 Branding iron round. They are not used Branded pony to people (you could say they are ‘wild by Each commoner has a different brand, often nature’) so it’s best to inherited from their family, made up of letters ‘look but don’t touch’. and/or numbers. that are to remain on Look but don’t touch! the Forest are branded in the autumn. In spring and autumn, commoners sell ponies at the Beaulieu Road Sale Yard. New Forest ponies are well known for Design your brand being easy to train and they become excellent riding ponies. Fun Forest Fact

If a branded pony is sold to another for over 30 years. 30 over for commoner, it ends up with the

Some ponies live live ponies Some A brands of both owners. Tell- signs Verderers Agister’s tasks Check the animals are OK  When you go to different parts of the Forest, Collect marking fees from the commoners  see if you can spot the different tail patterns Agisters cut the tails of ponies & Agisters Help sick or injured animals  – they are most obvious in autumn and early and cattle to show marking winter just after they have been cut. fees have been paid by the Agister cutting tail The New Forest has its own special ancient court in At the drifts: worm the ponies Some of Agisters can recognise all the animals in their commoners. There are Lyndhurst where people known as Verderers decide  us escape cut their tails area and remember all their owners! four different tail cuts.  the drifts. how best to take care of the New Forest, both for the fit collars  Hee-hee! animals and the commoners. The Verderers employ five  any to be taken off the forest people (called Agisters) to help the commoners look for winter? New Forest National after their animals.  brand any foals that are to B Park boundary stay on the Forest Between August and November, the Agisters organise Fun Forest Fact about 40 pony round-ups (drifts). On horseback and Most of the land grazed by the animals on foot they chase the ponies into fenced corrals in Is it OK C is Crown Land, managed on behalf of different parts the Forest. It’s the only time that most of Q to watch the country by the Forestry Commission. the animals are caught each year. a drift? A pony with one cut from the left side lives on one of the ‘adjacent ’ that are owned by other organisations such as the National Trust. Agister worming a foal A

It’s best to avoid the If my tail has been cut drifts – up to 30 riders A D straight across, I was and 150 galloping caught but not on one ponies make them © Crown Copyright and Database Right 2013. of the organised drifts. dangerous places! Ordnance Survey 1000114703. The rights Draw a line between each right of common picture An ancient tradition and its description. Then How do you learn to of common test your friends. How many rights can they get right?! Even before William the Conqueror chose the Nova Foresta as Q be a commoner? his own royal deer-hunting ground in 1079, people earned a living from the land. The right to collect wood As recently 60 years ago, many people living in the New In the past, rights of common were enjoyed for fuel, also known as The right to dig peat turves Forest would have kept a house-cow, a pig and a few ponies. by people across most of Britain. In the New ‘estovers’. Today, Forestry from the ground for fuel. This gave them food, some money if they sold one – and the Forest, people who own or rent particular Commission staff cut and This was a valuable right ponies helped them get from one place to another. land still have some of these rights. Common of until cheaper fuels, like stack wood for about 100 Common of marl Many older commoners can remember when herds of cows properties with this right. pasture coal, became available. It is (with bells round their necks) were kept for milk, but these no longer practised. days the cattle are bred mainly for beef.

The right to graze The right to take lime-rich © Penny family ponies, cattle and marl (clay) from Forest pits as © Penny family donkeys a fertiliser and for building Common of mast Common of fuelwood houses and barns. This right is no longer practised.

The right to turn © Frank Green Collection out pigs in the The right to graze sheep.

autumn, during the Very few people have or Cows used to be kept grandparents. and parents their especially

use this right. most commoners learn from other commoners, commoners, other from learn commoners most ‘pannage season’ Common of

for milking Common of sheep Ready to go to the Show which tricks and skills commoning many are There A turbary People also take care of (manage) the Forest. Back-up land Architects of This includes Forestry Commission staff who are responsible for the Crown Lands of the In and around the National Park, look for fields being used as the Forest back-up land. You might see ponies or cows being fed, hedges National Park. Heathland burning 6 being trimmed, silage or hay being cut and baled, and fences being repaired. Can you see any signs It’s becoming very hard for young commoners to My owner has to have some of these activities? find and afford back-up land – making it more and fenced-off back-up land in case I need to be taken off more difficult for them to continue commoning. the Open Forest.

For which of these is Q back-up land used? Can you see 7 how high we Holly pollarding 1 sheep that want a holiday can reach? The Open Forest looks like it does because of the teeth, hooves, 9 2 animals that need extra food trotters and snouts of the commoners’ animals. Their eating Heather baling ponies on their way to the sales and trampling keeps the habitats in good condition. Although 3 they don’t do it on purpose, it’s as though they are © Forestry Commission 4 making hay and silage in summer designing the Forest like an architect designing a 5 donkeys that are bored of house or shopping centre! living on the Forest 6 feeding cattle in the winter Fun Forest Fact 7 cows having their calves The most prickly holly leaves are low Swiping

5 8 ponies ready to have their foals down where ponies and cattle can correct. are

9 animals injured in road accidents reach them. Out of reach the leaves 8 and 5 1, except All A 2 Holly leaves can be quite smooth. 10 poorly animals Can you spot the I spy a pony Q pony in these pictures? Every one is different

Our face markings have different names – how Dun 2 many can you spot? Sometimes you get a 2 mixture! Brown 2 Black

Bay 1

Star 1 Remember Blaze 2 How many different pony 3 not to get colours can you find in the Flea bitten grey 5 too close to New Forest? 1 the animals. Here are a few to look for. Grey 1 Stripe Fun Forest Fact There are no rules about the type of To stop too many foals being 1 pony you can turn out on the Forest. Fun Forest Fact born, very few are Look carefully and you might see a (with flaxen tail and ) allowed amongst the - Many foals change colour Shetland or pony. In 1852 Queen

completely in their early years. Some Snip in some years as few as ten Shetland 3

4 Victoria turned out an Arab (a male stallions for just four weeks. 4 a is piebald The A black foals finish up being grey! horse) called Zorah. A special place

The New Forest is a special place for people and wildlife as well as for the commoners’ animals. We’ve left space on this colouring picture for you to add the things you like best. Pony Menu No human food thanks! What’s for lunch? Each pony tends to stay in one area, which we call a haunt. This menu will provide you with a Fresh water New Forest Pony balanced diet. Here it finds all the natural food it needs, choosing from Is it true that some Enjoy this cool, unpolluted different trees and plants depending on the time of year. ponies and donkeys Not sure how to eat it? still water from the nearest Q damage tents? Copy your mum! stream or pond Giving ponies or donkeys human food is not good for them. Garden clippings and grass cuttings from lawn mowers can give them a really bad tummy ache called colic. Grass Please DON’T Gorse Feeding the ponies and donkeys by encourages feed us Scrumptious – and them to develop bad habits. They pester people for A very nutritious but plentiful except in food and some even kick or bite if spiny winter food that winter and early spring they don’t get it! gives you a shiny coat Imagine you are a pony – how would Draw lines to show who should eat what you enjoy my diet? (one of them shouldn’t be eaten by either) Holly Heather Another prickly meal for Not every pony’s those cold windy days favourite

Fun Forest Fact Ash leaves Bark Even the animals shouldn’t eat garden cuttings. garden eat shouldn’t animals the Even

Purple moor grass often grows A super snack in autumn If you can’t find smell. the by tempted not are animals on recently burnt ground, when they fall off the trees anything else to eat! the so container sealed a in food your keep

providing a late winter treat camping, you’re If food. for looking are They Yes. A for the animals. Beefy breeds Continental breeds, Mooove along now usually used as bulls

All cattle have to be ear-tagged so that 4 If you spend much time in the New Forest, sooner or later Traditional British breeds of cattle Highland you’ll come across a herd of cattle walking very slowly we can identify each down the road. Commoners often take them off the Forest: individual animal. Their meat can then be traced when they are about to have a calf and we can be sure our in autumn to avoid the poisonous acorns food is safe to eat. 5 in winter when the grazing is not so good. Charolais Commoners cross-breed their cattle to produce hardy, Is it possible to buy meat from fast-growing animals. Over the years the breeds of Q New Forest cattle and pigs? cattle on the Forest have changed from Shetland 5 2 dairy to beef. Hereford See how many of Bulls are too dangerous to be our breeds you can allowed to roam on the Forest. find in and around Belted Galloway Simmental 4 If you see a cow with a young the New Forest. calf, do keep well away as she will try to protect her calf, Red 4 © Richard Deacon

especially if you have a dog. it is locally produced food. produced locally is it

Marque symbol which shows shows which symbol Marque 4 Yes. Look for the New Forest Forest New the for Look Yes. 5 Limousin A Dun Aberdeen Angus Black 3 4 Do the pigs eat Spot the pig Pass the apple Q all the acorns? sauce please Gloucester Old Spot In the autumn, or pannage season, pigs are let out to eat Acorns Fun Forest Fact 3 the fallen acorns, beech nuts (known as mast), berries and Pigs have rings in their noses to other tasty morsels. The acorns are poisonous to ponies stop them rooting up the ground and cattle but not to the pigs. too much and damaging it. It hurts them if they try to dig Saddleback 3 Pannage usually lasts 60 days but if there are lots of acorns too hard. the pigs are allowed to stay out for longer. By December Commoners tend to cross-breed their pigs to Beech nuts the pigs are ready to be made into delicious sausages, pork produce hardy pigs that find their own food chops and bacon: ideal for a New Forest breakfast! and become a good size for pork and bacon. © Roy Hunt Boars are not allowed on the Forest! When you see lots of pigs in a field, they 8 Tamworth Sows (female pigs) that are pregnant usually look like these large whites. They can be left out after pannage until their have lots of piglets which fatten quickly. piglets are born. We call them privilege sows. You may also see pigs at other Large White times of year in the north of the Forest 3 where there are different rules. If you come across one of my

Fun Forest Fact

eventually grow into oak trees. trees. oak into grow eventually friends, see if you can work

too many acorns. Also, many don’t get eaten and and eaten get don’t many Also, acorns. many too out which breed it is. Some commoners shout No. Every year some ponies and cattle die from eating eating from die cattle and ponies some year Every No. ‘chug chug’ to call their pigs A Blackberries - and they come running! Who’s done that?! Fuzz lions Fun Forest Fact Donkeys are sometimes called 1 and sheep See if you can match 3 fuzz lions - maybe the noise they the animal to its A make at night sounds like a lion? There are usually just over 100 donkeys in footprints and poo. the New Forest. Most tend to stay around By the way, I’m NOT the villages, even standing in shop doorways a commoners’ animal or at the bus stop! but I do live in the New Forest. B 8 2 Look for the dark cross on their backs. Legend says that this is because a carried Jesus to Jerusalem and the shadow of the cross fell on 9 3 Sheep 5 the donkey’s back. C

Donkey foals are sold at the In and around the New Forest most of Beaulieu Road Sales, usually as the sheep are kept in fields with fences. pets but also to pull a cart or for Some of the large farm estates have the children to ride. right to graze sheep on the Open Forest, D 3 4 but very few do so. Try looking on

© Martin O’Neill the National Trust commons around Bramshaw, in the north of the National Park. E 6 5 Sheep wool is popular with New © Cole Family Photography Forest spinners, and New Forest lamb

Teddies made from makes a good Sunday roast. 5 C = Sheep 2, E = Deer 3, A = Pig 4, B = Cow 1, D = Pony Cross on donkey’s back New Forest wool A 3 It’s tough being a pony Commoners’ events New Forest ponies are left out all year round if they are fit enough. They New Forest Show have ways of coping, even in Eat the prickly gorse. We call this ‘fuzzing’

because furze, or fuzz, is a country Lose the winter coats and grow a thin summer one. This three-day event in July attracts thousands of people to New Park spring, the most difficult season. name for gorse. Keep cool at ‘shades’ (away from the hot sun or near Brockenhurst each year. Wednesday is New Forest pony day when Test your friends. commoners bring their ponies to be judged. where there is a breeze). Stand nose to

Can they work out how the Very wet and little food tail and whisk flies away with tails. New Forest Pony Breeding and Cattle Society Show ponies survive? around

Another three-day show at New Park at the end of August. On Saturday the Pony racing on the Hot and sunny, with stallions are judged. On Sunday New Forest ponies compete in (a point-to-point SPRING annoying flies

like pony-dancing), jumping, (carts not cars!) and showing. On SUMMER Monday all of the ponies are shown ‘in hand’ (without anyone riding them). How do Boxing Day point-to-point ponies In this special New Forest race, riders are told where the exact start and cope?

3 WINTER finish will be only on the day of the race so they can’t practise the route in AUTUMN of holly trees.

snowy weather Find some shade

advance. There are different races for children and older people, and for Cold, wet, windy or

different kinds of ponies and . Crowds of people turn up to cheer as growing

they approach the finishing line. the trees and feed on leaves The grass stops stops grass The

5 Grow a thick coat, shelter among Forest Fed Competition

Grow a thick coat

In late winter ponies are judged on the Open Forest. Prizes are awarded for trees). and bushes

the best ponies in each Agister’s area. taller (eating browsing to

Our owners grass) (eating grazing from Change have lots of fun! Eating gorse 5 Tell us what Special names and words More things to do! you think The people who wrote this book hope you enjoy learning Ponies Donkeys Cattle Pigs Sheep See if you can learn about the animals that live in Male Stallion Jack Bull Boar Ram the names of these the New Forest. They would animals and then be delighted to know which Female Jenny Cow Sow Ewe Where’s the pig! test your friends. 1 bits of the book you liked Baby boy foal Jack foal Bull calf Shote Ram lamb There are 20 of these pigs best and how it could have hidden in this book. Baby girl foal Jenny foal Heifer calf Shute Ewe lamb Tick the boxes when been even better. Send a you see these things. Can you find them all? postcard, letter or e-mail I year old Yearling Stirk Gilt (female) Yearling The score for each is to the addresses on the shown like this 3 back page. N A T I O N A L P A R K You get more points Can you find these New Forest words? E K R A L L O C I L O C for those that are C C C D U N L B R A N D harder to find! PONY BREED DRIFT R A C O W P A N N A G E COW BAY VERDERER IT’S THE LAW: New Forest Animal I go slow O B A N M G O P I G A Y Report all accidents PIG DUN COMMONER involving a pony, cow, Emergency Hotlines donkey, dog, pig or SHEEP HAUNT NATIONAL PARK W E T K Y M F W J I L N sheep to the Police as for ponies soonREMEMBER: as possible, and (emergency) DONKEY COLIC CROWN LAND 999 within 24 hours. N L T E A C O R N S L O POLICE (24hrs) – • Even if it runs off, 101 (non-emergency) the animal may have DEER ACORN PANNAGE serious injuries. Road traffic accident involving a pony, Always drive carefully in the New Forest. Place this sticker where it will not obscure your view. L D L Y B S E N W T O P Forest animals have cow, donkey, pig, sheep, dog or deer • FOAL GORSE GALLOWAY no road sense and 15/7/08 14:16:40

A D E E R B H S E E W F VERDERERS’ OFFICE have right of way! (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) NF_P10_Slow_for_ponies_sticker_F1 1 CALF AGISTER SADDLEBACK Drive slowly, 023 8028 2052 • especially at night, Emergency hotline cards and window stickers are CATTLE BRAND N A T N U A H E R R A L Sick, injured or distressed pony, cow, and give animals a Words are hidden up, donkey, pig or sheep free from many information points and visitor wide berth. SOW COLLAR D S T F I R D T E O Y A FORESTRY COMMISSION • If you feed animals, down, across, diagonally (24hrs) attractions in the New Forest. Or send a stamped 023 8028 3141 they may stay by the NFNP_Contact_card_v2.indd road1 and be killed. and backwards! R E R E D R E V S P G C Sick, injured or distressed pony, cow, addressed envelope to the address on the back page. donkey, pig, sheep or deer 27/03/2013 15:54

27/03/2013 15:54

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