Part 3

The New Forest in Hampshire now cover some 63,000 acres of which about 42,000 acres are common pasture, the remaining 21,000 acres having been enclosed in 1851 for the growth of timber. The greater portion of the common land is poor and boggy moor, and on these areas ponies have been bred in a semi-wild state from the earliest times. It is considered more than probable that the New Forest ponies are the survival of the stock which, before the time of Canute (1017-1035), was found in the district formerly called Ytene, and which was afforested in the year 1072 by the Conqueror.

Mr. W. J. C. Moens, in a pamphlet printed for private circulation.

Henry III. (1216-1272), on 15th March, 1217, ordered the Warden of the pony stud kept in the New Forest to give to the Monks of Beaulieu all the profits accruing from the droves from that date till November, 1220, this donation being for the benefit of the soul of his late father, King John. Thus it is evident that the New Forest ponies of the thirteenth century were numerous enough to form a source of revenue to the Crown.

The remote history of the breed need not concern us; for it was not until comparatively recent times that any endeavour was made towards the improvement of the “forester,” as it is called. The first infusion of alien blood likely to be beneficial seems to have been made about 1766; and the circumstances under which this fresh blood was introduced are interesting. In 1750, H.R.H. the Duke of Cumberland acquired by exchange a thoroughbred foal from his breeder, Mr. John Hutton. The animal was named Marske, and was run at Newmarket: achieving no great success on the turf, he was put to the stud, but up to the time of the Duke’s death his progeny had done nothing to win reputation for their sire. When the Duke died, in 1765, his horses were sold at Tattersall’s, and Marske was knocked down “for a song” to a Dorsetshire farmer. The farmer kept him in the New Forest district, and here Marske the sire of Eclipse served mares at a fee of half-a-guinea, till his famous son achieved celebrity. Eclipse was foaled in 1764, won his first race on 3rd April, 1769, at Epsom, and made his name in a single season on the turf.

For four years at least, therefore (until Mr. Wildman ferreted out “the sire of Eclipse” and bought him for £20 to go to Yorkshire), the New Forest breed of ponies were being improved by the very best thoroughbred blood, the effects of which continued to be apparent for many years after Marske had left the district.

It is at least probable that Marske ran in the Forest during the lifetime of the Duke of Cumberland; for that prince was Warden of the New Forest, and evidence is forthcoming to show that he made a systematic attempt to better the stamp of pony.

For many decades after this infusion of thoroughbred blood nothing was done to maintain the improvement made. On the contrary, the demand for New Forest ponies increased, and the commoners took advantage of the higher prices obtainable to sell the best of their young stock; thus the breed steadily degenerated, until the late Prince Consort sent a grey Arab stallion to stand at New Park. The effects of this fresh strain of blood were soon evident; but history, as exemplified by the beneficial results of Marske’s service, repeated itself; the commoners were too ready to sell the pick of the young animals, whereby the benefits which should have accrued were heavily discounted.

It must be explained that the large breeders have running in the Forest a hundred ponies, or even more; many breeders possess forty or fifty, while the small occupiers own as many as they can keep during the winter. Their sole responsibility to the Crown in respect of the ponies is the “marking fee” (raised in 1897 from eighteen pence to two shillings per head), which goes to the Verderer’s Court. The marking system enables the Court to know how many ponies are running in the Forest, and the latest census showed about 3,000 animals, of which it was estimated some 1,800 were breeding mares.

From spring to autumn the droves range the Forest at will, affecting, of course, the best pasturage, or, in the heat of summer, the shadiest localities; in winter about 1800 ponies are taken into pastures, the remaining 1200 being left at large.

It is to be observed that the most profitable animals are the hardy ones, which run in the Forest all the year round. The majority of the young animals are handled only for the purpose of marking, and are never, if possible, driven off their own ground. Thus, unless strange stallions are used, it is very difficult to change the blood, the forest-born stallion remaining in his own locality and collecting his own harem around him. “In-and-in” breeding is therefore inevitable. Besides these 3,000 it is estimated that about the Forest neighbourhood some 2,000 ponies are worked in light carts and other vehicles, and, as many of these ponies are used for breeding purposes, it will be seen what an important source of pony supply we have in the New Forest district.

When the influence of the Arab sire sent by the Prince Consort ceased to be felt, degeneration again set in, the decreased prices brought by ponies at the fairs proving conclusively how the breed was deteriorating. To combat the evil the Court of Verderers in 1885 hired four well-bred stallions, which were kept by the “Agisters,” or markers of ponies, for the service of commoners’ mares at nominal fees. Two seasons’ experience proved that funds would not bear the strain, and the horses were sold; with the less hesitation because it was found that in the absence of any inducement to the breeders to retain promising young stock, good foals and bad were alike sent for sale to the fairs. Moreover, the wild mares were not of course covered by these stallions, and the majority of the New Forest stock obtained no benefit from their presence in the district. The “ponies in hand,” nevertheless, were more than sufficiently numerous to be considered, and in 1889 it was arranged to provide the necessary inducement to keep promising youngsters by giving premiums at a stallion show in April of each year, winners of premiums to run in the Forest till the following August; and this scheme has been productive of very marked results in the way of keeping good stock to reproduce their kind. Her Majesty in 1889 lent two Arab stallions, Abeyan and Yirassan, for use in the district, and these, remaining for two and three seasons respectively, did much good. A son of the former, out of a Welsh mare, now stands in the district. His owner, Mr. Moens, states that his produce show great improvement, and his services are in eager demand among the commoners. The general improvement in the Forest ponies since 1890 is very striking.

Lack of funds has seriously handicapped the New Forest Pony Association in its work, and the burden of carrying out the programme has fallen upon the shoulders of a few. Conspicuous among those who have borne the lion’s share of the task is Lord Arthur Cecil, who now turns out no fewer than twenty-two stallions for the benefit of the commoners generally. For many years past Lord Arthur has interested himself in the improvement of the breed; he has been using with much success stallions of a distinct and pure breed from the Island of Rum off the West coast of Scotland. These are the original Black Galloways which were found in a wild state on the island in 1840 by the late Marquis of Salisbury, and were always kept pure. Lord Arthur secured the whole stock in the year 1888. I cannot do better than give, practically in its entirety, his interesting letter on the subject of the ponies which for the last ten years have been increasingly used in the New Forest so much to the advantage of the breed:

“The Rum ponies which were much thought of by my father seem to be quite a type of themselves, having characteristics which would almost enable one to recognise them anywhere. Every one of those I bought in 1888 had hazel, not brown eyes; and though only a small boy in 1862, when six or seven of those ponies came to Hatfield, I can remember that they also had the hazel eye. They have, almost without exception, very good hind-quarters, with the tail well set up; and it is in this respect that I hope they will do good in the New Forest. On the other hand, they have big plain heads which are not liked by the commoners. This defect, however, is rapidly disappearing with good keep, as it does with all breeds of ponies.

“After I bought the ponies in 1888 and began breeding I was at a loss to know how to continue the breed, as I could not well use the stallion which accompanied the mares to his own progeny. I remembered having seen at the Highland and Agricultural Society’s Show, in 1883, a stallion which had interested me very much, being exactly like the ponies I remembered coming to Hatfield. I enclose ... copy of a letter received from his breeder.

“The pony, Highland Laddie ... was bred by us at Coulmore, Ross-shire; being the youngest, I think, of seven foals thrown by the black mare, Polly, to Allan Kingsburgh (Lord Lovat’s stallion) ... and, as far as I know, Polly was never covered by any other horse. Most of her foals, if not all, were shown by us and won prizes at country and the Highland Agricultural Society’s Meetings in the North. Her third foal, Glen, a jet-black stallion, took 2nd prize in his class at the Aberdeen Show in 1880 (I think), and again took the medal for pony stallions at Perth in 1881 or 1882. At the same show Polly’s second foal, Blackie, took second prize in the gelding class, and her fourth foal (the eldest of the bay mares), shown at Inverness by McKenzie of Kintail, would easily have taken a prize in her class but for an accident on the railway or ferry ... which lamed her for the meeting. Your pony has, of course, the same pedigree as those.... The Rum ponies were always supposed to be pure, as the Marquis of Salisbury was known to take a great interest in the breed ... though not sure, I believe a pony stallion of another strain, a dun with black mane and tail (Lord Ronald) was sold by my father to go to Rum.... Allan Kingsburgh and Polly were both bred by my father.... Allan’s dam was a bay mare, Polly’s was a grey named Maria. I know the stock from which both came: it was brought long ago from Glenelg and bred and kept pure by my grandfather and ancestors who lived in Glenelg when that Barony belonged to the MacLeod of MacLeods. I am not sure of the sires of either Allan or Polly, but know they were both pure Highland. One, I think, was Lord Ronald which I formerly mentioned, and the other a pony belonging to a Mr. Stewart in Skye (a known breeder of Highland cattle).”

... It is curious that I should have thus dropped on to exactly the same kind of thing that my father is supposed to have used; he used the same blood years ago in Lord Ronald.

“I think what first interested me so much in these ponies was that, as long ago as I can remember anything, I heard my father describing them to old Lord Cowley and the Duke of Wellington. He told them how like the Spanish horses he had thought the ponies in 1845; and mentioned how he had turned down a stallion on the island and a Spanish jackass—some of the mules are still (1889) at Hatfield. He also said that he saw no reason why they should not be descended from some of the Spanish Armada horses which were wrecked on that coast. When the ponies—most of them stallions—came to Hatfield in 1862, I remember some of them broke out of the station; it took several days to catch them again. They were almost unbreakable, but my brother, Lionel, and I managed to get two of them sufficiently quiet for us to ride, though they would not have been considered safe conveyances for an elderly gentleman. We were never quite sure of their age, but they must have been nearly thirty when they died. I believe my father had intended these ponies to be kept entire, but they were so hopelessly savage they had to be cut. They could trot twelve miles in fifty-five minutes after they were twenty years old, and could gallop and jump anything in the saddle.

“My father’s theory about the Spanish Armada receives curious corroboration in the well-known fact that a galleon lies sunk in Tobermory Bay; while, in the “Armada” number of the Illustrated London News which was published in 1888 (the same year that I bought the ponies), there was a small map which showed the storms off the North and West of Scotland, which are almost exactly coincident with the occurrence of this particular type of pony, though no place was so favourable for breeding a type as a remote island like Rum.

“When my mother visited Rum the people of the adjacent island of Canna gave her a pony mare which I also remember, very old, at Hatfield. She was a rich cream colour; she threw a foal which had all the characteristics, the hazel eye, long croup and big head.

“I have noticed all the deer-stalking ponies I could see on the look-out for some of these characteristics; but, with the exception of the hazel eye and a somewhat strong inclination towards blackness in colour, I cannot say that I have seen much trace of the same kind of pony on the mainland in Scotland. This, however, is no doubt rather through crossing with other strains than because they have not some of the original blood; and I feel sure that the Galloway of olden days was of the same type, though that term has now come to mean something quite different and in no way connected with the district on the West Coast of Scotland.

“The hazel eye is not uncommon on Exmoor, and occurs in the Welsh pony. It would be a very interesting study to try and trace the tendency to show that colour; it would, I think, throw light on the ancestry of many horses and ponies; or, at least, it would reveal many curious instances of reversion.”

Lord Arthur, in conclusion, deprecates the susceptibility of pony breeders generally to the influence of fashion; he is of opinion that efforts made in some districts to increase size, while efforts elsewhere are directed to its reduction, cannot in the long run be beneficial; whereas, if Nature were allowed to determine the size of pony suitable for each locality, valuable results might be obtained by crossing the different breeds. It is quite certain that the perpetuation of a breed larger than the character of the country and pasture can support can only be secured by the constant introduction of alien blood, which in course of time will completely alter the local stamp, and not necessarily for the better.

The Hon. Gerald Lascelles, Deputy Surveyor of the New Forest, has said of this locality: “You have a magnificent run for your ponies. Your mares might breed from ponies of almost any quality.... Ponies running out all winter in the mountains of Ireland and of Wales, on Exmoor, in Cornwall, and on the Cumberland and Yorkshire fells, have a far worse climate to face than that of the New Forest, and no better pasture. Such ponies would laugh at the hardships of the New Forest.” The New Forest pony is perhaps less hardy than some of the hill breeds, but his constitution is quite robust enough to be one of his most valuable attributes; and opinions are not unnaturally divided as to the desirability of increasing his size, if gain of inches mean sacrifice of hardiness. Thirteen hands was the height the Forest breeders formerly admitted to be the maximum desirable; but of recent years their views on this point have been somewhat enlarged.

The close resemblance of the Rum ponies to the native of the New Forest marks out these stallions as peculiarly suitable for crossing purposes. For this reason, and also because their number must exercise strong and speedy influence upon the wild Forest mares, the foregoing particulars have been given in detail.

Lord Arthur believes that the Welsh pony stallion of about 13·1 or 13·2 would be as good a cross for the New Forest pony as any now obtainable.

Lord Ebrington, who bought Exmoor and the Simonsbath stud of improved Exmoor ponies, lent one of his stallions to the New Forest Association in the summer of 1898, and this sire has done good service among the wild mares.

When broken the New Forest ponies are generally far more spirited than the ordinary run of British ponies. The practice of using the “ponies in hand” for driving the wild mobs to be branded, &c., teaches them to turn quickly and gallop collectedly on rough ground; they thus acquire great cleverness.

As regards their market value, the following letter from Mr. W. J. C. Moens, a most energetic member of the Council of the Association, gives the best idea.