Nice article about the new forest round up
- Thread starter amy_b
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BentleyBelly
Well-Known Member
It is a nice article...very true. We got caught in the middle of a drift once, not fun!
mandwhy
Well-Known Member
That was interesting and great pictures! I have been camping with the parents there many times, would love to live there!
LiffWee93
Well-Known Member
I loved reading that 
I was lucky enough to be invited along to a couple of drifts a couple of years ago with a commoner amazing experience!
I was lucky enough to be invited along to a couple of drifts a couple of years ago with a commoner amazing experience!Keen
Well-Known Member
Nice photos. Inane copy.
Are NFs making more than a tenner at auction ?
Boxers
Well-Known Member
I have just read this article in the DM and found it really interesting. He mentions a book by Sally Fear and as it will soon(ish) be my birthday I have bookmarked it on Amazon and hopefully one ofmy sisters will buy it for me!
CobsGalore
Well-Known Member
Very interesting. I love the New Forest.
starsky
Well-Known Member
Accurate article about the drifts, but not sure I agree with this bit...
"Some foals will spend their lives in the forest. Others will be taken home, weaned and sold at the local autumn sales; with its sturdy build and reliable temperament, the New Forest pony is always in demand with riding schools, carriage drivers and polo players."
It makes it sound like every New Forest pony ends up in a happy loving home. In the recent sales the colts were going for £13 and a large number of them go for meat.
"Some foals will spend their lives in the forest. Others will be taken home, weaned and sold at the local autumn sales; with its sturdy build and reliable temperament, the New Forest pony is always in demand with riding schools, carriage drivers and polo players."
It makes it sound like every New Forest pony ends up in a happy loving home. In the recent sales the colts were going for £13 and a large number of them go for meat.
PandorasJar
Well-Known Member
Reliably little nutters
angellauren
Well-Known Member
Thanks for posting this! My pony was rounded up in the New Forest, I bought him off a farm somewhere around Nottingham where the man had a barn full of colts and fillies to choose from. He was 10 months old at the time and hadn't been handled at all but he was all I could afford at the time and at 15 I was so desperate for a pony, it was the only way I could persuade my parents there was an affordable way to do it. There were a lot more fillies left than colts and I don't know what happens to them if they don't sell but I'm glad I've been able to give my little man the life he deserves, it's been such a rewarding experience!
mtj
Well-Known Member
Sounds idyllic in the article.
Sadly, my abiding memory of the New Forest sales is the meat man.
Sadly, my abiding memory of the New Forest sales is the meat man.
Bodger
Well-Known Member
Reliably little nutters
Hahah! ^^ this! There's an NF mare at my RS and she's a mardy cow!
burtie
Well-Known Member
Great article, but it does get a bit hairy when you accidently end up in the middle of one as they don't tell you when/where they are any more. Had it happen a couple of times, luckily other than a bit of 'passage' my horse generally handles it well! Pannage season is always interesting too
burtie
Well-Known Member
A lot do go for meat, but then this is often better than what happens to some that don't given the current low prices. They have been working hard to reduce stock levels in the current market with Stallion numbers reduced and only out for a month, but a lot of mares were obviously taken off and covered independently due to the number of 'spotty' appaloosa foals I noticed this year!
LittleWildOne
Well-Known Member
I enjoyed reading that, thanks for sharing amy_b
I bought my last NF pony from a dealer, who had bought loads at the BR sales and brought them up to Scotland. He had 10 fillies and about the same number of colts when I bought mine - picture a man, typically dressed in jeans, checked shirt and possibly a flat cap buying up loads of foals from the sales, loading them up into a cattle float........NOT necessarily a meat man, but a dealer buying cheap youngstock to sell on !
The dealer I bought from in this case might have looked like a "meat man" when he bought all of those ponies at the BR sales.
Pony I have now, I travelled down to the New Forest to buy her from her "breeder"....a practising commoner who has several mares out on the forest. I spent 2 amazing days down there, and was given a personal guided tour of the forest on both days. I saw where my pony had been born, and where she had lived for the first 2 years of her life.
We were looking for my pony's dam, so went off the beaten track to her regular "haunts" to try to find her. But, the Stallions had just been put out that weekend (I was there on the Tues & Wed) so a lot of the ponies were moving around...we couldn't find Izzy. I did meet my ponies grand dam though, on another part of the forest.
I had the opportunity to see some of the stallions gathering up "their" mares. I saw Furzey Lodge Zennica, Brookshill Brumby, Pondhead Panshine and Lovelyhill Cranbourne Heights, and watched Lovelyhill Cranbourne Heights stealing some of Pondhead Panshine's mares. Cranbourne Heights had travelled miles from "his" stallion area, and was rounding up as many mares as he could then herding them back in the direction he had come from.
I'd love to go back down to the New Forest sometime, as 2 days just wasn't long enough.
I bought my last NF pony from a dealer, who had bought loads at the BR sales and brought them up to Scotland. He had 10 fillies and about the same number of colts when I bought mine - picture a man, typically dressed in jeans, checked shirt and possibly a flat cap buying up loads of foals from the sales, loading them up into a cattle float........NOT necessarily a meat man, but a dealer buying cheap youngstock to sell on !
The dealer I bought from in this case might have looked like a "meat man" when he bought all of those ponies at the BR sales
.Pony I have now, I travelled down to the New Forest to buy her from her "breeder"....a practising commoner who has several mares out on the forest. I spent 2 amazing days down there, and was given a personal guided tour of the forest on both days. I saw where my pony had been born, and where she had lived for the first 2 years of her life.
We were looking for my pony's dam, so went off the beaten track to her regular "haunts" to try to find her. But, the Stallions had just been put out that weekend (I was there on the Tues & Wed) so a lot of the ponies were moving around...we couldn't find Izzy. I did meet my ponies grand dam though, on another part of the forest.
I had the opportunity to see some of the stallions gathering up "their" mares. I saw Furzey Lodge Zennica, Brookshill Brumby, Pondhead Panshine and Lovelyhill Cranbourne Heights, and watched Lovelyhill Cranbourne Heights stealing some of Pondhead Panshine's mares. Cranbourne Heights had travelled miles from "his" stallion area, and was rounding up as many mares as he could then herding them back in the direction he had come from.
I'd love to go back down to the New Forest sometime, as 2 days just wasn't long enough.
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Boxers
Well-Known Member
I enjoyed reading that, thanks for sharing amy_b
I bought my last NF pony from a dealer, who had bought loads at the BR sales and brought them up to Scotland. He had 10 fillies and about the same number of colts when I bought mine - picture a man, typically dressed in jeans, checked shirt and possibly a flat cap buying up loads of foals from the sales, loading them up into a cattle float........NOT necessarily a meat man, but a dealer buying cheap youngstock to sell on !
The dealer I bought from in this case might have looked like a "meat man" when he bought all of those ponies at the BR sales
Pony I have now, I travelled down to the New Forest to buy her from her "breeder"....a practising commoner who has several mares out on the forest. I spent 2 amazing days down there, and was given a personal guided tour of the forest on both days. I saw where my pony had been born, and where she had lived for the first 2 years of her life.
We were looking for my pony's dam, so went off the beaten track to her regular "haunts" to try to find her. But, the Stallions had just been put out that weekend (I was there on the Tues & Wed) so a lot of the ponies were moving around...we couldn't find Izzy. I did meet my ponies grand dam though, on another part of the forest.
I had the opportunity to see some of the stallions gathering up "their" mares. I saw Furzey Lodge Zennica, Brookshill Brumby, Pondhead Panshine and Lovelyhill Cranbourne Heights, and watched Lovelyhill Cranbourne Heights stealing some of Pondhead Panshine's mares. Cranbourne Heights had travelled miles from "his" stallion area, and was rounding up as many mares as he could then herding them back in the direction he had come from.
I'd love to go back down to the New Forest sometime, as 2 days just wasn't long enough.
Clicking the 'like' button.
What a great experience.
PandorasJar
Well-Known Member
Hahah! ^^ this! There's an NF mare at my RS and she's a mardy cow!
I have yet to meet one who doesn't bite and throw their toys out the pram. All are the biggest wind ups too.
They really manage to grow on you though
montysmum1
Well-Known Member
I've always liked the breed, and i'd be really interested in buying a youngster to bring on.
When are the sales?
When are the sales?