The New Forest Commoners should be applauded for the sensible and effective measures they have taken to reduce the numbers of foals produced when there is no market for them. As result of restricting the number of stallions turned out, and limiting the time for which they are out, there have been far fewer foals. For my part I have taken my two New Forest mares off the Forest when the stallion has been about (much to their disappointment) so that I don't add to the numbers. Here is a very clear explanation of why the New Forest Pony has become noted on the RBST list:
The Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) has published its annual Watchlist for 2014, and for the first time the New Forest Pony appears on it. Rapidly changing market conditions over the last few years have changed the horse world, probably for ever. The situation for horses and ponies has to be viewed in the national context, and nationally, Britain is in the midst of what the British Horse Society (BHS) has described as ‘a huge and unprecedented welfare crisis’ due to over-population.
In a report published at the end of the 2013 in its membership magazine British Horse, BHS said ‘Decades of unchecked and indiscriminate breeding means that we now have far more horses than we have knowledgeable homes to care for them.’ In the vast majority of cases, pure-bred foals from registered rare breed equines still have to compete on the open market and with so many horses available for sale, prices are low and buyers hard to find. Not surprisingly, even the most dedicated breed supporters have to think twice about breeding.
For all British native equine breeds, including those in Category 6 not actually classified as rare, actual registration figures for 2012 are lower than in previous years and with most societies reporting that 2013 figures will be even further reduced. Ironically, welfare issues, and the responsible actions taken by breeders, are partly the reason for the New Forest pony coming onto the RBST Watchlist.
The iconic semi-feral herd of New Forest ponies has always been managed, but the level of management increased in 2002, with the introduction of the Verderers Stallion Reduction Scheme, fully supported by the New Forest Pony Breeding and Cattle Society and the New Forest Commoners Defence Association. This meant that when the market took a severe downturn in 2009-2010, in line with the prevailing economic conditions throughout the country, the New Forest Pony community was in a good position to respond quickly. The number of stallions released onto the Forest for the breeding season was reduced still further and registered pure-bred foal numbers in 2013 (both stud and Forest bred) were less than one third of those in 2009. We have been applauded by the welfare organisations such as BHS and the National Equine Welfare Council for our responsible approach to changing welfare and market conditions.
However, as a consequence of this the New Forest Pony now enters the 2014 Watchlist of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, as a Category 5, Minority, breed. This means that the New Forest pony has fallen below the 3,000 threshold for registered adult breeding females for the first time. Now officially a rare breed, it is important to help ensure the genetic diversity of this reducing population is maintained. ‘We are walking a tightrope’ commented breed society Secretary Jane Murray, but steps have already been put in place to meet the new challenges ahead.
The Breed Society has already booked a RBST Geneped analysis from Grassroots, the software organisation which supplies our pedigree database. This analysis will build on the previous one we had done in 2010 which will become baseline data, as most of the reduction has occurred since then. It will concentrate on the kinship relationships between our current 140 stallions and will look at the progeny numbers of those stallions, so that the RBST can give advice on how our stallions can best be used to maintain genetic diversity.
The Society began a Futurity Scheme in the autumn of 2013, when colt foals were assessed for their potential as future stallions to run the Forest, noting in particular their bloodlines. These colts will be assessed as yearlings in a further assessment later this spring, when premiums will be awarded and grazing supplied, with financial support from the Verderers Higher Level Stewardship scheme.
The Verderers ran a selective breeding project in 2011 which has resulted in five colts of diverse bloodlines who will come forward this spring for inspection as potential stallions to run the Forest, and this breeding project is to be repeated again this year.
“The New Forest Commoners Defence Association recognises how difficult it is to reconcile the need to have a limited breeding programme in light of market conditions with the need to preserve the diversity of bloodlines. For that reason we fully support the measures that the NFPBCS and the Verderers have put in place,” commented CDA Chairman Graham Ferris.
With the current combination of over-supply and economic pressures continuing to depress the national equine market, the New Forest pony community and RBST cannot ethically encourage widespread breeding and we will be working together to breed responsibly to maintain genetic diversity and fulfil our obligations as the guardians of one of the UK’s most iconic native breeds and part of our national heritage.
