This pony was out on the common and looked to be in reasonable condition. Like many of the others she was moulting well. Some of the other ponies have dropped off quite badly at the end of a winter which seems to have stretched them to their limits. Thin ponies can be reported to the Verderers and can be ordered off the Forest by the Agister. Commoners may lose part of their subsidy if their ponies are ordered off. They are also obliged to have sufficient back up grazing for the number of animals that they depasture but that may also be poor at this end of the season. The dilemma then is whether to report the ponies at all when spring is just around the corner and the grass is coming through. Most are not pregnant this time round and therefore haven;t got the additional burden of a foal to feed. Commoners are forbidden under the scheme to feed their ponies out on the Forest and the argument is that ponies that are fed spend their time waiting for feed to arrive rather than going off and finding sufficient to eat. The problem is that people then take pity on them and may well feed them inappropriate food or close to the roads where they can end up getting killed.
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| Thank you for being my muse |
