“ALAN, GET AWAY FROM THERE, SHE’S STAMPING HER HOOF…A WARNING”
alan skeoch
Dec. 2019
“DO NOT take another step!”
“Just a little loser…better picture.”
“Alan, get away from her, she’s stamping her foot…a warning to you…she could charge.”
“Nonsense…never saw her make a move.”
“She is a wild horse.”
“Looks pretty docile to me.”
“These horses have lived here in the New Forest for hundreds of years.
Free…to do whatever they want. This is their turf not ours. Get back here to the car, Alan.”
“The sign says we are entering the New Forest National Park but the land looks like
any other part of southern England.”
“Use your eyes and ears…didn’t you hear the rumble as we crossed that cattle grid?”
“Cattle grid?”
“A bunch of pipes laid across the road…no animal can cross without getting a broken leg…the
whole 219 square miles of the new Forest has Cattle Grids.”
“Why?”
“To keep the wild horses from running completely free. They have a huge area already.”
“ Are they really free?”
“Mostly free, yes, but they are owned by residents who round them up
each year for medical checks and stuff like that. And the stallions have to
be controlled a bit more. If stallions had free rein in the New Forest they might
give tourists a run for the money. So the stallions are penned up until April and
then turned loose to do what comes naturally.”
“How many New Forest ponies live here?”
“I’ve heard there are as many as 3,000. Why not start counting.”
“Must raise hell with private property.”
“Not much private property here in the New Forest. 90% of the land is public land…owned
by the Crown.”
“This is a giant managed forest…Oaks dominated as property of the Royal Navy. Many are
still here today. Cropped from time to time.”
“How can oaks be cropped>”
“200 year old oaks…the kind that were across sprouts at time of Napoleon are now
ready to be cropped. Many generations of New Forest residents have come and gone
before a single mighty oak is cropped.”
“We are lucky that it’s pouring rain today”
“Why?”
“Not many tourists. In summer the roads can be jammed with
rubber necks and vehicles.”
“Are horses ever hit by cars?”
“Often, especially at night. The road sings caution drivers but accidents
do happen.”
“There once were enough snakes in the New forest to keep this snake catcher busy.”
“Stiff have snakes”
“Adders are all gone.”
“This is Lyndhurst, the largest town in the New Forest. There are quite a few towns and
villages…rather quaint.”
“What so grand about Lyndhurst?”
“Like?”
“Two things. First is the large Ferrari luxury car show room…cars worth $100,000 and upwards…Strange to see
such luxury in the centre of a forest that is devoted to freedom of animals. But there it is.”
“And the second thing?”
“Fudge. They make great fudge here…all flavours maple of course but whisky fudge as well and a whole
slew of other fudges. Good stuff.”
