Horsey people - What happens to wild ponies?

[FieldOfFlameAndHeather]

I’ve just seen a distressing Facebook post about a person who kept many animals in unsuitable and neglectful conditions, including horses with overgrown hooves that appeared to be rotting and curling horribly..

It made me wonder what happens to New Forest and Exmoor and Camargue ponies and horses who don’t get anyone regularly tending to their hooves or shoeing them. How do they not get overgrown hooves?

They are nomadic and the constant movement over different surfaces wears them down naturally.

The horses with overgrown hooves were presumably kept in a soft grassy field and/or not able to move around much. New forest ponies walk around all the time, over different terrains, so that naturally wears down their hooves.

Also NONE of the New Forest ponies are wild.
Every one of them is owned and the owners are responsible for their welfare
They are rounded up periodically to be checked
www.verderers.org.uk/

I think although I could be wrong that curled toes can be the result of laminitis so it's already a bigger problem than just that somebody hasn't trimmed them (the horse shifts its weight backwards into the heels to try and escape the pain so the toes aren't worn away).

I try to avoid anything about neglect cases as it's invariably very distressing.

The Carneddau ponies by us are rounded up once a year, they get a health check and are released. They sell of some to keep the numbers down so they don't overgraze the area. Theres still a few hundred of them. Dh sees them quite often when he goes walking. He says they are pretty small and will let you get within a few feet before they run away.

Yes the hooves get worn down by walking on ‘hard’ terrain.

Agree with listening quietly.Re: New Forest Ponies, I can tell you they are a pretty healthy, lovely looking bunch - the ponies, not the Verderers. Can't speak for them!

the ponies, not the Verderers. Can't speak for them!

What is a verderer?

Yes, the ones with massively over grown hooves have been confined to a small area on a soft surface and their feet continue to grow without being worn down. I own a native breed pony who isn’t shod and although I ride regularly, he has his feet trimmed by a farrier every 10-12 weeks to keep them tidy.

New forest person here. They are all owned by verderers

New forest ponys all look healthy usually

Fieldofflame
Have a look at the link I posted.
Its an interesting point because there are no wild horses anywhere in the UK

There aren’t many truly wild horses in many places in the world AFAIK - someone owns the majority of them, or they are feral, as opposed to truly wild ones that have never been domesticated. Przewalski’s horses are the only real wild ones left anywhere, AFAIK. Although some people argue they are descended from domesticated horses too now, apparently!

Anyway, as others have said, generally their hooves wear down naturally from roaming over large distances and varied ground.

I seem to remember the 'wild' ponies get rounded up and sold (sometimes for meat)?

That's really interesting about the verderers - I had no idea...

Every day is a school day and all that...

Each verderer cuts their ponies’ tails in a different way.

Ginger
All of the ponies (New Forest and other) are rounded up every year.
Some are sold for riding ponies and the boys are gelded.
The really tired ones are sold for pet food.
Belgian and French horse meat - they are quite picky about sourcing so would not take elderly tough meat.
And the point is that without predators, its up to the humans to manage the population to reduce pain, inbreeding and disease.

40 years ago New Forest Ponies were in a bad way due to inbreeding
they brought in some new stallions and rejuvenated the breed

Another New Forest person and New Forest pony owner here. All the ponies on the forest are owned by Commoners. Verderers are the people who manage the ponies. Each verderer has his own area of the forest to manage.

Others are right in saying they're rounded up once a year in a process known as "drifting". They're checked over, tails cut to mark the area of the forest they come from, and put back out/removed depending on what their owners want to do with them.

Colts are removed and mostly gelded and go on to be riding ponies. Fillies are usually turned back out as the next generation of breeding stock.

A lot are then sold at Beaulieu Road Sales. Some do indeed go for meat but fantastic work has been done over the years by the commoners, New Forest Pony Breed Society etc to improve quality and prices that actually the meat man is priced out.

It's a fascinating system and on the whole, very well managed to give the ponies and the New Forest the best chance of thriving.

And yes, hard terrain keeps their hooves worn down

You can find out more here if you're interested:

www.newforestpony.com/

www.verderers.org.uk/

Fascinating! Thanks all.

Jumping back in to correct myself. Verderers do indeed manage the stock, forest, bylaws etc. It's the Agisters that have their own areas of the forest and the do the day to day hands on running of the forest as employees of the Verderers Court. Brain fog moment!

The ones in Iceland aren't shod (generally) and walk across many different surfaces which keeps their hooves in good trim. Fsrmers are responsible for looking after them - the Icelandic government are very protective of their ponies and of the breed.

@singandwing I used to look after an Icelandic horse on a livery yard I worked at and once got invited to the the UK breed society's annual show. Fascinating breed. And yes, they're very protective of them. Once a horse is exported out of Iceland it can never come back in to prevent it transmitting diseases they don't have there.

Going to Iceland and riding one is on my bucket list

I remember being so upset when I was told the Dartmoor ponies aren't wild.