A-Z
Unsafe driving
Unsafe driving causes accidents. Don’t forget that the animals have right of way on the Forest roads. The number of animal accidents in the Forest tends to get worse in the winter when there are more people driving in the dark. At night, unless you are driving slowly, it can be really hard to see animals in the road until you are too close to them to stop, so you must keep your speed down. If you are blinded by lights from oncoming cars slow right down to well under 20 mph.
Turbary
Turbary is the common right to cut turf for fuel. Turf isn’t much used now, but there are still commoners who remember collecting it. The turf was cut into small slabs, and pairs of slabs would be stood up- one leaning against the other- so that air could pass between them and help them to dry out.
There were special rules about how and where the turf could be cut, which were to prevent the land from being completely stripped bare. A commoner wanting turf would have to apply to the local keeper for permission, and would get a ‘ticket’ to cut turf from a particular part of the Forest. The Verderers (see V) could set charges for turf cutting. Under the New Forest Act of 1877, the maximum charge was sixpence for every thousand turves.
Stock
Stock means the animals that commoners turn out on the Forest. The number of animals varies from year to year, but nowadays averages around 7,000. More than half of the animals are ponies, and about a third are cattle. Most of the rest are pigs, with just a hundred or so donkeys and sheep.
Stallions
Stallions. Special rules apply to stallions on the Forest. They are only let out in late spring, so their foals are born in the following spring when there is more grass available. The rules are part of the ‘Stallion Scheme’ which was set-up to improve the quality of the ponies and to cut-down the number of unwanted foals. The stallions have to be approved before they are let-out, to check that they will pass-on good characteristics to their young. The number of stallions let out on the Forest is reviewed every year.
Ponies that are born to stallions on the Forest are said to be ‘Forest bred’. Ponies are the only domestic animals that breed on the Forest- the byelaws don’t allow commoners to turn out bulls, boars or rams.
Sawmills
Sawmills powered by tractors were all over the Forest at one time. By today’s standards the equipment was very labour-intensive, although it was a huge improvement on sawing by hand. It was dangerous too, with none of the safety features that would be taken for granted now. It’s still possible to see the old equipment put to work at the New Forest Show.