One of the many native breeds of pony in the UK, the New Forest pony is still allowed to roam wild in The
New Forest.
This means that with little or no control over the breeding and with no natural predators that numbers have risen to the point where they are becoming a pest. For example, many road accidents each year are caused by them.
The ponies do theoretically have owners, the local residents, who have the right to catch them and sell them but at recent sales some ponies have been selling for as little as 25 pence ( a quarter of an English Pound ) and hence have no future except as Cat Food.
Some commercial breeders outside the area do produce ponies of much higher quality which are worth far more.