The New Forest UK National Park covered in white, fluffy snow is a truly beautiful and magical sight to see.

However, it is also a very harsh environment for the New Forest ponies, other animals and wildlife which have to try to survive in this stunning area day by day. As the temperatures drop and food is virtually non existent.

Let me share my experience of living in this beautiful landscape with you, and also try to give you an insight into what it is like for the wildlife and animals and how they cope.

What usually surprises visitors to the New Forest is that each pony, donkey, cow, pig or very rarely sheep you see grazing on your visit, is actually owned by someone. These owners are called Commoners and they have an ancient right bestowed on them, from their property, called “Commoners Rights”.

For a yearly fee they can put their animals out on the New Forest to graze. In the summer they can get round and healthy, but in the winter they may barely make it through to the following spring. The Commoners are responsible for the welfare of their animals and must ensure they are well and get enough to eat at all times.

The Pineapple Express for many has been the source of inconvenience, wet weather over a span of a few days and danger. The sudden burst of heavy and continuous rain has burst dams, caused waterways to overflow and major floods such as the 1952 Central California Flooding, 1964 Pacific Northwest Flood and the 1996 Willamette Valley Flood which caused millions of dollars of damage and the loss of several lives. 2006 was an especially difficult year as areas ranging from Puget Sound along Washington and British Columbia, Canada to Alaska were hard hit with severe flooding and a record rainfall of over 350 millimeters.

The Pineapple Express is a strong southern branch of the Polar Jet stream with a frontal boundary moving at such a slow pace (or not even at all) with waves of low pressure emanating from it. These low pressure systems are the main culprits of heavy rainfall. Along the coastline there is large volumes of rainfall, however, in British Columbia, Canada, the higher elevations see high volumes of snowfall quickly followed by rapid melting at the warmer temperatures from the Hawaiian Islands are also brought with the Pineapple Express phenomenon.

The New Forest pony breed is extremely tough and sturdy. They are mild mannered and that is why they make lovely first ponies for children.

How they adapt to a harsh winter of snow:

• Insulation – their coats are made up of various layers which provide different types of insulation – providing they don’t get too wet and then too cold

• Using their bottoms to face the storm! – it really is true because I have seen it many times. When a blizzard or hailstorm is coming the ponies will always turn so their behinds get the full blast of the storm. They do this so that the bad weather hits their backsides and travels along their (hopefully) rounded tums and along to their front – but misses their heads and more vulnerable bits! – amazing adaptation or what?
• Feeding – they are constantly eating: grass, heather, bracken and gorse and anything green they can find. To see them eat gorse is quite unique – have you ever touched gorse? It is like razor blades. They delicately use their tongues to make it flatter and less thorny before giving it a very tentative chew! Ouch.
• Shelter – gorse has another really great use and that is why you see it, and smell it, with its coconut scent, all over the New Forest. The ponies use it as a field shelter and all huddle in the great clumps away from the penetrating wind and rain and today – snow!

I hope you have enjoyed this insight into living in the New Forest UK National Park during the harsh, snow bound winter. There are lots of photos for you to see on my New Forest travel site – you will get an idea of just how bad this snow was for the New Forest.

While minor injuries such as small cuts and bruises are unlikely to win compensation, an injury which causes large amounts of pain to the victim, prevents them from working for a period of time or forces them to pay medical expenses is far more likely to lead to a successful claim.

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