A SCHEME to improve the pony stock in the New Forest has been given a helping hand by the area's biggest crowd-puller.

The New Forest Show Society has provided a home for stallions taken off the Forest in a bid to reduce the number of foals being born.

Dozens of stallions will spend the next few months at New Park, Brockenhurst, where the hugely successful show is held each July.

Commoners have been provided with a 40-acre site that has already seen the arrival of 30 horses.

A society spokesman said: "The scheme aims to reduce the number of stallions on the Forest, but finding a suitable place for them was a problem.

"We were delighted to offer Commoners, Verderers and local people 40 acres of New Park Farm - an ideal solution to their dilemma.

"Stallions have settled in well and if this proves a success it will continue in subsequent winters."

As reported in the Daily Echo, the Verderers decided to curb the pony population to prevent over-grazing and improve the quality of the animals.

Under the new system the number of stallions in the Forest in winter has been cut from almost 100 to just the best 30.

The society spokesman said the initiative, set up two years ago, was proving a huge success.

"There had been huge concern prior to the scheme, when ponies were being sold for as little as £2," she said. "Now pony prices are rising rapidly and the quality of foals is improving."

Show bosses have been able to provide stallions with a winter home following an agreement last year in which the Forestry Commission leased New Park to the society for 25 years.

It followed a decision by farmer John Korbey to surrender his tenancy, which had been in his family since 1877.