There are no truly wild horses in England. However there are herds of free-roaming ponies that live in wild conditions in various protected areas, such as The New Forest, Dartmoor and Exmoor.
All ponies roaming in the New Forest belong to local people called 'commoners' who have the right to graze their animals on the open Forest throughout the year.
Feeding free roaming ponies like these can disrupt their natural foraging behaviours, encouraging them to come away from their natural habitat and congregate in areas near members of the public such as car parks and even roadsides. This puts them at increased risk of road traffic accidents and can also result in feeding frenzies and potentially become dangerous to members of the public. There was an incident such as this where a pony tried to jump to safety and injured themselves on a car door. Feeding also puts the ponies at risk of choke, colic, and other dangers so we recommend admiring them from a safe distance and never encouraging them with food.
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