[1] Agisters spend much of their time out on the forest, often on horseback, checking the condition of the land and of the commoners’ ponies and other stock.
[1] They are on call 24 hours a day to deal with problems such as stuck, straying or injured animals.
[1] They also watch out for breaches of the verderers’ bylaws and for the presence on the forest of unauthorised animals.
Rounded-up ponies are recorded and checked by the agisters against the marking fees paid by their owners.
[4] The remaining ponies have their tails clipped in a distinctive manner to identify those normally living in a particular agister’s area, and they are turned back out for another twelve months.