About the forest gnawed trunks are common sight at this time of year as the forests ponies endeavour to find food. Usually it will be the Beech and Holly which suffer most, I assume that their barks are the softest, most easily gnawed, or maybe they contain the most nutrition and importantly fiber (interestingly, both trees are also the favourites for graffitists). Some trees, as the with the one in the photo, will be returned to in subsequent years; the previous years gnawing having scared (you can see the old scars from gnawing). A tree can, and will, survive such attentions as long as the gnawing isn't too severe or extensive, in which case disease will do for the tree. This behaviour isn't just seen in wild ponies, domesticated animal too will gnaw.
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