Horse Logging

As a professional woodland manager, ecologist and conservationist, the use of low-impact methods to assist in managing woodlands is of great interest to me. Brought up around horses and trees it didn’t take an enormous leap of imagination to see the potential. Several training courses and many years later searching for the right horse proved successful in early 2002. Samson duly arrived from Scotland where he had been working on large estates after his early peripatetic life as a “gipsy” cob. His short 14.2 height betrays his width and strength of bone, not to mention his mind! Horses of this stature are worked all around the world in multi-purpose situations and "Sam" is no exception. He hauls, he rides, he drives and lately two young ladies have taken him under their wing and he's now jumping like a young colt!

We are members of the national organisation, the British Horse Loggers and their controlling charity the British Horse Loggers Charitable Trust (with HRH Prince Charles as our patron). The equipment which I and others in this small band employ in conjunction with our highly trained ponies, cobs and horses can be technologically advanced and used as a matter of course in many Scandinavian and other European countries or simple rope traces to drag timber. Each system has its place. We work felling and extracting timber on wet-, steep-, difficult access-, sensitive ground-flora- and public access sites where large scale forestry techniques are often not applicable. While it can’t guarantee to make woodland owners a profit (and who can in these days of low timber value ?), we can guarantee to leave only manure, not diesel and oil, hoof- and not tyre-prints and a sense of a job done the right way. And, as to the use of pigs as a woodland management tool………..well that’s a topic for another time !

Along with other members of the BHL i have visited France, Switzerland, Romania and the Czech Republic on funded study tours. We all learned a lot and i will be adding photographs of the various horses, horsemen and women, and terrain we encountered. A couple of pictures of Sam working, and then a few of other British horseloggers and some of our European neighbours:-

Parked up ready for the national horselogging championship in 2003, Samson gathering his thoughts

.....and the judges assess that difficult part of the course known as the "bench" (as it happens

with the ultimate winner in that year)

One of our Scandinavian friends, Mr Hans Sidback advising on harness fitting

Frankie Woodgate picks up a hitcher while logging in East Anglia!

and how it's done in Cumbria, Mr Charlie Parker "snigging" with one of his dales cobs

France 2002

Leonardo trip to France, Oct. 2002 - horselogging experience sharing I do not propose to write report fashion, simply to record the most notable events, experiences and lessons learned on the study tour. Hippotese - this organisation put on several events for us, most notably the extraction and transport of 16.5m length and approx. 1.4 ton of softwood timber log. They used two Comptoise horses of 4 and 3 years. The horses are driven hard but with knowledge, evident experience and accurate commands. Health and Safety, however, appears not to have reached this part of Europe ! The spread of such foreign ideas appears to be encouraged "doucement" as they instruct their teams. By their leading light Jean Louis, we were treated to explanations of the philosophy of collar types and choice, their dislike of hitchcart technology (so far) but their willingness to apply appropriate technology to things horse as demonstrated by their "area 2 ton tipping cart". We learned later that he is "a big, little man" ! In our brief excursion to Switzerland Henri, another charming, enthusiastic and welcoming gentleman showed his farm and forestry horses (farming in the Alps at the same altitude as the summit of Ben Nevis). Apparently the swiss army make horse trailers to match their army knives - full of useful and eminently practical features. We all wanted one, (is anyone thinking of putting in a bulk order for importation ?). Our group of three intrepid travellers braved the autoroutes to travel the distance to the Spanish borders in the Pyrenees. Despite a distinct lack of coherent French between us, we managed to learn a great deal about the use of mules both in forestry and vineyard cultivation. Working in yoked teams of two they operate without the need for bits, bridles or reins. Verbal command and the occasional goad does the trick and certainly those we saw would put most British logging horses to shame. The oxen similarly were trained to a show performance standard. As with the mules though, they were trained from "before birth". A truly excellent experience and one which left me, for one, with a greatly increased enthusiasm and several ideas I have already put to good use. Lasting memories ? 1. The mobile milking pail powered by p.t.o., the milk "tanker" fetched by a Comptoise horse, the milk going to the regional cheese-making consortium of which all are justifiably proud. 2. The abundance of "brabant" type horse-, mule- or oxen-drawn ploughs. 3. The quality of the woods and timber being grown in selection systems. 4. The enthusiasm and wide knowledge base of the Hippotese organisation. 5. The feeling received when like-minded individuals (both foreign and home grown) get together to share thoughts and energy.

Mules trained "from before birth"

An assortment of harness utilised at elevations above the height of Ben Nevis' summit in the Swiss Alps

..........While the breed of choice in the Jura is the Comptoise .......

...capable of pulling out phenomenal loads (even in the pouring rain)!

Romania December 2004

It's not just horses they use out in Transylvania ! This chap showed off his oxen then haggled with

me to sell them learning that i was a farmer!

Getting the hay in from the high mountain meadows

Frozen solid in december and 10°C below so carefully does it down the slope!