Horses have been employed to pull timber from the forests and woodlands of the United Kingdom for centuries. Woodland plants and animals all benefit from these traditional methods of woodland management. As recently as 1960 horse extraction accounted for 50% of the total national timber production and 400 horses were employed in Forestry Commission woodlands alone. The decline of the working forest horse began after the Second World War as rising costs of labour and an increasing demand for home grown timber led to the mechanisation of extraction to cut costs and increase production. At this point in time many of the smaller wooded areas were abandoned as unprofitable. In the absence of any form of management this has resulted in woodland that is of little benefit to wildlife.
It is vitally important that we consider the ecological and recreational value of our forests and woods as well as their ability to provide wood fuel, charcoal, coppice products and sawn timber. If we take our time and are careful even the most sensitive site can be managed well. Horses are light, quiet and manoeuvrable and are a pleasure to watch. Their use minimises the damage to forest floor and encourages regrowth, they produce no exhaust or noise pollution.
Stuart found that on some sites mechanised extraction just simply was not an option and investigations revealed that horses may hold the key. Having attended courses he is now a qualified horse logger and an advocate for the use of horses in all types of woodland management
In 2009 the Guardian newspaper wrote an article about how horses are increasingly being used rather than machines to log land as traditional forestry skills make a comeback. To read the article click here.
In 2017 we were contracted by Lockhart Garratt Ltd on behalf of MQP to extract some timber from a wood alongside Groby Quarry. Natural England had stipulated the use of horses in this damp SSSI site. The Leicester Mercury sent photographer Alex Hannam along to interview Stuart and watch Queenie and the team working.
If you would like to come on a course to find out more then please visit the Horse Logging Courses page.
We currently have two horses, Breeze and Queenie. Find out more about them on their pages.
