Horse Logging

[okie]

Thought this was kinda cool to watch.

[Chuck White]

I had to watch it twice!

I remember when I was like 7-10 years old, we used to watch the neighbor work his horse in the woods.
The elder (50 something) worked in the woods and fell and limbed the trees and he'd hitch the horse to the log and head her down the skidway.
The son (20 something) worked the landing and he'd unhitch the horse when she arrived and send her back up the skidway to the woods.
This process worked very well, and went until lunch break, then would start up again when they finished their break.
It was neat, no one had to be with the horse on the skidway, just get her started and she'd go the rest of the way by herself.

[okie]

Thats awesome Chuck.

I dont know why the vid is open twice on here, I just copied the embed code once  .
Maybe one of the powers that be can take one off

[dsgsr]

That was nice, brings back memories. When I was 8-10 & older I had to help my older brother (Perley) in the woods, moving brush out of his way as he limb the trees with his old Lombard chainsaw. We had a large white horse (don't even remember his name). Perley did all the hitchin and yarding of the logs, the small stuff he'd cut into 4' and I had to stack it. That was the last horse the family had, I'm glad I had some contact with my heritage. The farm went to hell after that, all the older boys moved away and got jobs or went into the military and I was too young & we were to poor to try to keep things going, oh the good old days   I use to think it sucked having to do all that hard work, Boy I'd love to start a farm again

David

[woodmills1]

man thats a nice pile using horses and peaveys

[zopi]

<SIGH>..That was nice.

Every time we go to Busch gardens I have to go up and look at the Clydesdales...I can just the big buggers snatching logs outta the woods...

[Woodhog]

It reminded me of how tired I used to get twitching out logs with horses.. You are always jumping around the logs that are trying to roll over your feet.

If the bottom is bad like around here they tear off their shoes a lot and cut up their pasterns,  in the winter they get chapped in the same area and crack open.

Also they are always in a race, you have to be really carefull when you are hooking them up to the log or you can lose a finger quite quickly if they take off when they hear the chain snap.

You get wind suckers, cribbers that chew your barn down.

If you have a mare and she is in heat you can get an unexpected shower quite often when teaming from behind on the ground.

Its not as ideal as that video shows...

However there is something nice about them going thru the woods with a few bells on a cold day with smoke coming off their backs and out of their nose.

I miss the smell of them...also you have someone to yell at when working or have a chat with during lunch if you are alone.

Also no stinking diesel fuel and grease all over you...

I bet a lot of fellows with 250,000 worth of iron wish they could make a living with a horse, some harness, single tree and an old piece of chain and steel toed boots.

[zopi]

Also no stinking diesel fuel and grease all over you...

That almost makes up for the hard parts....jeez but I hate getting doused in hydraulic oil...

[Mr Mom]

   woodhog...i am no expert on horse logging and if your horse jump and run when they here the chain then i think they are to high strung.
   A friend that use to log with horses had a team that looked like they were always sleeping.
Watched him at some horse pulling contest and his team was the best.
Didnt need three guys to hook up like most did when they were hooking to the sled.

Thanks Alot MrMom

[rbhunter]

Some of the pullers in the older days would use hot shots on the horses when training. I don't know if they still do or not. It was not all of them but some of them as it was against the rules.

You are always careful when hooking up a team no matter how well broke they are. You never know what can happen that might spoke them and cause them to jump. My Grandfather broke many horses and had many well broke teams but he always stressed having a way out in case something would happen. Kind of like when falling a tree you have your exit planned. When hooking to a load you do not place your fingers where they could get caught when hooking to the load. You also make sure the lines are not trailing behind you where they could whip around you and drag you if the team spooked. I only seen one run away and that was because he was breaking a green horse with a half broke horse because someone offered him a good price for his other team and being careful made even more sense after that. Two tons of horse spooked is something you will  remember.

[Norm]

I have a belgian mare that is tamer than my dog but she has no idea of her size. She'll spook over something as small as a mouse running beneath her feet. When that happens you better make sure not to be in the line of escape.

[Corley5]

I'd never trade any of my iron be it a farm tractor or my Iron Mule for a team of horses.  Never ever 

[Gary_C]

I'd never trade any of my iron be it a farm tractor or my Iron Mule for a team of horses.  Never ever 

And I ain't trading my backhoe for a shovel either. 

[BrandonTN]

For those interested in horse logging:
There's a chapter on a horse logger in Virginia (?)-- or somewhere in the Appalachias-- in a book by Chris Bolgiano called "Living in the Appalachian Forest: True Tales of Sustainable Forestry." It's an inspiring story about this guy named Jason "something"...can't remember his last name.  Can't remember much about him, apparently, but I do remember it was awesome reading about his dedication to horse logging.

[SAW MILLER]

Jason Rutlidge I think

[rbhunter]

Here is the link to Jason Rutledge's organization.

http://healingharvestforestfoundation.org

Here is a link to a forum started by Jason for horse logging. It is fairly new, less than six months I believe and does not have much on it yet. It does have some information from Jason about horse logging. http://www.restorativeforestry.com/index.php

[zopi]

For those interested...Some neat horse logging stuff...

http://www.ruralheritage.com/

Maybe Logrite will make a collar tongue for their fetching arch...<G>

[zopi]

was reading a bit about ox training and logging...interesting stuff...

[Bret4207]

I have horses and machinery. I wouldn't trade either. Both have their place, both have times they're useless. Used correctly you can do a lot of work for not much money with a horse.

[stumper]

You can make just as much money with a horse as with a skidder.  A horse cost less to buy and less to feed.  Plus, you can move it with your pick up.  Generally, we paid the land owner going rate for saw logs and nothing for pulp and firewood.  Always had more work then we needed.

The down side is the volume of wood you can move.  5 cord a day verses 20 cord.  Also you need to tend horases 7 days a week were with a skidder you can park it and come back a week later and it does not mind.

Those horses looked pretty big, and the loads pretty light.  We twitched with a single horse.  A shorter, lighter horse costs less to feed and is easier to see over, instead of around. 

All that said there is a lot more money in engineering.  Plus if I want to look at a horses a$$ all day I can just put a mirror above my computer screen.