My neighbor and I got a Amish teamster to help skid some logs out.He brought two teams of Belgians over riding a two wheel steel rimmed cart 7 miles over the hard top. We pulled out 40 – 40′ poplars all around 16-18 “DBH. It was pretty steep where we were cutting so Roman would hook up 2 @ time to slow down the horses and would let the horses go by themselves un-reined once trail was established.Safer than trying to keep outt a 40′ logs way and as Roman say ” they know where they were going!” The snow helped but thier strentgh was incredible..once pulling a leaner speared in ground by a foot out to get it to fall. The hoofs had ice chocks on them,, a staright bar across back an 1″ thick and to prongs in front of hoof 1″ dia by 1-1/2″ deep. U do not want these boys to step on ur foot !. Had to knock 8″ ice platform shoes off them with axes occasionally.They pulled a oak log to my mill we scaled at 250 bf. Roman took exceptional care of his horses and amazingly worked in 5 degree weather with no gloves.About $600 for 3 days of work.
Last time this hollow was logged was 70 yeras ago and it was horses too.
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Thanks for sharing that..........very cool!
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ok i'm in kansas and i'm not sure we have 40 -40' trees in the state. that is nothing but cool ,i'd love to see those horses do that kinda work.wish you would of taken video,so i could watch it on utube,what a clash of two different times. larry
if a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
One place to see this kind of work is on RFD-TV on satellite. They have a website but there is a Rural Heritage program on Sundays around noon. I have watched several that involve working draft horses and some were logging with horses.
I am back on cable now so don't have much new info but really enjoyed several of the RFD-TV programs for some old-fashioned farming.
Sorry for taking this off track. Thanks for those pics, too.
Still lurking after all these years.
Very nice, thanks. I've tried to hire horse logging here, but the ones with the horses aren't interested in working them. Mostly they want to sell me a horse or few.
Much of my property is likely too steep, but I'd love to see the 500 bf red oak log I have on the ground here pulled my horses. Any idea how steep a slope Roman will work?
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Draft horses are amazing. I saw a horse pull at a county fair once. I think the winning team pulled something like their own weight plus 10,000#.
Sure is something to see them work.
Draft horses......
Some years back, DW and I went to Park City, UT, with a business group from her work. She was the meeting planner, boss said - "All spouses are invited to attend". This put me in the enviable position of being the only male spouse.
It was my job to keep the ladies from killing themselves on the ski slopes during the morning while their spouses attended the meetings. Everybody was free and together in the afternoon and evening. But I digress..........
One evening we all went on a horse drawn sleigh ride out into some surrounding countryside.
There were 2 drivers and 22 guests in a huge sleigh, hitched to two Morgan draft horses. I was a little worried about the horses with all that weight.
After the driver asked if we were all settled into our seats and getting a yes, he says "Hang on!..............
He yells "gee", horses slammed into the harness to the right, drivers yells "haw", horses slam to the left, driver yells "hup" and the sleigh took off like a shot, causing most people to grab onto something or someone to stay in their seat.
Talking with one of the drivers at a rest (booze) stop at a huge heated wall tent a few miles back in the boonies, found out a few things.
They were competitive pulling horses in the summer, winter in Park City to stay in shape and make a few bucks. The first year they tried this, they worried about the horses getting cold - kept them in blankets etc. in the barn - horses always sick - vet said no blankets! Horses got well. This group had 4 teams, use two teams per night - early trip and late trip. They loved to pull and it showed - speed / power was never an issue - drivers had to slow them down.
Gee Haw at start is because the sleigh runners would get hot when moving - then rapidly freeze down when stopped.
Those horses were incredible, always in step - a true team.
Jim
Never underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.
If you are ever in Denver in January, come to our Stock Show. This weekend (the last weekend of the show) features the draft horses. Belgians, Percherons and Clydesdales, all prettied up for the show. And you have never seen anything like an 8-horse hitch of matched drafts, showing off for the crowd.
When first started in the hippie/homesteading part of my carear an old mule was our first draft animal .Outta Sperryville Va. Jack was a Percheron mule in his 20's.An old black guy .J.Dubbs was our mentor/teacher and he could get Jack to do anything. Scares me now what we did with him and a big white mule Sam but the rule was a mule wont let u do anything stupid while a horse would. Ud be skidding a big log down a haul path and they-d stop for now reason until u 'd liik closer and see a big root or rock theyd snag. Only time i was ever hurt was with a horse who doubled back on me against a fence and swept a 20' poplar log over me driuving my shoulder and head into the ground.
We pulled in a couple cabins worth of logs with a guys oxen.They were huge and would pull 4-5 whole logs down the hill and had enuf tork to actually break them in half if they got in a bind.
Va Tom.. on steep ground the felling is real important . Lot of these poplars wed "pop" off thier stmps by after front notching we bore out with nose of chain saw the center of the back cut just leaving the a small amt of hinge wood on each side.When they fell theyd shoot 20' down the hill.Boring relieves stress so dont get barber-chairing(what got henry Fonda in "Never Give An Inch") or core pull out.
The team of mule we had were broke to the J command. The logs grabs had a shallow hook(J) . wwhen u got logs railroading down hill and looks like log mite beat horse down ud call J ! and the mules would make a sharp u-ey; the hook would release and the logs keep on going down hill .
Allo fthis is extremely dnagerous and in our youth we never really comprehended.Watching a nother young buck get dragged around was fun and safer.
Thanks Treetalk. Nice photos.
I have a friend with Belgians - just uses them for a wagon rise or two every year. Nice animals.
Thanks! My father & brother used to log with oxen - similar process, although it tears up the ground even less - the oxen are slower and steady, without that snap that horses have.
Thanks for the pics. Lady I work with has a Belgian and a guy I know has a pair of them.
jt8
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." --Upton Sinclair
Horses are one of the approved skidding methods for sensitive land in NY state. They are also one of the options for getting moose out of the woods in VT, NH, ME. A friend had his moose pulled out by a draft horse harnessed to an old plastic truck bed liner. The seasons are early, before snow, so the moose goes in the bed liner and can be pulled out over fairly rough terrain.