Horse snigging

[Mace Canute]

A few TBNers here have woodlots and I thought they might find this video interesting.

YouTube - Horse snigging

 

[TripleR]

We have about 150 acres of woods and won't do any logging because of the damage from skidders. I would love to have someone available who uses horses.

 

[Ford tractor]

We have about 150 acres of woods and won't do any logging because of the damage from skidders. I would love to have someone available who uses horses.

Hire a good forester, write a good contract and have the logging done in the winter when the ground is froze. Any damage will be minimal. Biggest ugliness inflicted on woods during logging is from leaving the tops. Include in the contract that the tops need to be cut so nothing is over 36" off the ground.

If you do only want horse skidders, they are out there. If you have any Mennonite or Amish around -- check there first.

 

[TripleR]

Hire a good forester, write a good contract and have the logging done in the winter when the ground is froze. Any damage will be minimal. Biggest ugliness inflicted on woods during logging is from leaving the tops. Include in the contract that the tops need to be cut so nothing is over 36" off the ground.

If you do only want horse skidders, they are out there. If you have any Mennonite or Amish around -- check there first.

No Mennonite or Amish in my area.

We got burned by a "reputable forester" several years ago on a small plot. Signed contracts and all as what to cut and not cut. He did not follow the contract and took too many trees. My mother did not want us to take him to court (long story) so we didn't.

We have taken about forty acres out of row crop and reforested and of the mature forest we would be very selective in cutting, so the volume would be very low.

 

[wedge40]

There's a guy in my area who has a team of horses that does this. And the main reason people call is because he can get in and take out select trees without destroying the rest of the forest.
My barber has a few photos of him pulling trees.

Wedge

 

[sailorman]

Recently I went to an event in my area called " old farmers day ". They put on a fascinating round of demonstrations of how farm work was done with horses complete with all the restored horse powered machines needed before tractors. It is astounding what they were able to do with a well trained team of horses and imaginative devices designed for the purpose. Hay cutting, Logging, corn grinding, baling, mill work and much more. The Belgian draft horses were the most magnificent beasts I 've seen since Clydesdales . Also many demos of hand work like blacksmithing, rail splitting, whip making, working old time kitchen, smoke house, and many types of hand built carriages, buggies, and wagons. Here 's a link if ya 'd like to see more pics. and events I left out.
Old Farmers Day, reenactment of olden days, old-timey activities

 

[Ford tractor]

We got burned by a "reputable forester" several years ago on a small plot. Signed contracts and all as what to cut and not cut. He did not follow the contract and took too many trees. My mother did not want us to take him to court (long story) so we didn't.

No, you didn't get burned by a forester. You got burned by a logger. A forester is a 3rd party that will select the trees to cut, monitor the logging operation, write the contracts, ensure that logger does what the contract states (and only what it states). The forester works for you and is paid by you -- not by the logger. They are there to ensure that what occurred to you doesn't happen. A worthwhile investment.

Sorry you got hustled by the logger. Your mother was being too nice. The logger has undoubtedly done the same thing to other people. Only by taking appropriate legal action will that behavior be stopped.

 

[tommaple]

A few TBNers here have woodlots and I thought they might find this video interesting.

That's an interesting piece of equipment. We have many Amish just south and northeast of us but they usually use a team as opposed to a single horse. They don't have the fancy log arch with ratchets. They skid them out with the log chained to the evener. Some of them hire out and will trailer their team to a woods. They hire "English" with a truck and trailer.

Most of the draft horses are Belgians with a few Percherons. Twice a year they have a large draft horse sale in Mt. Hope with people coming from all over the country to buy and sell.

These horses are not just nice to look at, they earn their keep. They are used for what they were intended. They plow, plant, cultivate and harvest using draft horses. If the farm has a maple woods they are used in early spring to haul sap for maple syrup. After being idle all winter this gets them in shape for later in spring when they have to pull a plow. Many Amish farmers use a five horse hitch to pull a two bottom plow. It's quite a site to see two five horse teams working a field in the spring.

I've rambled on long enough. thanks for posting the video on horse snigging.

 

[piller]

A few weeks ago I was clearing some brush and small trees from around a small pond, dragging it manually uphill to the edge of our horse pasture, and from there about 150 feet to a burn pile. Our two horses came over to watch me work. They became curious and decided they needed to taste the fresh brush I was hauling into their pasture. I realized that there was something wrong with this picture so I decided I would use horse power to haul the brush/trees.

Well, of course our horses (and myself) have never done anything like this before (what could possibly go wrong?). We have one saddle, no harnesses or anything. But I was not to be deterred. I went ahead and put our western saddle on our 8 year old gelding, tied a rope from the saddle horn to a few branches, and got ready to go. Of course in the time it took me to do all of this I could have hauled the stuff to the burn pile myself and been relaxing with a nice beverage, but this just had to be done.

My wife and kids became interested in what I was attempting. Probably wondering what kind of trouble Dad would get into. I walked next to the horse and he started to pull. Immediately he turned sideways as he did not like the branches that were following us. I calmed him down and we went a little further. So far so good. The horse was nervous, but he did OK. We made it to the burn pile and I declared victory. I untied the pulling rope from the saddle and praised the horse. I successfully used my horse to haul branches on our farm and managed to do so without injury

I'd like to get a real harness for the horses and practice/train/learn how to do some work with the horses.

 

[ChuckinNH]

There are folks around here that log with horses, partly because so many folks with land demanded it, and some of them had some choice woods. Funny thing is that I was talking to one guy that used to have a skidder, and all the other equipment required to log, and he got sick of making payments, and repairs, sold it all, and bought some draft horses. He said he makes more money in the end now, and is much more relaxed. People seek him out, and he doesn't need a million feet to make a buck.