Friday, November 16, 2012

The Forest and the Trees

My sister, brother and I have been doing a little bit of planned forest management on a piece of land we own in common.  Recently, we had a number of trees removed by a man that uses a team of horses to get into the woods and do the work.  This is nice because it doesn't tear up the ground or the two-track trails we have wandering through the property -- the big trucks and skids tend to leave big ruts and mud holes and other messes.  

It's also nice to work with small, family businesses that do a good job and take pride in their work.  Besides, I think well trained work horses are just awesome creatures. 

While work was in progress, my siblings went out to the site to watch the process and my sister shared some pictures with me.  I thought you might enjoy seeing a couple of them, too.  :)


The team has a snack to get fortified for the day's work. Aren't they beauties?  They're so solid and patient with the set-up, too. 
 

I think they make a very handsome team.  I wish I had gotten to see them in action with my own eyes, but my sister tells me that horses and human worked really well together, as well they might, since they depend on each other for their livelihood!   I have the sense that there was also mutual respect, though. 


Here are the veneer logs, all lined up in a neat little row by the side of the road, waiting to be hauled out of the woods and to the mill.  There are different types of trees in the lineup, some of which were taken out ahead of disease progression in the area - no walnut or anything else of extreme value, just good, solid timber.


And there they go off into the woods.  It sounds to me like they did a good job and we will probably invite them back to do some more work when the time comes.  :)

9 comments:

Baqash said...

Pressing the "like" button

Judithandsparky said...

Looks like the middle equine is a mule not a horse? Basing this on the size and shape of the ears. I've seen equines do loggin and you're right, they're awesome!

judithandsparky said...

Also on the color of the face. That brown face with a black body is very typical of mules. And that's "logging" in the previous comment. ;-)

Webfoot said...

Judithandsparky, I thought the middle one might be a mule. The face is a lot longer and more angular, as well as having the longer ears. I remember going to a tractor pull when I was a child and one of the 'tractors' was a mule team that acquitted itself very admirably among the mechanical beasties. :)

kshotz said...

Ooooh, that is UBER cool! Would have loved to see such a team as well. I wonder if the horses were Percherons......although they might not be quite as big/tall. I think it's awesome you were able to use this gentleman's (and his team's) services!

anne bonny said...

Yep! That's a mule! We had a small piece of property across from our house and they used to plow it using a team of mules. They were awesome! What a great post!

Anonymous said...

Yes I believe they are Percherons on each side of the mule. Percherons are normally 17-19HH but we have a team that are only 15.2 and 15.3HH Little girls but big pullers.
Larvalady-ZZ

jay1 said...

I love these hard working horses, just awesome!

Webfoot said...

Well, this is pretty cool -- I got to learn what kind of horses (not to mention the mule...)these are. Thanks for sharing the knowledge!! :) I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I love the working horses, too. There is something so solid, strong and unflappable about them.