Timber extraction by horse ---- Film and promotional work -- Horse logging courses Practical courses, five days long, conducted on a one to one basis on a working site


Our fully insured and experienced crew ensures quality work combining a traditional skill with modern sustainable forestry management- the natural way to work woodland

The advantages of using a professional horse logger to extract timber are;


- Selective thinning is economical as no extra trees are cut down than needed

-The low impact of horses leaves the forest floor in good condition

- No need for line thinning reduces risk of windblown trees

- Ensures your remaining standing trees are undamaged

- Ideal for wet, steep, rough and small plantations

- Leaves no timber behind on the forest floor

- Minimal disturbance to wildlife

- No pollution of waterways

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For the past twenty eight years I have worked and trained heavy draught horses in all road, field and forest operations across Ireland - a trade I learned in the traditional manner where it was passed down through my family from father to son. This heavy horse heritage and the range of work we do with various breeds of these magnificent horses can be viewed in the archive below. References are available on request.
Feel free to contact me if you require any further information.

Tom Nixon, Athenry, County Galway, Ireland
mobile; 086 038 4857
email; tomnixonheavyhorses@hotmail.com

Member of
Forest Training & Education Ireland Ltd.
British Horse Loggers

Friday, June 4, 2010

Lisa's first day in the wood



In previous blogs we have discussed the importance of having logging horses that are quiet and well trained to avoid any injury to either the logger or the horse.

Here is a great example- of one of our Ardennes mares, not quite three years old, facing into her first logging job.
It is vital that the logger can operate very close to the horse's hind legs- so a logging horse must be rock steady, completely trusting the handler. While trained and worked on the land for tillage operations, to bring a young animal like this into a forest for the first time can be daunting because of the closed environment, yet Lisa accepted her new job within the first hour which is testament to not only her training and her handling but the proven bloodlines of her sire and dam.












Above left is Lisa's dam (mother) Miss De Chincha, the Ardennes mare with the flaxen mane which has been seen on Ear to the Ground and Nationwide programmes on RTE, and has appeared in numerous national newspaper articles. She is a Mountain Ardennes whose particular bloodlines are considered exceptional amongst Ardennes breeders and horse loggers across Europe.

Lisa's sire Sultan du Bac (above right) is a lowland Ardennes whose confirmation Lisa is showing, being longer and taller than her dam. This stallion has won at many shows in Belgium and his progeny prove themselves time and time again in both forestry and farmwork.
One thing Chincha and Sultan have in common is their kind and settled nature and willingness to work- a must for all working horses.