Heavy horses cause the least disturbance to the forest floor where seedlings are regenerating, and are often the only way to extract timber from - and through - areas like Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve in West Cork, an environment so sensitive that even a small spill of oil from a tractor engine fording a river would damage the entire ecosystem. For this job I used a Shire to pull the out lengths of Western Hemlock (a non native tree species) which had been planted amidst native Oak to act as a nurse crop. Hemlock is a valuable timber as it is as durable as Oak.
The horse was able to get these out without damaging the remaining standing Oaks.
The horse was able to get these out without damaging the remaining standing Oaks.
Bluebells under Irish Oaks in Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve
Photo; Catherine Holland
Member of
Forest Training & Education Ireland Limited
Clydesdale Horse Society of Ireland
British Horse Loggers Association
Shires pulling traditional delivery dray
