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.
