BHL Newsletter

The British Horse Loggers News Letter is produced three times each year, in winter, summer and autumn.

Dates for deadlines and publications are:

Winter: article submission end of Feb; distribution end of March
Summer: article submission middle May; distribution middle of June
Autumn: article submission middle Sept; distribution middle October

It is mailed electronically as a pdf file where possible and a paper copy is posted to members free of charge if requested.

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Copy for the next issue is requested.

Please send to the editor, Cathy Vaughan. Email copy and photos to editor@britishhorseloggers.org

Example Article from Newsletter 2

British Horse Loggers Study Visit to Romania, by Julian Philipson

I was privileged to be part of the BHL group which visited Romania from 8th to 15th December 2004 and write this note to record events which occurred and impressions gained during the trip. The visit was made possible by Leonardo funding, and it is important to put on record how fortunate we were to have this financial support, for without it, none of us would have enjoyed the experiences which came our way. It is also worth recording thanks to the organisers of the visit, and to each member of the group, which always functioned with great good humour and mutual support. The Riding Centre 'Stephan cel Mare', Lunca Ilvei.

The base for our visit was a riding centre run by Julian Ross, an Englishman and his American wife in the village of Lunca Ilvei, deep in a mountain valley in the northern Carpathians. Their business is mainly equestrian tourism- trail riding and carriage rides. They employ three youngish horsemen, a foreman and a cook/ housekeeper. Julian has been in the village for several years, and is clearly well integrated. They keep a couple of dozen horses, mostly local Hutzul ponies, but their working cart teams consist of a pair of Hutzul stallions, and one of two Lippizaner crosses. Julian is keen to introduce new ideas and alternative technologies, not least to prevent all his workers disappearing to go haymaking during the peak tourist season.

Forestry in Romania

We visited the Head Forester in his smart new office in the village. It is on three floors, with modern toilets on each, and at least three computers in use. Although there is fairly tight control from Bucharest, a lot of the earnings from forestry come back into the community, and contribute to local amenities. Equally, the foresters are important men locally, with good incomes- which some say they enhance by taking backhanders for felling licences and hunting permits. Villagers have rights with permission to take dead or defective trees for their own use, while commercial forestry is now handled by selling blocks of standing timber to merchants. Little replanting is done, as regeneration is good, though we did see some nurseries. Some forest land had been returned to previous owners after 1989, but this had resulted in clear felling without a thought for the future, and in some areas there has been a problem with lack of regeneration and soil erosion. In other areas, overgrazing has inhibited regeneration. With 40% of the country under forest, and timber sales an important hard currency earner, forestry is clearly central to the economy. Those forests we saw consisted of Norway Spruce, Serbian Spruce, and Beech. Also seen were Ash, Alder, and Hazel, but generally the forest flora seemed far less rich than the meadows. The understory consisted of regenerating Spruce or Beech, rather than shrubby species, and the ground flora was under snow. Some of the stems were sizeable; they reckon to fell up 1.5m diameter stems with height to match, and extract them as long as they can. We had a trip by narrow gauge railway up the Vaser valley up against the Ukraine border. The only access is by train, and saw logs are transported out on long rail bogies. The felling we saw was by chainsaw, with logs extracted to newly cut roads by winch , then forwarded to the yard by the railway. Timber prices are similar to ours, but of course their cost structure is very different. The forestry service also controls hunting and monitors and protects quarry species. Brown Bears are far from rare, and Wolf, Boar, and Lynx are also present. Foreigners pay large sums for good trophy specimens.

Horses at Lunca Ilvei

For 4000 people in the village, there are 500 horses, more even than you can find in Surrey. Some we saw were in poor condition, but most were quite fit. None were fat, and the horsemens' comment on seeing photos of our horses were that ours were fat. Allowing for the fact that they were comparing, for example, Suffolks with lightweight ponies, they are not wrong; British horses in general are under worked and overfed. With ice on the roads, all horses had calkins on their shoes, some going uneven as one calkin had dropped off. We twice watched the local farrier at work, and I was horrified by his techniques, though I would be quick to admit that I know little about shoeing. One man held the horse's leg up, one or more looked on, while the farrier devoted lots of time and energy to trimming down the heel, once even drawing blood, while leaving the toe long. A farrier in the UK will expect to hold the foot himself, and generally trims the toe more than the heel; what is more, he would do three horses in the time it took our man to do one. Ceaucescu closed the farriery school in Romania, and it shows. We never saw the horsemen give any show of affection for their horses, but equally never saw any unkindness or short temper. The horse to them seems to be a tool to do a job, and no doubt they were proud when their team did well. Those who visited a gentleman in the village who kept an ox team sensed that there was a genuine affection between man and beast. Julian's horses ran out in the field during the day, except for the stallions, and ran back into the stable at night. Bedding was sawdust, and they were fed on hay with some barley and whole maize.

Their harness and gears

We examined the local carts with interest. They were about 1m wide and 4m long, with four rubber tyred wheels, a metal frame and a removable wooden body, and a long single shaft to a front axle with limited turn. Harness consists of simple breast collar, which we never use for heavy work; chain tugs lead to a swingletree; the breeching runs forward to a fixing round the shaft a good metre in front of the Horses; there is no effective back pad, the weight of the shaft being taken by the breeching chain; the shaft itself is of light round wood, which breaks in an emergency, and is easily replaced. The carts have screw -on hub brakes plus a spike which can be trailed to prevent the load running backwards downhill if the horse runs out of steam. Sometimes a single horse pulls the cart, being hitched one side of the pole, with the swingletree connected back to a central hook. Shortly after arrival, we were taken into the forest to collect some timber. Their technique was to fell the trees (without any PPE nor any formal training) downhill, then bring a team of two horses to the tips; between the horses was a shaft similar to that used on their carts, with a chain back to the breechings to give some braking effect; the rear end simply trailed on the ground; the tip of the log was bevelled off with an axe to reduce snagging , and it was attached to the shaft by driving a spike on a chain into it; the horseman went to the front of the team, and taking hold of the end of the shaft, he walked before them down the hill. With little effective braking , this was clearly a dangerous manoeuvre. On two occasions , I went with the horsemen to collect hay from the meadows above the village. Hay is mowed with scythes, the slopes being far to steep for machinery, then turned and raked by women. Hay pikes, some 3 metres high, are built up around a pole and left in situ until wanted.. The hay was of very good quality, bright green, so obviously made quickly in good conditions, and with more herbs than grass, it smelled excellent. The horsemen would draw a cart alongside the pike, one man would climb to the top assisted by his mate sticking hay forks into the stack to provide footholds, and he would fork down hay which the other carefully loaded into the cart, finally securing it with a long pole and tightening chains. Putting on the brakes, and crossing himself, the lead horseman would then go to the front of the outfit, grasp the front of the pole, and lead his team straight down the steepest imaginable slope of hard frozen grass. Sitting firmly into the breechings, the horses took a tonne of hay plus the cart safely down the meadow, through narrow gates, down deeply rutted hollow ways, over patches of ice, and back onto level ground in the village. It was an impressive display by man and horse- and clearly an everyday event in the village. To load hay into the hayloft over the stables, Julian had constructed a ramp fitted with cable and pulleys allowing a horse to winch a laden cart up to the first floor where the hay could be forked off. This was clearly an innovation the lads had taken to.

Our project - construction of the arch

Lacking metalworking skills, my involvement in this project was limited. Construction was hampered by requested materials not being ready, and by limitations the tools to hand, but by the last day a logging arch was ready for demonstration. It still wanted quick -release fastenings fitted (which arrived just before we were due to leave), and a form of guard to prevent the wheels snagging on trees. We were able to demonstrate the arch to Julian's horsemen, and their thinly veiled scepticism melted when they saw its great advantage in lifting the tip of the skidded timber off the ground. The use of the choker chain is far more efficient than driving a spike into each log, while the ability to control the horse from behind with long reins is an important safety feature. The arch can be completed by the local blacksmith, who is a pragmatic fellow, making good suggestions when we discussed other pieces of machinery in Julian's store. If completed promptly and tried out by the men, it may be accepted and prove a valuable contribution to productivity and safety.

Evaluation of visit

It is to be hoped that we brought to the horsemen we met some new ideas and techniques. I am confident that the logging arch will be tested under local conditions, and may be accepted as a better piece of kit. It would be valuable to have them come to the UK on a return visit to see our horses, equipment and worksites, and perhaps also to see our farriers at work. They urgently need proper chainsaw training. And although they may have satellite TV, they probably have no real idea of how life is in the west, and only a visit would allow them to appreciate the reality. Certainly I learned a lot about their skills as horsemen. It is most instructive to see other equipment in use, and to observe other techniques. Seeing the work rate of a good pair of ponies reinforces my view that most UK horsemen use horses that are unnecessarily big and slow for most jobs. The confidence in both man and horse born of daily work on tasks of all kinds was clear to see. Romania will have a hard path to tread in preparing for EU entry, and one wonders how well EU agricultural policy, directed towards amalgamation of agricultural holdings, will benefit rural Romanians. But our experience indicates that personal contact between ordinary people, not just leaders, is positive in promoting understanding between nations.