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The British Horse Loggers Charitable Trust.
The 2007 Horse Logging Competition.
The British Horse Loggers' Study Tour to the Czech Republic 2007.
The BHL is launching a new venture at its Progress Events and other get togethers.
A harness/equipment and other tools 'Bring and Buy'.
If you have any items of equipment you want to sell, bring them along for potential buyers to see.
Items can be notified on the web site and in the newsletter (useful for larger items).
BHL Ltd and Charitable Status
The Committee of the BHL, having taken advice and consulted with the members, has formalised the incorporation of the British Horse Loggers, creating the British Horse Loggers Charitable Trust in addition to the BHL.
The BHLCT is a company limited by guarantee number 5792235 and a registered charity number 1117426.
We ae proud and pleased to announce that HRH The Prince of Wales has consented to be Patron of the BHLCT as well as the BHL.
The British Horse Loggers, as it now exists, will continue under the same constitution.
The objects of the BHLCT are:
to
promote and maintain the standards of the craft of Horse Logging for the
public benefit;
to advance education and training in the craft of Horse Logging and associated
skills.
It is the Committee's firm opinion that this will secure the future of the British Horse Loggers and the future of Horse logging in Britain. The Trustees of the charity are busily fund raising to pursue the objects, in particular the setting up of a fully funded apprenticeship scheme.
Follow the link from the home page to the new BHL Charitable Trust web site.
Study Tour To The Czech Republic.
Following on from our successful, enjoyable and informative study tours to France (October 2002) and to Romania (December 2004), we have just returned form a week in the Czech Republic (February 2007).
Once again we received funding from the Leonardo da Vinci II fund and a group of twelve made the journey.
British Horse Loggers and hosts in the Czech Republic
The programme was full, fascinating and hugely informative. We visited horse loggers, national studs, the national genetic resources institute, farmers, wine makers and harness makers.
Travelling through the Czech Republic by mini bus with a full time interpreter and our hosts, we were able to get a real grasp of the country and the important role working horses still play both in forestry and in farming.
Oskar and team cultivating and drilling a wheat crop
Interestingly, no mares or stallions may be used for breeding until they have passed a comprehensive test and no cross breeding is permitted. The results of this are excellent working horses and pure blood lines. The horses were, quite simply, superb and the standard of horse training and handling was extremely high.
Jan and a pair of Silesian Norik stallions. The Apaloosa is a champion weight puller.
Some of us were fortunate enough to be allowed to work the horses and we enjoyed seeing stallions working singly, in pairs and in teams and young stock being introduced to the work from a very early age.
Oskar in the vines with a Belgie Norik
Harness is simple, a collar and traces to a swingle tree. The quality of the design and build of the collars was impressive with a fully detachable pad similar to those used in Amish harness and a well built leather and wooden collar. Traces were traditionally thick leather straps although nowadays most use reinforced rubber or webbing. We have brought a pair of traces back with us to experiment with, a kind gift from Josef Svoboda, a professional horse logger, breeder and trainer.
Josef and Ba'bel, 6 year old Silesian Norik
We learnt that there is a link between equine skills, farming, forestry and education. At least two secondary schools offer academic courses as well as practical education in these skills for 14 to 18 year olds. Students learn horse care and management, riding skills and they must also work horses for at least three hours each week.
18 year old school student with young Norik
Links to Czech web sites have been added to our links page and are well worth a look.
BHL Competition 2008.
The Competition in 2008 will be held over the weekend of 19th and 20th July in Childer Wood near Ledbury.
Once again this will be a 'members only' event for both competitors and spectators.
The Competition will include additional elements to last year and will have categories for single horses and for pairs or teams.
BHL Competition 2007.
"The British Horse Loggers held their second annual competition for members only in July.
The decision was taken to restrict it to members only for both competitors and spectators last year and the result has been very satisfactory. The competition has now been run twice to these rules and is now enjoyed rather than endured. The new style competition is a friendly and co-operative event that is helping to encourage new loggers, improve skills and raise standards.
It is also quite competitive with very close placings!
The competition was held over probably the best weekend of the summer
- blue skies, warm sun and dry ground and afterwards members enjoyed
a real ale and whole roast lamb barbecue in Childer Wood near to Ledbury.
Competition was fierce but friendly - how can that be? A dozen horses
were available and around 20 horse and handler teams entered the competition.
There was also a novice course and a weight pulling exercise (a measured
log was timed over a given distance) but these elements were optional
and were not scored.
The competition consisted of The Box, an exercise in working in a
confined space. We
made this more confined, reducing the box size to 3 metres rather
then the 4 metres we used to work within. This made it a little challenging
for the larger horses! The exercise is to enter a box made up of short
logs through a narrow gateway, turn the horse around in the box and
reverse to hitch up to a log in the opposite, equally narrow gateway
and then exit pulling the log.
The second exercise was The Shunt where the log is pulled forward
past a log on its side and then reversed with the horse shunting or
pushing the log until the log on the ground is rolled completely.
There are pegs to avoid knocking over and a needle nailed to the end
of the log to show when it has been rolled fully.
The third exercise is The Balance. The log is pulled up onto a large
log lying crossways on the course and the horse pulls it until it
reaches the point of perfect balance. Sounds simple.
Finally the log must be brought around and left perfectly in the box
for the next competitor.
The formal exercises were made more challenging this year and, interspersed
with a woodland course the teams had to drive around, made a realistic
and challenging course.
The big question was would John Bunce win for a second year with his
Clydesdale 'Drum' or would he be pipped for the honour?
The final runs of the day were fast and efficient and the scores were
high. A clear round, avoiding all possible faults and completing every
exercise perfectly was awarded 120 points. There were two clear rounds
so the time taken was used to decide placings. The final results were
as follows:
First, John Bunce with 'Drum' with a clear round of
120 points and a very fast time of 3 minutes, 52 seconds.
Second, Jay Roberts with 'Diamond' with a clear round of 120
points and a good time of 4 minutes, 25 seconds.
Third, Doug Joiner with 'Ella' with only one point dropped
had a round of 119 and a good time of 4 minutes. 20 seconds.
'Diamond', Doug Joiner's old Dales mare, now 33 years old, came second
last year with her owner and continues to show the benefits of age
and experience.
Well done to John Bunce for his second win, to Jay Roberts, a new
horse logger for performing so well and to all those who brought
horses
and took part.
Geraint Richards, Head Forester of the Duchy of Cornwall Woodlands
presented the prizes and we are very grateful to him for making the
journey to do so.
John Bunce and Drum doing the 'Shunt'
Some of the horse and handler teams