Horses vs. Machine

[Carl Russell]

I have been working my horses on very steep slopes recently. I mean I know they are steep. I have hunted there and explored since I was very young, but only recently decided to open some trails and cut trees.

As I posted in another thread there is very little room to turn on level ground. Ledge outcroppings and old root balls from blowdowns complicate the terrain. I have been working my team on the Barden cart, climbing, descending, driving along precipitous drop-offs, with a blind horse, and all the while just being careful.

I really am very comfortable even in these conditions when working my animals. I can see exactly how to interact with the landscape. I know the movements of my animals, and I know what I expect of them, and how to relate that effectively. I have no doubts. No hesitations. I just do what needs to be done.

As I was working there I found a section that almost had perfect access, except for a large hole and ledge resulting from a fallen tree. I decided that it would be a quick fix to bring the crawler up there to level that section, and gain access to a gateway through the ledges into a bowl with many firewood trees.

Well I’ll tell you, I got a new appreciation for steep. Geezus. I made it, but I am not sure I have been that scared in a long god-darned time. A slope that is a challenge to horses is a night mare for a machine. I have encountered it before, but I operate machinery so infrequently that I don’t have an acute appreciation. Of course I could carve out level trails and work my way up the slope, but I was kind of operating under the assumption that if the horses can handle it, surely the crawler would be as effective.

Anyway, don’t ever let anybody ever tell you that horses are outdated in the woods, or that they cannot work on steep slopes. To work this slope with machinery would mean the ultimate harvest of so many trees just to facilitate access. With horses I can swamp out a few zig-zag skid trails and when I’m done the land will be none the worse off.

And horses are self-leveling from birth, no engineer required. If I can walk there, I can log it with horses….

Carl

[KMichelle]

We have a notorious hill on our farm that we often haul a hay wagon up to feed horses and cows. There have been many times this hill was so steep that neither the tractor nor diesel truck could climb during ice, rain, or flood irrigation. The horses have never blinked an eye, regardless of an upwards of 2,000lb load.

[Does’ Leap]

Here, here! I was clipping some steep pastures yesterday – areas where I wouldn’t dream of bringing a tractor. Carl, I also had a similar experience this spring putting in a few water bars on some woods roads. I didn’t think twice about bringing a tractor in this area as it is no big deal with the horses. I had a scary experience that involved extricating my tractor very carefully so as not to tip over. This extrication involved a 10 point turn highlighting yet another advantage of horses – zero turn radius.

George

[mitchmaine]

I was cutting a woodlot down on the coast, pretty ledgey, and had a spot like steps and acess to one spot mweant going across a twelve foot wide ledge with a wall on one side and a drop off on the downhill side. it was only twenty feet across it to travel but on a crawler and sloped rock, every foot of forward was a few inches slip across the face of the stone until at the end you had to point uphill to finish. I hated that place. not sure how the horses would have done there, but I bet better. they didn’t like rock either.

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