Jackie Henderson’s directions were quite clear;‘Meet at 10.00am outside
‘The Squirrel’ pub,opposite Penn Woods.’ Simple,you would think.
However,it wasan early start and neitherGlynis Mills nor I remembered
to check the details before we set off for Penn and,I had it firmly in my
mind that it was ‘The Cuckoo’,not ‘The Squirrel’ so,by 9.30am,we were
roaming around Penn hunting for a pub that did not exist and woods that
were miles away! Surprisingly enough,the locals hadn’t a clue where the
pub might be.As a last resort,we phoned home and had the webmaster
(he has his uses!) consult the website and steer us in by phone – a process
complicated by the fact that we kept driving in and out of telephone black
holes! I mention this to save either Bruce or Glynis from having to add a
footnote,as neither of them intends to let me live the incident down!
From The Squirrel,where Jackie and the rest of her group were waiting,–(we were NOT the last!) it was but a gentle stagger into the woods –
juggling bags,cameras,chairs and easels.Here we spent a fascinating day watching and sketching as John Bunce and his horses cleared felled logs.
Originally part of a grazed forest,with open,grassy glades,Penn Woods have been closed to cattle for many years and the native hardwood
trees,predominantly beech,oak and birch,have been under planted with commercial conifers.The woods are now owned by the Woodland
Trust,which is attempting to restore them to their original state by extracting the conifers and thinning the hardwoods to open up the canopy
and to create clearings which will eventually be maintained by the reintroduction of cattle.Thinning the woods enables grass and wildflowers to
grow,and encourages insects and birds to return - a process that takes around five years from felling to regeneration.By using horses rather
than heavy vehicles,damage to trees and the fragile soil is minimal – on the other hand,there are still ruts in some parts of the woods where
heavy vehicles were used 50 years ago! The Woodland Trust employs John Bunce and his Clydesdales to clear felled timber.Until the Foot and
Mouth epidemic and falling timber prices put them out of business,there were around a dozen horse loggers in the country,but now only two
remain.Sawmills have also disappeared and so the softwood has to be sent to Scotland for pulping.The price for this wood is poor,but there
is no market at all for the beech,birch and oak,which goes for firewood,or is left to rot,providing homes for insects and wildlife.
John says that he is a horseman first and a logger second.The horses are,he says,his mates as well as his livelihood.John is a Chiltern man
although he is now based in Devon.He visits Penn Woods twice a year,between February and March and from July until mid October,thus
avoiding the nesting season.It is also possible to do some timber work during the winter when it is frosty and the ground is less susceptible to
damage.When not logging,the horses do weddings,shows and demonstrations.The horses which we met were 19 year old Shane and 11 year
old Clyde.John has another four horses at home in Devon,and each pair spends six weeks in the woods,working a 6 hour day,with a break
for lunch and a couple of shorter breaks during the day.When they go home the first thing John does is to take them to the beach.In winter,
he hunts Shane.The horses have a working life of about 15 years,and they are usually retired from logging to farm work at the age of around
15 (Shane being an exception!).
A pair of Clydesdales can pull up to three tons of timber loaded on a 6 wheeled Swedish logging cart fitted with a donkey engine and hoist.
The shafts are sprung so that they lift the weight from the horses when they are not in draught.The horses wear American draught collars,
which are more adjustable than English ones,allowing John to use them on more than one horse.John makes quite a lot of his own equipment,
adapting it for the job.He found that hames straps snapped easily when hauling timber,so he replaced them with a metal safety catch,of his
own design,which can be released in an emergency,allowing collar and harness to drop off the horse.So far he has never needed to use it.
Shane’s bridle has little bells attached so that John can find the horses if he has left them loose.The horses wear no blinkers,because John wants
them to be aware of their surroundings.Blinkers,he says,make them spooky and impair their spatial awareness.He wants them to be able to
see and make sense of everything around and above them and,seeing the horses negotiate narrow gaps with just inches to spare,you can see
the wisdom of this.They know exactly how much space they need to get through.Their agility and manoeuvrability as they wind their way
between and beneath trees is most impressive – not something that could be said of our group as we tried to brushbash our way through the
wood! The horses don’t wear check reins so when John stops to hoist logs on board they are free to snack.This,he says,keeps them happy
and reduces his feed bill! It takes about half an hour to load 3 tons of logs,deliver them to the log pile and return for the next load.Once the
cart was loaded they were off at a smart clip to unload at the end of the track (with Clyde munching happily on a large beech branch that he
carried with him!) while we sketched trees and waited for the sound of returning hooves and the jingle of Shane’s bells.
Many thanks are due to Jackie for organising yet another interesting and challenging
workshop.Thank you also to John and his horses and to the Woodland Trust for allowing
us to disrupt a day’s work.
Jackie asked me to leave you with a final thought.It is sobering to consider that,due to
lack of demand for British timber,this sort of woodland clearance and maintenance can
only be conducted at a loss.If we want to continue to enjoy walking in well managed
woodlands like Penn Woods organisations like the Woodland Trust could do with our
support.Think about it!
Sian Wynn (aka ‘The Daft Cuckoo!)
Horse Logging in Penn Woods
(and the SEA Workshop!) 22nd August 2003
Trotting on
Loading logs
