Horseloggers in the news, but we had the story three years ago

Horseloggers are in the news.  The story originated in Alpena and was quickly picked up by a wire service. It seems that woodlot owners are beginning to worry about the damage done to the land when heavy equipment moves in to harvest the timber.  Now more are choosing to have horses skid lumber cut on their property. But skidding with horses makes economic sense only if the timber is valuable enough to make up for the additional time it takes to forgo the use of heavy machinery.

Here is an example of horselogging in Westphalia Township back in September of 2003.

'Horselogger' brings the past to the present in Westphalia Township woodlot
Percherons, Haflingers haul timber

More photos

By Rhonda Westfall

"Gee, Star."

That command, which is seldom heard in this day and age, rings out clearly on a warm, late summer afternoon in the quiet of the woodlot owned by Evelyn and the late Leon Weiland. Shafts of bright sunlight beam through the canopy of hardwood trees that are being thinned out "the old-fashioned way" by Rick Hinman - with the help of a team of jet black Percherons.

The tandem is part of the 17-horse stable used by the Walkerville man in his 'Horseloggers' enterprise that removes timber with minimal damage to groundcover and remaining stands of trees in woodlots.

"The horses do a nice job of removing good, quality hardwood logs from the stand without the massive damage to the woodlot that is created by heavy machinery used in traditional logging," Hinman said in explaining the logging venture he has pursued since 1987.

That priority of protecting and preserving trees in their natural environment was appealing to Weiland. The Westphalia Township native is already planting seedlings to replace the assortment of maple, basswood, ash, beech and cherry trees that Hinman and his Percherons are removing from her 15-acre woodlot on Grange Road.

"I read about Rick and the Percherons in a newspaper article earlier this year. It seemed like a good way to thin out the trees without doing so much damage to the woodlot," Evelyn said of the rather unique logging process.

Employing draft horses in logging is as basic today as it was years ago when early settlers used the muscular equines to clear land for farming and remove stands of virgin timber.

"Percherons are probably the breed that most helped settle America," Hinman said of the horses that originated in France's 'Valley of the Percherons' and were used to carry heavily-armored knights into battle and to the Crusades.

After the logger, who is certified in the industry of renewable forestry, makes an initial foray through the woodlot to mark and fell the trees, the Percherons are brought in to skid the 16-foot logs close to existing trails. No machinery - other than a chainsaw - is used by Hinman in felling the trees and moving the logs.

"The tree falling is the only damage that occurs because we fell the trees in areas where it's relatively easy to get in with the horses to remove the logs," he said. "It's pretty much the same technique that was used by my great-grandfather who farmed and logged in the 'Thumb' area of Michigan."

Once the horses have drawn the logs to the side of the trails, the modern-day horselogger does take advantage of a fairly recent innovation to remove the logs from the woodlot. A 'Majaco' log-loader uses its hydraulic arm to reach out and snatch the logs from along the trail, dropping them onto the wagon-like trailer - that is hooked up to the mighty Percherons. The team, driven by Hinman with the Majaco in tow, hauls between seven and 13 logs at a time from the woodlot where they are piled in an open area for inspection by buyers.

"We work on a percentage basis with the landowner, and arrange for veneer buyers and sawmill operators to come in and bid on the logs," Hinman said, adding that he expects to get about 15,000 feet of timber from the Weiland woodlot.

As he does on larger scale jobs like Weiland's, the horselogger often enlists the aid of a long-time friend, Carl Gillies - and his teams of Haflingers, a breed of heavy draft ponies that the Lapeer-area resident firmly believes is equal to, if not better, than the much larger Percherons.

"Pound for pound, the Haflingers can pull more than a big draft horse," Gillies said of Nellie and Sandy, the pretty tawny-colored team that is working on the Weiland job. "A smaller horse like this can get around better in tight areas to move logs out to the trail."

The breed, that originated in the mountainous Tyrolean region of northern Italy, has been used in a variety of ways over the years, from pulling carts to military equipment.

"Hitler used Haflingers as pack horses in Austria during World War II," Gillies said.

The Haflingers and Percherons - and their two-footed drivers - expected to have the Weiland woodlot thinned and logs removed within a week's time. While the relatively quick timeframe is good for Hinman's business, Evelyn is less eager to have the beautiful horses vacate stalls in her well-kept red barn.

"It's just been wonderful to have them here. Going out to see them in the morning is so nice," she said.

For detailed information on the old-fashioned logging technique, call Hinman at (231) 873-2619.