Versatile horse power.

One of the many things I like about my logging horses are their versatility. There are few things that desensitize a horse like logging . A horse that is worked every day in the woods gets to hear some things that would put most horses on the run, trees being fell , chains saws , the sounds of pounding wedges, and  wild animals of all sorts. They have to do all of this and still keep their heads the whole time.
  You can work your horse single and get into some very tight spots , spots that a tractor or skidder would never fit into.  This horse will have to be used to standing on uneven ground with brush tangling his feet at times . This horse will also have to be comfortable wile working very close with you, it will have to be used to getting it’s adrenalin way up to pull a heavy load and in the next few minutes stand quite to let you hook or  unhook.  At times I lead a single horse in and out of tight spots wile working by the halter at other times I put the lines around the hams and let them go on there own. I love working a single horse and do it when ever circumstance allows . A horse that you work single like this will bond with you in a deep way and the deeper that bond and the more you understand your horse the more you can do with him .  
 Having a horse like this around the house or farm is very useful even if you do not necessarily farm with him .  You can make a simple stone boat to move things around the place , anything from hauling wood , moving dirt, to cleaning up after your horse. I have moved so much fire wood and so many round bales with a home made stone boat and a single that you would not believe. I think any thing a four wheeler can do a single horse can do better. You  can ride it to check fence or scout hunting ground , you can pack bait or seed back to a food plot ( not to minchin if you have the equipment you can work up your own food plot ) . With a small cart you can really up the load and work and versatility of your horse. A horse can pull a cart , stone boat,  or sled  loaded threw mud that would get an ATV stuck buy itself .  You would have to have a fairly good size tractor to compare to  a horse as far as the amount of actual work one can do especially if you are talking day in and day out use . A horse always starts and I have never had one break down yet.
  There are a lot of companies out there that make fore-carts that are equipped with shafts to run single. A fore-cart is nice in a lot of ways but you do not have to have one to make very good use of your horse around the house or farm.
   Now when you are using a team that is broke well to the goings on of logging you really have a tool that can get a lot done. But like I said I will always love working a single horse or mule. If you are thinking of getting a team of animals to use look at what you are really wanting to do with that animal. You might be able to get by with just a single horse or mule. When I have a student that wants to learn to drive a team I fist put them on a single . If you have a good singe that you run enough to get comfortable with it will build your confidence  plus you get a really good feel for the lines in your hands . Go a head and by a team if that is what you want , I would not discourage anyone from doing so . I am just saying don't rule out getting a good single horse to use around the farm or homestead . One good horse is one heck of a tool. . Taylor Johnson  .

I know we have a lot of winter left but spring is in the air this week . We are having some temp up in the low 40's and it feels great. The snow is melting and the horses are playing like young colts running in this warm southern breeze. I do not like to see an early break up because it just means a long one . When it breaks early it never ends early it just last longer. When break up does come my techniques change a bit . I do more single horse skidding to bunch wood into areas I can get to with my cart or loader them in the early mornings when the ground is frozen I  take it to a landing a truck can get at. i like working the horses single , I think it makes a horse a better horse. When you work a horse single you get to work very close with that animal one on one , you notice things about them that you might not working them in a team. After a week of this kind of work they even begin to act a little different I think. .  I also think it builds confidence in an animal if it is done in a proper way.
  I never like to rush my time, I like to enjoy the day and season I am in . A person can wish there lives away wanting it to be different than it is be it weather, were you live , day of the week , .......  I think people miss a lot by thinking this way I really try not to. I am enjoying this season of my life but when it is spring I will savor every moment of it as well , I love spring work. Taylor Johnson 

I brought the horses back for the first time in about a month. It is good to have them home plus I have a lot of work for them to do around here. The temp is suppose to be around 35 to 40 the next few days so I will be dragging the drive way because it will be turning to slush . Winter is long up here but it always seems like it is short as far as work goes, there is always lots of work to get done before break up. Every logger I know is working as much as possible because we all know in the middle of March the road bands go on know matter what the weather is doing. Most years by mid March we get some warm weather and it gets sloppy and muddy but it always gets cold again and frezzis back up infact most time it will turn bellow zero again for a week or to at least in the mornings .
 One of the best thing about the horses is that it lengthen the amount of work time you have every year. You can always get back into the woods before the big machines can and you can always work a little longer than they can. These horses are the most flexible source of producing wood that I have ever found. Even the small tractors do not compare , some are ok just not as good. Horses are the way to manage these small wood lots and if they could change some of the insurance laws and employment laws I could give the big boys a run on the the big  pieces as well. These laws are crippling to us small businesses , it is the hardest thing I have to deal with fare and above anything else that I have ever come up against . I have enough work a head of me to hire a large crew but the laws will not allow it .  

 It has been cold this week but I am still plugging along . It has been 20 bellow 0 Fahrenheit at least every morning this week. It will be cold one more night then start to warm up for awhile .. I am looking forward to that but am hoping it does not get to warm. I wonder how cold is to cold to work in..when is it just to cold? My opinions on this very with how mush money I need to make being a big factor :) . A person can sure get use to some cold temps but I sure wish I did not have to.

This morning I am trying to round up my thoughts for the week and turn them into accomplishments. If you do not act on your thoughts with proper timing they seldom amount to much if any thing. Mondays are a good time to get your thoughts together and try to make a productive week out of them by planing your actions  . I would rather be the man that tried than the man that sat on the porch and thought about it with little or no action at all .
  It seems this week did not have a clear ending , worked Saturday in the woods , worked on an article until 1 am Sunday morning , did some more work on the article Sunday night , and still have to go though scale slips from the mill ..... very tired . The last year I have been trying to have clear work week endings and it has helps me stay on track a little better , there is a reason the Lord says to rest and I am learning that after 30 some odd years .

Just got my new Great Lakes Timber Professionals magazine. This month it is full of  articles of all the new rules for truckers and especially those trucks that carry raw forest products. It really does seem that they are trying to put every one out of business. People that deal in raw forest products can not take much more . They have written laws over the years to make it hard for a small log hauler to opperate... well more like impossible so the trucks have gotten bigger and bigger out of necessity. Now they are saying that the trucks are to hard on our bridges and they just upped the fines for over the weight limits from $.02  a pound to up to $.06 a pound ... not for all trucks , just for log trucks.... a little discriminating I would say  being that we do not haul any more weight than other freight trucks.

February 3, 2011

  Today was to windy to fall timber.. or even skid it really. I fixed things on the landing, looked at another job that I have to do, down the road a bit, to see were to put in a road, and took an evener that I had broke earlier in the week to be fixed. On my way home I talked to an old logger that use to work for me years ago and he told me an old saying that I had heard him say before  "The man that cuts on a windy day does not live to spend his pay."  This guy is like a lot of other old loggers I know, he just wants a few more years in the woods, a few more days to drop trees, and a few more times to feel tired and to walk back to the truck at the end of the day smelling of sweat, saw-dust and chain oil .... why do we love this so much? Most people that spend just a few days doing what a logger does would think we are fools for wanting this, but few that do it for any amount of time ever quit and if they do, it is when they can not do it any more from injury or plain old age. I am thankful that I have my days in the woods to look forward to and can not bear the thought of when my time in the woods is done and I am  just wishing I was there.  Taylor Johnson 



Bob "Uncle Bob" Netta and my daughter, Nettie Sue - 2005



February 2, 2011

Hello and welcome to the first blog post by Mule Skinner Horse Logging!
I wish it was more exciting, but I thought that before I just started posting my own thoughts, it would be interesting to hear some topic suggestions from you! So please comment here or email me at taylor@muleskinnerhorselogging.com and check back to see if I chose your suggestion :)
More to come soon!
Take care
- Taylor Johnson