Real horsepower to replace tractors in eco-friendly move to clear woodlands

Horses working to clear timber from the land might seem like a thing of the past - but it’s being brought back into use by the National Trust as part of a drive to be environmentally friendly.

Rangers at ruined 18th century Scotney Castle in Kent are using a team of horses as part of coppicing work because heavy machinery would churn up the ground and damage the woodland.

A pair of heavy horses, one from the Brabant breed and another an Ardennes horse, is clearing timber from the land in a technique with a long tradition in the area, but which has never been used on the site before by the National Trust.

The move forms part of a “renaissance” in horse-drawn woodland management, with a growing number of landowners turning to the technique to minimise disruption to their woodlands and to allow them to work in areas inaccessible to tractors and trailers.

Richard Newman, area ranger at Scotney Castle, said: “The landscape surrounding Scotney has not changed much in the last 1,000 years.

“Many of the road routes date from before the Romans, and possibly into the bronze age, and still run north to south, following the routes people used to drive animals into the area for summer grazing.

“We still have a relic of a bolster that carried timber out of the woodlands in our old timber yard here.

“The traditional use of heavy horses to work the land declined after the Second World War when modern machinery took over.

“So it is really special to be able to incorporate them back into our land management as they would have been centuries ago.”

‘Woodlands are worth caring for’

Frankie Woodgate, owner of Weald Woodscapes, which owns and runs the horses, has been working in the industry for 26 years.

She said there was renewed interest from eco-conscious small woodland owners keen to maintain their land in an environmentally friendly way.

Her other projects include the management of ancient woodlands and horse-drawn bracken rolling for local councils to “knock back” the plant when it grows out of control.

“I’ve certainly witnessed a bit more of a renaissance in the last five to 10 years, but right now there’s been a bit of a watershed about it.

“Woodlands are so much in everyone’s minds and finally people are beginning to recognise that our woodlands are worth caring for, and they can provide such a vital resource in so many ways.

“So I think the scope for low-impact management systems is going to be something that is applauded in the future. I definitely have seen more interest coming online, certainly within the last couple of years for sure.”

The timber is to be used to provide heat and hot water for the café, shop and other buildings at Scotney Castle, and as fencing and playground materials.

Brabant and Ardennes horses come from Europe. There are traditional British breeds that can be used for this work as well, but decades of underuse after mechanisation mean there are fewer individuals that have the suitable size and shape for this work, so they can be harder to find.

‘Disappointment’ at use of non-native breeds

Christopher Price, chief executive of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, said: “Choosing non-native horses instead of the UK’s rare heavy horse breeds for this type of work is a disappointing missed opportunity.

“There have been brilliant examples in recent years of organisations using the UK’s three native breeds of draught horses – the Shire, Clydesdale and Suffolk Punch breeds – for modern conservation management.

“Our native heavy horses can traverse otherwise inaccessible woodland slopes in timber extraction, help with controlling bracken in sensitive acid grassland habitats and support wildflower meadows.”