Timber extraction of first thinnings by horse - Rannoch Forest
The images were courtesy of the late Sandy Sandilands, Banchory, who spent a short period of his early career at Rannoch.
A horse and horseman working to haul out timber from a first thinning of a plantation in Rannnoch Forest.
The heavy horse (possibly a Clydesdale), dragging a few light poles, is making its own way to the point where the poles are unhitched and stacked at the forest roadside. The horse usually only required to be led only once or twice over a new route and would then take the lead with only voice guidance from the horseman walking behind. The main problem was the likelihood of the ‘drag’ getting caught behind a rock or tree stump and then directing the horse to stop and move a bit either to the right or left with voice commands. These commands varied by locality and horseman but in Perthshire at this time the ubiquitous stop call of ‘Woooe’ was used for stop and ‘Hi Hi Hi’ and ‘Wheesht’ for move ‘right’ and move ‘left’. What other call commands were commonly used?
The horse is simply harnessed with collar and hems, two trace chains running from hooks on the hems, then held up by a back band and finally attached to either end of a swingletree. The rear of the swingletree has a midpoint mounted hook with a narrow mouth into which the links of the drag chain can be pulled through by hand and fitted, links side on, and the chain thus locked in position for dragging.
Duncan Menzies who was a forester in Rannoch at this time cannot remember any thinning and horse work taking place and this photograph may well have been taken at another location. The ground looks very sandy and may be a coastal forest such as Culbin or Tentsmuir?
Can anyone name the horseman and horse?
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Groups: Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, Horses at work in Forests