Horse Tales from the Carnog Team

January Coppicing

January 2023 : We burnt off any Christmas excess with a hard start to the year, coppicing near the Wrekin.  Although the trees were small it was a long, up and down extraction route, so the horses worked hard.  The woodland owner is a wonderful craftsman (M T Greenwood Crafts) and turned the wood, a mixture of hazel, rowan, holly and silver birch, into woodland produce including bowls and spoons. (Photo: Neill Mapes)

Anglesey Woodland Festival

September 2018 : The Carnog team was at the Anglesey Woodland Festival, one of North Wales' favourite woodland events, in 2018 to demonstrate horselogging.

The whole Carnog team is also available for working demonstrations or training days at your site or from our bases in Llanrhaeadr Ym Mochnant.  We can demonstrate a full range of techniques, from single horse to pair, horselogging with the swingle tree and the timber arch and field skills such as harrowing and using the bracken roller.  We also have a variety of different harness to show.  In the woodland, in the field or on the showground, Molly and Tyler can put on a good show for you.

Introduction to Horse Logging March 2023

March 2023 : For the eleventh year Carnog Working Horses one day 'Introduction to Horse Logging' courses at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) near Machynlleth. The course gave a practical introduction to working with horses in low-impact woodland and land management. More information can be found on the CAT website and we will share news of the new courses when programmed.

Devon County Show

July 2021 : The Carnog team was invited to the Devon County Show in Exeter. We worked with the Woodland Trust, White Wood Managementand Little Acorn Furniture, to demonstrate the sustainable use of horses in the ‘woodland harvest to timber’ process. Molly (right) and Bluebell (left) performed six times over the three days of the show and attracted lots of attention from the visitors.

Bracken Rolling at The Cliffe, near Shrewsbury

August 2020 : Carnog has been bracken rolling at The Cliffe near Shrewsbury for five years.  It is a tough site, but working alongside Shropshire County Council and the local community, we are starting to see changes for the good. We had great help from the local community in a trial project to use the horses to rake up and remove smothering bracken litter. Bracken is a tough problem to crack but the heather is looking great in treated areas and we can't wait to see the effect next year of this extra work.

Coed Cadnant Logging

November/ December 2020 : The horses worked hard with a new team, Kehoe Countryside Services. We helped to clear some ash dieback for the Woodland Trust on a community woodland in Caernarfon.

Carnog at Watersmeet

October 2019 : The Carnog Team joined the National Trust's West Exmoor Rangers for their fun autumn event at Watersmeet, near Lynmouth, Devon on 22nd October. We had a great day meeting lots of people enjoying a fine half term holiday.

Inside Out West Midlands

Summer 2019 : Following the filming back in the summer, Carnog featured on the BBC's Inside Out West Midlands as part of an item about retaining heritage crafts that are being lost. The 10 minute item focussed on woodland owner Mike Taylor and his work. The episode was broadcast on 21st October 2019.

Anglesey Horselogging Training

October 2019 : Carnog ran another successful week long Horselogging Training and Woodland Skills Course on Anglesey. It was a unique opportunity to learn practical horselogging, with plenty of hands on the reins time, and allowed the four participants to try out traditional woodland skills.

Carnog Desk Calendar

December 2018 : We brought together images from our year of horselogging, bracken rolling, demonstrating and training in a small desk calendar. The images include logging in the extreme cold of Lake Vyrnwy in January and bracken rolling high above Heddon's Mouth in the heat of June. It's amazing how quickly that year has passed.

High Brown Fritillary

June 2018 : Carnog Working Horses went bracken rolling in Heddon Valley, North Devon, high above Hunter's Inn, to help the North Devon National Trust team in the creation of ideal habitat for the survival of the High Brown Fritillary.

APF Exhibition 2018

September 2018 : Carnog was at the APF Exhibition 2018 at Ragley Estate, Alcester, Warwickshire from 20th - 22nd September as part of the British Horse Loggers team at the UK's largest forestry, woodland, arboricultural, fencing and biofuel exhibition. In among all the forestry equipment, Tyler and Molly showed how good horselogging is for woodland.

Anglesey Woodland Festival

September 2018 : The Carnog team was at the Anglesey Woodland Festival, one of North Wales' favourite woodland events, on 29th and 30th September. Tyler and Molly put on a good show and demonstrated horselogging and many other skills.

Harrowing Harmony

April 2018 : The arrival of some (slightly) better weather - it wasn't pouring down, even if it was only 5°C - allowed the Carnog team to get out and combine some necessary exercise with some necessary harrowing. What a fine pair Tyler and Molly make - in perfect harmony!

Click on this image to see a video of harrowing around Glanaber.

Extreme Horselogging

February 2018 : We have spent a couple of weeks in the stunning and extreme climate that is Lake Vyrnwy. As machines could not reach, the horses were called on to help clear the unwanted conifers from the hardwood which included downy birch, rowan and beech. We used a combination of techniques, single, pair, timber arch and pulley set ups, to work off the steepest sections. Hard work but very satisfying.

Wind-felled Oak

October 2017 : A very satisfying Carnog job was cutting up a very old wind-fallen oak tree not far from our home base. It's amazing how much timber can come out of one tree but it had been around for over 100 years.

Black Horse Charcoal

Since the summer of 2017, Carnog has been making Black Horse Charcoal in small batches from hardwood trees, giving a natural, subtle, woody taste to your barbecue.  Horse power (of course!) is used to extract the wood from traditional coppice woodland or other sustainably managed woodlands in the Tanat Valley.  The small Carnog mobile kiln can also be taken to your timber and the charcoal processed in as little as 8 hours.  To learn more about the sequence of events in making charcoal, please click on the picture.

Exmoor Woodland

October/November 2017 : Barbara, Tyler and Molly spent time working with the National Trust in Devon helping with some thinning, both in a beech PAWS site (Barton Wood to remove the planted beech - left) and through a stunning oak woodland (Vention Wood - right).

Anglesey Woodland Festival 2017

September 2017: Barbara, Tyler and Molly had a successful weekend at the Anglesey Woodland Festival at the end of September 2017 where they were invited to demonstrate horselogging. In the picture above Molly, a relative newcomer to logging, shows she is picking up the skills necessary very quickly.

Molly and Tyler Start Working Together

August 2017: Molly, the newest member of the Carnog team (above left), had a great start to working alongside Tyler (above right) at the beginning of August. Molly was a superstar, considering she is still quite green to heavy work, but they had a great session together and we look forward to more pairs action soon.

A March for the Dartmoor Ponies

September 2016: From Thursday 22nd to Sunday 25th September 2016, Sam Goodwin and Barbara Haddrill marched the 82 miles from Dartmoor to Exmoor to raise awareness of the issues around the breeding of native moorland ponies for human consumption. To find out more about this march click on the image above or go to the Press Releases.

Horsedrawn Lawnmowing

June 2016: When working at the National Trust's Arlington Court in Devon we had the opportunity to try out horsedrawn mowing. We started out with the Victorian mower, fun but rubbish at cutting the grass, and progressed to a modern gang mower pulled by our timber arch adapted to take a tow hitch. We could mow quite long grass, although when it was wet it only seemed possible with the front section on. When it was dry and/or the grass was short we were just as quick as the petrol guzzlers. We did the posh lawn once a week, but preferred the overflow car park - less pressure if we made a mistake!

Freddie from Yorkshire

March 2014: Billy and Tyler were excited about the visit of Freddie who came all the way from Yorkshire (not Belgium thankfully!) to help on our Introduction to Horselogging courses held at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), near Machynlleth.

Attingham Uncovered

September 2013: The Carnog team demonstrated horselogging on 28th and 29th September in Attingham Uncovered at the National Trust's Attingham Park near Shrewsbury. Part of the Park's woodland walk was transformed with Barbara, Tyler and Billy moving timber in the traditional way and a mobile mill processing the wood for use on the estate.

BHLCT Wales Apprentice appointed

July 2013: The British Horse Loggers Charitable Trust appointed a Wales Apprentice, Kevin Taylor, for three years. He will be working with Barbara and with Kate Mobbs-Morgan throughout Wales.

For more information click here.

Butterfly boost by bracken bashing

July 2013: Tyler and Barbara spent a day bashing bracken for the Shropshire Wildlife Trust at the Nant Mawr Nature Reserve. The aim was to give the common dog violet leaves - the favourite food of the caterpillars of the pearl-bordered fritillary - a chance to grow. Click below for the story in the Shropshire Star. Contact Carnog Working Horses if you would like your bracken bashed. Thanks to Laura Dutfield for her photo.

Fordhall Organic Farm - Summer Fair 7th July

July 2013 : Fordhall Organic Farm at Tern Hill Road, Market Drayton, Shropshire, TF9 3PS, held a Summer Fair on Sunday 7th July. It was a great day of fun for all the family, with a local producers market, family activities, tree climbing, local ale, live music, fishing, face painting, BBQ, hay bale tunnel, story telling, sack race, welly wanging, a helicopter - AND A WORKING HORSE DEMONSTRATION. We hope you didn't miss us. Watch this website for future opportunities if you did.

BHLWMA 2013

May 2013 : For their work at Barlings Barn in Llanbrynmair, Barbara and her two horses were awarded the British Horse Loggers Woodland Management Award for 2013. The award is The Prince of Wales Perpetual Trophy for Woodland Management. Click on the picture above for more details of this success or visit our Press Releases. Photo by Cathy Vaughan.

BHL Competition Win

May - June 2013 : At the BHL Competitions, held over the AGM Weekend of 30th May - 2nd June, Barbara and Billy won the Fell and Extract Competition. A short video about the weekend can be viewed on our Facebook page by clicking on the BHL logo above. With BHL reaching its 20th anniversary, there was an Anniversary Party with real ale, real food on the barbecue, a bonfire and live music. As soon as possible we will make a direct link available.

Horse Course Success

April to June 2013 : Successful 'Introduction to Working with Horses' Courses were held at the Carnog home base of Glanaber Farm in Llanrhaeadr Ym Mochnant on Saturday 13th April, Saturday 4th May and Saturday 22nd June with four participants on each day. Contact Barbara through the website to find out about plans for further courses.

Sunshine and snow - in April!

April 2013 : The Carnog team helped to clear some trees taken down by the heavy snow in early April and at the same time was filmed for a new horselogging DVD being made by the British Horse Loggers. Click on the image above to see the resulting DVD on Vimeo. We are the ones in the deep snow!

Horselogging introduction at CAT

 March 2013 : Carnog Working Horses also ran its third successful one day course on horselogging at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) on Saturday 2nd March 2013. The course gave people a practical introduction to working with horses in low-impact woodland and land management.

Snowy Llanberis

January 2013 : Here Tyler is 'supervising' the Carnog team's work clearing seasoned oak logs, and chopping and delivering them to houses close to the wood pasture, ready to burn that day. It was a good job in the freezing snowy weather in the Snowdon village of Llanberis.

Cancer Support Pictures

January 2013 : Purposeful Prints, which raises money for Macmillan Cancer Support, launched their Working Horse range of pictures with a photograph of Carnog Working Horses, taken and donated by Leo Johnson. Visit the Purposeful Prints website for more details.

Lunch in the Sun!

November 2012 : Tyler and Billy take their lunch in the sun under the Britannia Bridge, Anglesey, near where they were working for the National Trust extracting Lawson's Cypress for their new low-impact building.

Membership of BHL

September 2012 : Barbara was accepted as a Member of the British Horse Loggers. The BHL standard is very high and only those with a proven track record over a period of years are accepted.

The Anglesey Woodland Festival 2012

September 2012 : Carnog Working Horses took part in the Anglesey Woodland Festival 2012 at Plas Newydd on 29th and 30th September - a fantastic day out with fun for all the family. As well as many other woodland activities, you could have seen Barbara, Tyler and Billy demonstrating horselogging. Click on the image below for more details.

Carved Horse's Head

September 2012 : At the Anglesey Woodland Festival we helped out one of the chainsaw carvers by delivering a silver birch trunk to him to carve. Mark Earp of the North Wales Tree Cycle Group made three different sculptures and kindly offered us his first attempt at a horse! Pretty good we reckon.

A Harrowing Job

July 2012 : Carnog took advantage of the dry weather inJuly to catch up with some harrowing work. This harrow from Paul Helps of Chain Harrows is really heavy duty and has done a great job of getting rid of those ever-creeping buttercups - as well as spreading the muck about.

Two Storytelling Chairs

July 2012 : Carnog helped in the creation of some beautiful furniture. Working alongside Jules Russell, forester and carpenter, Carnog extracted the perfect oak needed to make these two ornate, carved storytelling chairs. Jules works with the Free Range Designs group near Machynlleth in West Wales.

They do it with pulleys!

May 2012 : Carnog went to Conwy and worked with Maggie Braunton and tree surgeons from North Wales Tree Service on a tricky but fun little job using the horses and pulleys to lift a some windblown trees out of the river bed.

BHL Annual Competition

May 2012 : Carnog went to the British Horse Loggers AGM and Competition weekend near Ledbury on 26th/27th May. We came 3rd in the Fell and Extract Competition as well as the Pairs Logging Competition. Well done Billy, Tyler and Barbara! Picture by Leo Johnson Photography. Visit the album of these on our Facebook page.

On the Beach

May 2012 : Whilst working in a woodland on Anglesey, the Carnog Team took a day out and went for a ride on the beach.

Thanks to Kirsten for a lovely day.

A Good Job Completed

April 2012 : We were back to one of our favourite jobs near Llanbrynmair, Powys recently. Even though the Easter weather was a bit mean, we managed to finish all the extraction for the year and with a few days of processing to go, the client's wood supply for the next year was once again secured. Good job!

Snowy April Day

April 2012 : We were due to be working in this woodland after the un-seasonably dry weather of March. The job was to extract wood from the usually very wet alder and willow woodland and then the snow. We will wait until it is dry to minimise damage to the ground.

Aber Actif Project

March 2012 : Carnog worked in 'Gogerddan' a Forestry Commission woodland near Aberystwyth. As part of Coed Lleol's Aber Actif project, we spent the day helping the group to get the wood they need to make a fire circle in the woods.

Introduction to Horselogging

March 2012 : Carnog Working Horses ran one day courses on horselogging at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) on Saturday 3rd March and then, because of demand, again on Sunday 4th March. Both were fully booked. These courses gave people a practical introduction to working with horses in low-impact woodland and land management.

Chilean beech at CAT

March 2012 : After a successful Introduction to Horselogging Course, the Carnog team stayed at CAT to do some real work! We brought some large Chilean Beech trees down a long steep slope and across the site where they will be planked up. The space they have left will enable the replanting of a native coppice on the sunny south facing slope.

Breakfast al fresco

January 2012 : Breakfast is often al fresco for all of the Carnog team when we are working away from home and living in the horsebox. As Tyler and Billy munch their hay and the coffee gets going on the stove, we are often treated to some beautiful morning views around the Welsh countryside.

Home for Christmas

December 2011 : The run up to Christmas saw Carnog continuing with an ongoing project; felling and extracting timber on a PAWS site in Powys. With mud galore, we had fine wintry weather working right up to the shortest day of the year before collecting ourselves a tree and heading home for Christmas.

Scandinavian Harness

November 2011: Carnog spent more than a month working near Llanberis, North Wales. We have been selectively thinning a mixed conifer woodland. Here Tyler successfully tests out her new Scandinavian harness on a big spruce log.

Two Horse Power

October 2011 : Billy has been taking on more work since September 2011 and has begun to work alongside Tyler as a Pair. They have been getting used to their new pulling power in the field pulling the harrows and pulling more timber out of the woods.

Rolling over the Border

June 2011 : Barbara and Tyler went abroad to do some bracken bruising.  They were working on a lovely site in Shropshire, England (actually only 12 miles down the road from home in Wales and near where Owain Glyndwr used to live!).  The owners are working to create a mosaic of bracken and we were happy to help by crushing some of it.

New Timber Arch

April 2011 : Carnog Working Horses took delivery of a new timber arch (right). Since then Tyler and Billy have been able to deal more easily with very large logs.

From Logs to Planks

March 2011 : Carnog's two hard working cobs, Tyler and Billy, pulled a few large Western Red Cedar logs (far left) out of the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) woodland, Coed Gwern near Machynlleth, Powys.  On a Sustainable Woodland Management course, local woodsman Peter came to the woodland with his mobile sawmill and turned the trees into planks (near left). They are to be used as foot boards on new bridges around the woodland.  It was wonderful to see the final product of the horses' hard work and how they are demonstrating truly sustainable woodland management.

For more information on Carnog timber extraction experience with CAT please follow this link to CAT Woodland Management.

A Busman's Holiday

February 2011 : The Carnog Team took a busman's holiday one weekend and went collecting firewood ready for next winter.  After a relaxed day's work there's plenty of oak and ash chopped and stacked and it is great to feel ahead of the game. Tyler and Billy are still not much good with the chainsaw or axe but they are learning....! 

Billy - a new addition

December 2010 : Billy, the latest addition to the Carnog team, joined in December 2010. He was a nine-year-old gelding who is very strong and steady, loves to work and is learning fast.

Delivery with a Sleigh and a Cart

December 2010 : During heavy snow, Barbara delivered food supplies and hay to homes in the Dyfi Valley around Machynlleth with the assistance of Tyler and a sleigh (far left) built for her by local carpenter Jules Russell (Julian Russell Carpentry) as reported in the Cambrian News.

Bryan Green Memorial Cup for Best Novice

July 2010 : In the British Horse Logging competitions over the weekend of 17th and 18th July, 2010, in Childer Wood, near Ledbury, Barbara came third in the Horse Logging Singles and won the Bryan Green Memorial Cup for the Best Novice.

Tyler - an amazing asset

August 2009 : Tyler, a eight year-old coloured cob who works very intelligently and hard, joined the Carnog Team back in August 2009.  She has proved to be an amazing asset to the business and has lent her hooves easily to the diverse and challenging tasks of logging, bracken rolling, carting and harrowing, often on difficult, steep or inaccessible terrain.