Tom Nixon and His Horses

Next month Pro Silva Ireland is holding a forest trip at Baronscourt, County Tyrone. It promises to be a fairly packed event, both with people and with information and things to see. I’ll be writing more about it as the date (3rd October) draws nearer, or look on the Pro Silva Ireland website.

Tom Nixon listening intently at Pro Silva event at Currachase last May

We had invited Tom Nixon from Trojan Heavy Horses to come along and give some demonstrations of log extraction with one of his wonderful horses.  He didn’t have a huge amount of work on at the time and he thought it would be a good way of showing forest owners just what a horse can do in a forest and to speak a bit about the economics of horse extraction.  But that was back in May and this week I received this email from him explaining that he won’t be able to make it:

Hi Jan
I hope alls going well for you.
Things here are picking up pace and we have been busy most of the summer. A number of new options have become available to us for next spring with private contractors which will add a completely new angle to forest management with horses.One of these options is the fertilising of young plantations using an adapted timber arch and an ATV spreader. This is usually carried out by hand but with my system it will become more efficient and completely accurate which with the price of manure is very important. Other options we are looking at is bracken rolling and weed control.
We have decided that in order to keep going we must grow to a point where we can tender for larger jobs, whether they are thinning or windblow.
With this in mind I have brought on board two more workers, on a temporary basis for the moment, to take on felling and horse work and have just purchased an ardenne stallion  to add to the team, but also breed with my own two ardenne mares,and ensure good working stock for the future.
While bringing on the extra help, I have had to organise chainsaw courses and contacted the FTEI hoping they might help with the cost. Last week they rang me and said they have organised a course with four places for the first two weeks in October in West Cork and are willing to finance the lot.
Needless to say this is a huge help for the likes of us as the courses usually run at about €800-900 each, and while I have committed myself to attend Baronscourt on the 3rd October I hope you understand my predicament.
This progression is the only way I can foresee a future for this businness in Ireland and am quite determined to make it work.
I am sorry for letting you down in October as I know the ammount of work that goes into these things but hopefully it will lead to bigger and better demonstrations and contracts from now on.
All the best for now Jan.
Tom.
Trojan Heavy Horses.

I was so excited when I read his email.  No, not because he can’t make it to the Pro Silva event!!! That’s a little disappointing.  But I know there’ll be other days when he’ll be able to come, - maybe when it’s nearer to him in West Cork.  But I was excited to read this email because of the person Tom is and how he single mindedly approaches his special line of work and just keeps on keeping on.  Of course he and his horses are going to be busy and of course he’s had to train up more help and of course the FTEI will back his request for chainsaw courses.  He’s not wimping off to the Government asking for special grants to help sustain his business.  No.  Tom wants horses to work in the forest, not just during his lifetime.  He believes in his heart and soul that horses have a crucial part to play in Irish forestry. He thinks about it all the time. He’s constantly finding ways to weave horses back into the tapestry of rural life, not to be forever suspended in heritage parks and museums. He knows the horses have to pay their way if they’re going to work themselves back into the Irish picture. And his mind is fixed on that happening. So he finds solutions. Things work out. It’s called passion. Doom and gloom?  Nah. Tom Nixon isn’t effected by the so called ‘news’.  He’s just out there doing his work and making his dreams become reality.

Tom drawing out logs using Scottish logger Jim Johnston's Brabant'

PS  Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention the on-line directory Tom is creating on his blog site for people involved in Traditional Skills, Crafts and Produce. Check it out.

Tags: Horse Logging