Belgian Horses
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[-]In 1904, the world largest Belgian horse was recognized at the St. Louis World's Fair; its name was "Morocco." He stood up to 21.2 hands tall or 7ft 2in and weighed in at 3,360 pounds. According to the Guinness Book of World Record, the horse that currently holds that title is "Priefert's Radar" standing up to 19.3 hands or 6ft 7in and weighing up to 2,400 pounds. [/-] [...]
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The Belgian Draft Horse was not an overnight success in America. The popularity that it now enjoys was won through great perseverance over a century on thousands of ranches and farms. Its popularity has been won in numerous show rings and pulling contests as well as on the streets of America while pulling freight wagons. Today, Belgian Draft Horses outnumber all of the other draft breeds combined in America.
The Belgian horse is native to Belgium as its name implies. When the need to produce larger draft type animals for farm and industrial use was recognized, Belgium began to export stallions to fill that need. The Belgian government exported stallions for the use of government stables in France, Italy, Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1891.
The Belgian government sent an exhibit of the horses to the International Livestock Exposition in Chicago and also to the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1903. This generated a keen interest in the breed. As the acceptance of the breed grew, most major importers began to include the Belgian horse in their offerings. [...]
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The Belgian Horse has played an important part in the history of the American farmer, thanks to multiple horse hitches. Through the use of these multiple hitches, the farmers were able to obtain the power that they needed in order to prepare their fields as well as harvest their crops in an efficient manner.
Between the years of 1820 and 1870, there was a revolution in the technology used for agriculture. This created a strong demand for stronger and larger horses that were able to power the equipment being used. The new farm equipment was a great improvement and the productivity of the American farmer was greatly increased. The McCormick reaper enabled a single farmer to do the work of thirty men, as it not only cut, but tied the grains into stocks. The new equipment decreased the need for manpower, but the need for horsepower was greatly increased. The horses were needed to power the new combines and threshers, binders, mowers, seed drills, double width harrows and steel plows. The typical wheat farm in the Midwest had ten horses toward the end of the century. Each horse worked approximately six hundred hours on average each year. [...]
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Belgian Horses are a perfect choice of breed when it comes to logging. They have the strong work ethic and the amiable disposition that is needed in this line of work. A Belgian draft horse can also go places that a skidder can't go and they will cause much less damage to the environment.
Using horses for the extraction of timber is known as horse logging. The horses are used as a base machine and have a wide range of modern and traditional implements. There are many benefits to horse logging rather than using other extraction systems. The biggest benefits are that horse logging outperforms all other systems which are small in scale and it is considered to be the ultimate in an extraction system that is low impact.
Horse logging provides a better management of our woodlands. The horses can effectively and safely extract timber through the timber which is still standing. This is done without any damage to the timber still standing. There is also not any soil that is compacted or disturbance or damage to the flora and fauna of the woodlands. [...]
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Belgian Horses
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