The chromosome count for a mule includes all 62 from its donkey sire, plus one more from its dam, a horse with 64 chromosomes. The result? Partners like this team, shown here making short work of an uphill skid during a harvest of high-value hardwoods in Henderson County.
Primordial eons ago E. asinus, the domestic donkey, and E. caballus, the domestic horse, went their separate genetic ways. Not long after H. sapien entered the evolutionary scene, humanity’s fascination with merging these equid species forever took hold. Today researchers are working to better understand both possible offspring from such a union: the mule and the hinny. In the U.S. the mule dominates this cross-bred world, while its reciprocal, the horse-sired hinny, is more common in South America and Europe. Recent findings comparing blood chemistry, for example, reveal how parental influence on hybrids can vary with respect to heart rate, respiration rate and body temperature. Armed with this emerging insight, better care is more possible for these skilled farm and forest workers. (Source: Pilot Study, Amy McClean PhD, University of California, Davis)
Three members of an eight-horse team move in unison to turn the steel arms of a massive sweep, powering a 54-inch circular saw that ripped logs into new lumber.
The display of sheer strength could not have been more dramatic. Four teamsters brought two Belgians each to the job, collaborating for about a month ahead of the 2021 Horse Progress Days to make sure their animals could safely work together. Trained to walk on their own once set into motion, the team was hitched to an ingenious rig that evened the load. A straight pipe clipped to the inside of each halter ran to the sweep arm in front, keeping the horse from crowding ahead. In the back the singletree connected to a rope-and-pulley system, delivering tension that energized a belt running between the sweep and the sawmill. The hand-built sweep had to be anchored into the ground with huge wood slabs to avoid getting yanked from its moorings when the team really began to pull. During rest breaks handlers approached each horse to slowly bring it to a stop and remove the bridle. As bridles went back on this spectacular demonstration rolled along again. (Research credit: Ralph J. Rice, “A Sweeping Success”, Rural Heritage Magazine Oct/Nov issue)
In a rare opportunity to see horses and mules at work in a job only they can do, a perfect March day featured sustainable forestry in full swing. Here team and teamster skid logs to a mountain ridgetop in Henderson County, North Carolina.
Tug chains a-jingle, three teams stepped into a quiet wooded stand ghostly with early spring buds. It was field day at Banks Mountain Farm and silviculture was the subject. An audience of nearly 100 observers gathered along the narrow skid path. They watched closely as highly-focused teamsters eased their equine partners into position near freshly cut logs resting at expertly chain-sawed angles on the forest floor. The felled trees had first been painstakingly selected by owners Bob and Stuart Richens, who relied on the precision of mules and horses to profitably commercialize this harvest. Circling for repeat pulls the teams eventually hauled out hundreds of board feet – including a one whopper nudging 30″ in diameter. The teams off-loaded in neat stacks next to an on-site mobile saw mill, which zipped the timber into custom-cut lumber. As the teams at last relaxed, a growing stash of sturdy boards put the Richens’ construction agenda on the fast track.
