I have just finished re-reading The Last Horsemen by Charles Bowden about a year at Britain's only horse-powered farm. For anyone who loves watching working horses (in this case Clydesdales) in action in the countryside or has a nostalgic yearning for the days of pre-industrial farming, this book is a must. Well-written and informative (and with some great pictures), it gives a glimpse of a unique way of life.

TimberWolf, this sounds like an interesting read. Here in the United States we have the Amish, at least some of whom still use horses to plow.

Current book? Out of print?

Kingfisher

Sounds a great read, I didn't realise there was even one horse-powered farm still running. I have always thought that farming must have been such an idyllic lifestyle (as well as very hard) when they were run with horses.

I believe that it's still in print (and Amazon has used copies available). It was first printed in 2001. There was also a TV series and I believe that the DVD is also available.

Riana - You're certainly right about the hard work. They estimate that a ploughman walked the equivalent of 10 miles a day. It doesn't sound that far until you appreciate that they were doing it with one foot on a ridge and the other down in the furrow. And then, at the end of the day, when there was nothing he wanted more than to collapse into his armchair, he had to look after the horses first.

It's great to see that heavy horses are coming back, especially in forestry, where they can extract timber from sites that are inaccessible to vehicles. They are also used on sensitive sites where vehicles would cause too much damage.

I went to the local bookshop yesterday and had a poke around, but did not spot it (did not really expect to find it, though).

Here in Washington there are quite a few loggers who use draught horses, and I have seen them in action. The horses have made it possible for the small logger to not only make a profit, but to be a good steward of the land.

Kingfisher