The Art of Natural Dressage

Fun to read this old thread.

I'm using brush piles for shelter and track barriers. Since we were clearing trees and cutting lower limbs and such, it all had to go somewhere, so we put it to use. We 'planted' willow sticks, then wove the assorted trunks and branches around them. The willow has since taken root! The green shoots were out of reach of horse lips due to the depth of the piles so they got a chance to take off.
wild roses, blackberries and raspberries grow in the piles as well.

I never worry about the forest full of maples. The horse like green 'red maple' leaves but will NOT touch the wilted ones. They dislike sugar maple leaves. No silver maple around. (not native). they eat tons of fallen fall leaves (no green in them) and do fine by them.

I like ash so I'd wonder if those would get a chance to grow?

We also use native white spruce as screens and barriers. It can be pruned into VERY dense forms and they don't eat it.

Oh, cool, Anne Louise!!

LOVE the woven willow brush pile shelter idea. COOL!

Thanks, also, for your thoughts on red maples. I've got lots of maple in our woods and have been fretting. This is reassuring. (I've of course assumed that they'd fixate on wilted maple leaves...yes, I am neurotic!)

We've got ash, too, but are getting grim reports of emerald ash borers -- really bad news in NY and seem to be spreading.

Leigh

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"Ours is the portal of hope. Come as you are." -- Rumi
www.imaginalinstitute.com

Annie will know how important both height and width, as well as density are in providing actual shelter from a hedge.
Air and water currents roll forwards over an obstacle, so cold air dips and coils over a hedge by about four feet, a short hedge which has grown thin and weedy offers little more than a perch for the birds.
Some pages from a study here in sections http://faculty.eas.ualberta.ca/jdwilson ... rmet07.pdf

see also patterns, velocity and drag parameters.

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Susie xx
http://www.flickr.com/photos/piepony/

Hedgerows in my part of the country, the Western U.S., were nearly extinct, with only the remnants to see, which as I child I didn't understand until my father told me about them.

The U.S. actually had a considerable history with hedgerows and it continues today though in less intensity than the past.

I found this article most interesting about some methods, even planting techniques here in the U.S. We do owe England and the Continent for most hedgerow cultivation information that we used.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/108/

The article seems to be about windbreaks (shelterbelts) but in fact has very good information about hedgerows and their use.

Donald, Altea, and Bonnie Cupcake

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Love is Trust, trust is All
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So say Don, Altea, and Bonnie the Wonder Filly.

Thank you for doing so Leigh!

I would never have seen this topic otherwhise...

We still need to fence off a lot of our land and I might consider putting some hedges in, albeit slowly over time...
We are living on a mountain top and the soil is sometimes proper stone to dig in...
But I love hedgerows! So if I can convince my sweetheart to plant some of them...

I guess, however, that I will need to ask permission first before starting to plant some...
The laws in Italy say one is not allowed to change anything (without permission) to the way the mountains look...
that is: with exception to the company that is digging in all the garbage in one of the mountains opposite ours...

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Kind regards,

AnneMarie

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You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make'em drink...