Hawthorn Heavy Horses is owned by Husband and Wife team, Matt and Claudia Waller.  Matt is an experienced land manager with over 10 years practical experience with charities, local authorities and private companies.  Matt has also ridden since his teens and as an Essex boy is passionate about Suffolks as the local Heavy Horse breed.  Claudia has had a lifelong love for horses and has been working professionally with Heavy Horses since 2002, including showing, driving, logging, teaching and demonstrating.

Since 2004 we have been working to combine our two areas of expertise and set up a working horse business, as we believe that horses have an important role to play in land management now and in the future. Whilst many people see working horses solely as a demonstration of past practice, developments in harness and working horse machinery in Scandinavia and the USA allow horses to make a significant contribution to the management of sites. This is especially important where working practice needs to be both environmentally sound and sympathetic to users and wildlife, avoiding noisy and polluting machinery.

After undergoing additional training and work experience in horse logging, including experience in Finland with a professional horse logger, we were able to start our business in 2008 with the help of our first big contract, the Hylands Horses Project, which is a three way Partnership with Chelmsford Borough Council and Writtle College. We are also proud members of the British Horse Loggers, who do much to promote the working horse and its benefits to land managers and the environment.

Click here to find out more about what services we can offer.