It takes tough men – and tough pants

Out in the country, off the grid, there’s still a place for the little guy. For almost twenty years, Eric T. has been horse logging in Maine, working the old-fashioned way, without heavy equipment. “You don’t move as much wood,” he says, “but you don’t have as much overhead either. And it’s better for the land. Better for people too – I can keep a dozen men employed, instead of just a couple guys.”

Eric takes his horses (“8-wheel drive”) to tree farms and small family farms. He makes a living, and loves what he does. “It’s relaxing, it’s peaceful. I like watching the animals develop. It’s amazing when you see one of ‘em get it.” Gypsy and Belle are a special team, half sisters he’s had for a couple years. “They were pretty well messed up when I got ‘em,” he says. “You couldn’t handle their feet, and if you tried to put a harness on them, they’d run away.” But he worked with them, and discovered they had a knack for logging, pulling the scoot sled and waiting patiently while the trees are felled. “They’re a perfect match – when they kick into a trot together, it sounds like one horse.” Plus they have an advantage over a big diesel skidder: “They start every morning.”

Eric also relies on his “chopper” Cecil, a friend since high school. “I run the team, and Cecil does the cuttin’,” says Eric. “In the last two years, he’s only missed two trees.” (Missing a tree is when it doesn’t fall where you want it to.)

Eric’s work is hard, physical, demanding. He relies on the best equipment, whether it’s his horses, his Husqvarna 359 chain saw or his Fire Hose® Pants. “I go through jeans in less than a month,” he says. “That gets expensive. I bought a pair of your Fire Hose pants on a whim. They’re the lightest, toughest pants I have worn in 30 years of logging the old-fashioned way.” He adds, “They shed water too – other pants, you get ‘em wet first thing in the morning and they don’t dry out till noon. And that extra ballroom helps out for guys my age.”

If you ever wonder what inspires us at Duluth, it’s men like Eric – working hard, the old-fashioned way. And working with a sense of humor: the first time he wrote to us, he did it on paper with the inscription, “If a man speaks in the forest where no woman can hear him, is he still wrong?”