Heavy horses at Morden Hall Park

In February 2018, Operation Centaur’s heavy horses visited the park for the first time to chain harrow our hay meadows. They returned to do a first cut of the meadows in April. Traditionally two cuts a year are needed for each meadow. The heavy horses are returning in late July and late August to make the second cut.

Benefits of traditional methods

When compared to modern mowing machinery heavy horses offer a positive alternative with lower levels of noise disturbance, soil compaction and impact on flora and fauna as well as a much lower carbon footprint.

Flower meadows benefit from harrowing, cutting and raking with traditional working horses in the longer term too, slowly regenerating and allowing species to recover. We are hoping to see wildflowers we’ve never seen before in the South Park.

Keeping heavy horses in work

Operation Centaur uses Shire horses, one of several breeds of heavy horse. Heavy horses have been dramatically impacted by the increase in mechanisation in past decades and Shires are now listed on the Rare Breeds watch-list as “at risk”.  Using these heavy horses as part of modern meadow management helps ensure that they remain with us into the future.

Find out more about Operation Centaur: http://www.operationcentaur.com/conservation

Get involved

The Morden Urban Rangers are calling their community involvement events around the hay cuts ‘Cut to the Past’ and they want you to get involved. They’ll be helping to run the hay cut event in late August, and ran a stall to inform and engage the local community as part of London National Park City week in July.