At present horse logging is used very little in Japan. Here we investigate horse logging in Miyagi Prefecture in January 2009 and November 2009, and discuss the sustainability of horse logging in the future. The prehauling, loading and unloading operations were 44-69% of the total working time, and they were physically very demanding. The productivity of horse logging was 2.5-12.0 m³/day where the logging distance was 50〜500 m, which equals that of small logging vehicles. The rate of increase of the Corn Index in the logging trail was 14-34% at a depth of 0-20 cm. By comparison, it was 72-154% for a tracked vehicle and 48-74% for a wheeled vehicle. Soil compaction was much lower for horse logging than for logging vehicles. It is concluded that horse logging is sustainable as an environmentally sound method in small scale forestry in Japan if the working burden in prehauling, loading and unloading operations can be lowered, and a younger generation of workers can be attracted to this method.

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