Equestrian & Hunt Country terms

Elaeagnus umbellata, an invasive shrub with silvery leaves and red berries that birds spread widely. It takes over old fields, pasture edges and fence lines and resprouts when cut.

See Invasive management

A trail cleared for riding, with the width, overhead clearance and footing a horse and rider need. Routing follows drainage, sightlines and the way the farm already moves.

See Riding trails

A rotary cutting attachment that takes down standing brush, briar and saplings. An industrial brush cutter such as the BRX418 handles thick multiflora rose, autumn olive and reed that a mower cannot.

See Land clearing

A small tracked machine with loader arms at the front that carries interchangeable attachments: mulchers, brush cutters, grapples and buckets. Rubber tracks spread its weight, so it can work slopes, soft fields and lawns that wheeled equipment would rut. Huntly runs a Cat 285XE.

See Equipment and attachments

A recorded legal agreement in which a landowner limits development or certain uses of the land, held by a land trust or public body. Clearing on eased land is scoped against the easement terms and the holder’s requirements.

See Conservation easements

A public program that pays part of the cost of qualifying land work. DNREC’s cost-share program covers 87.5% of aerial herbicide treatment for qualifying Phragmites stands (landowner pays 12.5%), applied by helicopter in late summer and early fall over a three-year commitment, for stands of 5 to 200 acres.

See Phragmites programs

Late fall through winter, when deciduous trees and shrubs are leafless. Stems are easy to see, the ground is firm or frozen, and nesting and roosting seasons are past. As general guidance in Pennsylvania, cutting of larger trees is commonly timed to the October 1 to March 31 window, when bats are not roosting in trees.

See What shapes the cost

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program run by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, which offers financial and technical help for conservation practices on agricultural land, including brush management. Eligibility and payment are set by NRCS for each applicant.

See Invasive control in turnout

Clearing brush, saplings and small trees by grinding them where they stand with a mulching head on a tracked carrier. The chips stay on the ground as a layer that holds soil and slows regrowth, the roots stay in place, and nothing is burned or hauled away.

See Forestry mulching

How much weight a machine puts on each square inch of the ground it stands on, usually given in pounds per square inch (psi). Wide tracks lower it. Lower ground pressure means less rutting and compaction on paddocks, lawns, marsh edges and wet rights-of-way.

See Pasture reclamation

The rolling farm and estate ground of southern Chester County and the Brandywine Valley where mounted hunts ride across private land, so fence lines, gates and trails are kept open between neighboring properties.

See Hunt country

Rosa multiflora, an invasive thorny shrub that forms dense, arching thickets in pastures, fence rows and woodland edges. It resprouts from the crown, so clearing is paired with follow-up ground and brush clearing or treatment.

See Invasive control in turnout

The strip of trees, shrubs and grasses along a stream, river or pond that filters runoff and holds the bank. Buffer ground is flagged on the site walk and left alone or worked by hand unless the scope and any permits say otherwise.

See Water, slopes and permits

A private walk of the property with the owner before anything is priced or scheduled. It records access, what stays, water and wet ground, and the finish wanted, and a written scope follows it.

See Plan a site walk

A sharp stub left when a woody stem is cut above the ground. In a paddock a stob can injure a hoof or a leg, so turnout-safe work cuts stems low or grinds them out.

See Pasture and paddock reclamation

The pasture or paddock where horses are let out. Turnout-safe ground has no stobs, no wire and nothing a horse can step on, run into or pick up.

See Pasture and paddock reclamation

The layer of shrubs, saplings and vines growing beneath the main tree canopy. Mulching the understory opens a woodlot to sight and access while keeping the mature trees.

See Forestry mulching