THE hitch cart sways hither and thither, every depression and mound prompting it to lurch like a slow-motion fairground ride. The nonchalant walk of the two bay Shire horses in front belies the intensity of their effort to propel both cart and attached hefty metal bracken-basher forward. At corners, the trace chains on the Amish harness jangle; the metal shaft between the two beasts clanks loudly. Two short, but full black tails flick at the horse flies that proliferate, hover and bite on a day of high humidity in London’s Richmond Park.
Head horseman Edward MacDowell is the virtuoso in charge of propulsion, steering and the crushing of acres of bracken within this Royal Park, a job that inhibits the unchecked spread of these tall, coarse ferns in the lowland acid grassland Site of Special Scientific Interest. He keeps the lightest touch on the reins, which
