The Suffolk Punch is among the oldest of the heavy horse breed in the UK and sadly is a dying breed. Efforts are underway to try and preserve this magnificent horse and its currently on the list of endangered species.

Below is a list of the (UK) Heavy Horse Breeds, the Shire is top of the list as being the most popular and best known of the heavy horses.

• The Shire
• The Suffolk Punch
• The Clydsdale
• The Percheron
• The Flemish or Belgian
• The Friesian
• The Dutch Draft
• The Jutland

A brief History

The earliest recorded date for the Suffolk heavy horse goes way back to the sixteenth century. The breed living today can actually have their ancestory traced all the way back to one stallion, a horse called Crisp’s Horse of Ufford, which was foaled in 1768.

This is a horse that can stand at a height of between 15 to 16 hands high (5ft 6in) and can weigh in excess of three quarters of a ton. Its colour is usually a chestnut brown varying in shade. Like the Shire, it is known as a gentle giant having a broad head, thick neck and a short muscular body.

The Suffolk Punch heavy horse was generally only to be seen in Eastern counties where it worked on the land. It only became known throughout the UK when farms became mechanised and the use of heavy horses declined. They then started to move out across the country where they could be seen at country fairs and shows. Also some breweries used them for pulling Drays.

Even though it was a commercial success in it's own area, the Suffolk Punch didn't venture far out of it's home county. One reason is that at the height of the horse's popularity East Anglia was a remote part of the UK, almost totally isolated, with little in the way of road or rail networks.

It was in the late 1930s it started to move out across the country but by then it was too late to expand the breed in any large numbers or to make it commercially viable to sell as mechanisation was rapidly taking over in and on farms. Another problem that led to the rapid decline of the breed was the onset of the second world war where a rapid increase in food production was needed. The flat lands of East Anglia made it easy for new machines to do the job more quickly and efficiently than the horse. Farmers got rid of the horses, some selling as many as forty in one day. Sadly the only buyers around at the time were mainly slaughterhouses and as late as 1966 there were only 9 foals born nationwide.

It became clear that they were nearing extinction and if the breed were to survive then new breeders were needed. This started to happen in 1967 and the numbers have steadily grown since. There is still some way to go to secure the breed but stocks are healthier today (2008)than they ever have been.

Today the horses are used mainly for showing at country fairs and shows. Some breweries still use them to pull Drays and others are kept as pets and at stud farms.

Suffolk Punch Trivia

There is a book called The Suffolk Stud Book Volume 1 which is considered a classic among livestock books. It was written by Herman Bidell who was the first secretary of the Suffolk Horse Society back in 1877. He spent two years tracing the ancestory and pedigree of all animals alive at the time. The book was illustrated by a local artist called John Duvall.

In March 2008 a BBC news report stated that there was a renewed threat to the heavy horse breeds with the Suffolk Punch being reduced to just a few hundred. Efforts are being renewed to preserve and maintain the breed and these efforts are being carried out with the help of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.