When we talk Great British heavy horses, we often land on the Shire or Clydesdale first – but what about the Suffolk Horse?

The Suffolk Horse, historically known as the Suffolk Punch, is one of the UK’s four native species of heavy horse bred for draught work. They replaced oxen in the UK primarily because they are easier to shoe and can work in a collar, which is more efficient than a yoke for pulling. Suffolks ploughed and drilled the land, and undertook forestry work.

An icon of the county of Suffolk, these gentle giants played a vital role in our agricultural and military history. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, you’d have seen them everywhere. Today, though, the Suffolk Horse numbers fewer than 500 in the UK.

Not only due to their scarcity, these sturdy equines are also special due to their very own colour terminology. Indeed, you must always refer to Suffolks as ‘chesnut’, without the ‘t’, because this is the traditional regional spelling of the word.

 History at a glance

It’s said there have been heavy horses in Suffolk since the 16th century. The Suffolk Horse Society was founded in 1877 and the first studbook published in 1800. All studbook horses can trace their male lines back to one stallion, ‘Crisp’s Horse of Ufford’, who foaled in 1768.

The East Anglian counties of Suffolk and Norfolk both have a coastline and much of the land is flat, fertile and used in growing cereals. Suffolk horses were therefore highly valuable – and sought after – for farming the land. As such, many Suffolks were bred in the early to mid nineteenth century to meet demand. Some even went to the continent lend their talents to agricultural operations in mainland Europe.

Their strength, endurance and willingness to work were all traits that didn’t just make Suffolks excellent working farm animals. Undoubtedly, these qualities also made them standout candidates for pulling First World War artillery. On 13 August 1914, one division of the cavalry sent some 25,000 horses to France to help the war effort – no doubt many came from East Anglian farms. The army requisitioned some 120,000 horses from civilians in the first week of the conflict. Only those essential to farming operations remained in their homes.

The Great War depleted Suffolk numbers, but the 1940s and the rise of mechanised agriculture spelled disaster for the breed. As tractors were employed on the land, hedgerows removed and fields made larger, the population suffered a rapid decline. Sadly, many went to the meat market and fewer and fewer foals appeared – the society registered only nine Suffolk foals in 1966.

Conformation of the Suffolk Horse

Height: At maturity, the Suffolk generally ranges between 15.3–17hh, though there are instances of horses exceeding 17hh.

Colour: a Suffolk can only be chesnut (with one ‘t’), and the breed society will accept liver, dark, red, light or bright chesnut. A certain amount of white face markings, such as a star, is acceptable. In addition, they can have a scattering of silver or white hairs on the body. The breed society does not accept stallions with white leg hair for breeding.

Head and neck: A large yet elegant head with a broad forehead with well set, bright eyes. The neck should be deep in collar and taper up gracefully to the setting of the head.

Limbs: Short in proportion to body with big flat knees and long clean hocks. Short canon bones. Minimal hair allowed at the heels.

Body: Long, muscular shoulders, broad in front with a wide, level back that has a graceful outline. Girth in proportion and deep round ribbed from shoulder to flank.

The Suffolk Horse today

These days, breed conservation efforts have sprung into action to help protect, promote and increase numbers of the breed. The Rare Breeds Survival Trust list the Suffolk as a ‘priority equine’, plus there is an active community of Suffolk owners and breeders in the UK. The Suffolk Horse Society registered 32 foals in 2020.

Although Suffolks continue employment in some heritage land and conservation work, diversification of use continues to improve their popularity. The breed is gaining traction in the show ring, with four-year-old Suffolk mare Holbeache Scarlet taking the 2023 Search For A Star Championship at Your Horse Live.

The Suffolk Horse: An enthusiast’s view

Sam Maloy has two Suffolks of her own – a three-year-old gelding called Ashmead Red Romeo and his dam, 14-year-old Whatton Gertrude, who is in foal to stallion Whiterode Phoenix.

“Temperament wise, both my Suffolks are loving, and adore people,” says Sam. “Gerty is more of a homebody, preferring to stay at home than go to shows. She is a kind mare but can worry if she’s somewhere new without me.

“Romeo is more outgoing than his dam, and enjoys shows more. He doesn’t worry about the big shows, enjoys exploring new places with me.”

Sam drives both horses and backed Gerty herself. She competes in Ridden Heavy Horse classes at county shows and qualified for Equifest in 2018.

While Sam describes her Suffolks as softies who love attention and love to please, they shouldn’t be underestimated.

“They aren’t always for everyone,” she continues, “and in the wrong hands (like any breed) can be a bit much. They require firm, kind and consistent handling to bring the best out in them.

“I definitely prefer my Suffolks over my daft, reactive warmblood gelding.”

More than just “gentle giants”

Claire Bartram, who’s based on the Lincolnshire/Norfolk border, owns three Suffolks of her own. She works with nine others at Tommyshop Farm near King’s Lynn.

“We do a bit of everything,” she tells H&H. “We’ve got a couple that enter the ridden classes, showing, displays, driving – we just started two pairs ploughing at the back of last year. They go in agricultural vehicles to maintain a bit of the grazing at the farm, and we’ve horse-drawn fertilisers.”

Claire keeps the horses fit under saddle mostly – with so many to work, it’s more efficient than harnessing up and driving every day.

“They’re a lovely, active ride and really enjoyable. We err on the side of caution and keep them fit through a lot of walk and trot. In my opinion, they’re not made for a lot of canter work. They’re very short in the pastern and they’ve got a tonne coming down their feet each step. It’s about being aware of their size, weight and fitness level.”

An important thing about the Suffolk horse is that their size and nature shouldn’t be underestimated.

“They’re clever,” continues Claire, “and once they learn something they don’t forget it — that can be good or bad.

“The worst phrase for me is ‘gentle giants’. They’re well aware of their size and they’re not low energy. I think they’re spicier than the other heavy breeds.”

As a traditionalist, Claire shows the Suffolks with the mane and tail braided in with raffia, with the tail folded up. She puts tulip flights in the mane, always an odd number.

“We can get the mane and tail done in about 25 minutes each now,” she says. “But I will say, it used to take me over an hour!”

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Any breed of horse that frequently measures over 18hh is in the running for fielding the biggest horses in the world. Some of the taller individuals of these heavy horse breeds can measure over 20hh. There is some debate over the largest horse ever recorded, as it depends whether the records refer to height or weight. The tallest horses on record are Shire horse Sampson, foaled in Bedfordshire in 1846, who measured 21.2½hh; while over the pond Belgian Draft gelding Big Jake was measured at just shy of 20.3hh in Wisconsin, a Guinness World Record in 2010.

Largest horse breeds

Five breeds that tend to produce the largest horses are Shire, Clydesdale, Belgian Draft, Percheron and Suffolk.

Shire horse

Renowned for its height and strength, Shires have held various records for largest and tallest horse. They are a fantastic draft horse, and were traditionally used for farm work, pulling brewers’ drays and towing barges. The breed, which originated in Britain, is still used for forestry and as draft horses for a some traditional breweries as well as a leisure horse for riding.

Tallest Shire: the 19th-century giant Sampson, 21.2½hh, who was renamed Mammoth as a four-year-old.

Clydesdale

Typically measures at least 17hh, but is lighter than the other large breeds due to its slighter frame. The Clydesdale is known for its height and strength, but it is also elegant, with a high-stepping showy action. Although the breed originated in Scotland, they are famous in America due to featuring in the Budweiser commercials.

Tallest Clydesdale: Digger, a 19.2hh, who was rescued as a foal and trained as a drum horse for royal parades.

Belgian Draft

Holds one of the records for the world’s largest horse, although more typically they are a maximum of 17hh. The Belgian draft is particularly known for its capacity to pull great weights and have won championships in this sphere. Belgian draft horses were exported throughout Europe and to the US, where it is now known as the American Brabant and is typically slightly more compact than the European version. They can be ridden, but are particularly popular in forestry and farm work, and even pulling sledges.

Tallest Belgian Draft: Big Jake, measuring 20.2¾hh.

Percheron

Perhaps a surprising inclusion in this list as this French-bred draft horse can be as small as 15.2hh. However, most are much taller and have at times held biggest-horse records. They are also among the strongest in terms of their pulling power. They were traditionally used for transport – whether artillery and soldiers during wars, or stagecoaches during peacetime – as well as for agricultural work. Nowadays, they are used for conservation and forestry work, and also as a riding and driving horse.

Tallest Percheron: Dr Le Gear was recorded in 1915 as the world’s biggest horse, standing 21hh and weighing 2,995lb (1,359kg).

Suffolk or Suffolk Punch

Always chesnut (and spelt without the T), Suffolk Punches are another of Britain’s established heavy-horse breeds and originated in the East Anglian county of Suffolk. Traditionally used for farm work as well as transporting artillery in the wars, they are nowadays used for riding as well as driving. They are a little more compact than the Clydesdale and Shire, standing typically at 17hh max, although there are instances of individuals exceeding 17hh, and they are particularly powerfully built. They might not be the very tallest, but they are said to be the oldest heavy horse breed in Britain, dating back to the 16th century.

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Breeders are enjoying a double celebration with the arrival of two Suffolk foals in a “crucial boost” for the UK’s most endangered heavy horse breed.

Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park, near Ipswich, welcomed a filly and colt in recent weeks. The mares were loaned by their owner to support the Suffolk Horse Society’s breeding programme for the conservation of rare bloodlines.

Suffolk mare Spearman Annabelle safely delivered a colt and a week later, Spearman Annie gave birth to a filly on 14 May.

Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) vice-president Jimmy Doherty, of Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park and a member of the Suffolk Horse Society, said he is delighted at the arrival of both foals.

“When the Suffolk Horse Society asked if we would be able to contribute to this breeding project by hosting the two mares, we were over the moon and jumped at the chance,” he said.

“We are elated with these two beautiful foals; the result of two successful pregnancies. The Suffolk horse is an irreplaceable feature of our local heritage here in Suffolk and these foals will help strengthen the population.”

Spearman Bellatrix was conceived at Colony Stud, a stud and visitors’ attraction dedicated to the Suffolk horse, by successful artificial insemination carried out by Bruce Langley McKim of Thorpeley Stud.

Tracey Pettitt, from the Suffolk Punch Trust and Colony Stud, led the team monitoring the mares in the lead-up to the births.

“I feel privileged to see the foals be born and honoured that Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park trusted us to do the job,” said Tracey.

“The mares are both healthy and have taken to motherhood like ducks to the water. This is the first time we’ve had two mares foal side by side. Annie and Annabelle were born on the same day and have spent every day together since, they’re practically sisters.”

A RBST spokesman explained that when a breed’s population is so low, the birth of new females is important to guard against inbreeding and protect its future survival.

The Suffolk horse is categorised as a “priority” on the RBST annual watchlist. Just 16 pure-bred fillies were registered in 2021.

Stevie Sheppard, general manager of Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park, added: “Just as we came second on Eurovision, I got the call that the second Suffolk foal was being born, Although we didn’t claim the Eurovision title, we still won that night with this rare foal.”

Suffolk Horse Society chairman Mark Donsworth said the arrival of Spearman Bellatrix is cause for “extra celebration”.

“The Suffolk Horse breed as we know it today can be traced back to 1768, and there were many thousands of Suffolks throughout East Anglia before the First World War,” he said.

“But today the breed is the rarest of the UK’s pure-bred heavy horses, and urgent action is necessary to secure its future. Every pure-bred Suffolk foal born is incredibly precious but as a filly foal continuing a very rare bloodline, Spearman Bellatrix gives cause for extra celebration.”

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A Suffolk foal who broke his leg in multiple places at two weeks old is back in his field with a bright future ahead thanks to his surgeon’s expertise.

Rancher is cantering about on a leg containing two metal plates and 20 screws, and vets hope he will enjoy a normal life.

Owners Eugenie and Randy Hiscock, of Donhead Hall Stud in Dorset, have no idea what caused the injury, which occurred in March while Rancher and his dam Montana were waiting to come in from the field.

“We caught and led in the other horses first, and only left Rancher and Montana for a few minutes, but as soon as we got back to the paddock, I could tell something was terribly wrong,” Mrs Hiscock said.

“The lower half of Rancher’s leg was swinging, and it was absolutely horrific. I can only imagine that he twisted round suddenly causing the leg to snap.

“We were straight on the phone to our vet and I stood with Rancher while we waited for them to arrive. I felt so sick.”

A vet from Damory Equine Clinic in Blandford Forum applied a plaster cast but X-rays showed the fractures were not healing, so the Hiscocks made the trip to Liphook Equine Hospital in Hampshire.

Liphook vet Russell Parker, a Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and European specialist in equine surgery, operated on Rancher. He believed that despite the severity of the injury, the colt had a “fighting chance”, owing to his size and age.

Mr Parker said: “Rancher’s fracture wasn’t straightforward because the leg was broken in more than two places and the bones were displaced, but foals are relatively light and their bones heal more quickly than adult horses, making fracture repair an option. It also helped that there was no wound associated with the injury.

“The operation took 2.5 hours and involved using metal plates and screws to realign and fix the broken bones. The modern implants we use today help us create a more stable repair because the screws lock into the plates as well as the bone.”

Russell added that there is always a risk of complications following this type of surgery.

He said: “Our first challenge was to make sure that Rancher got safely to his feet as he came round from the anaesthetic, and we gave him a helping hand to avoid him accidentally damaging the repair.

“Also, there is a risk of the incision getting infected or the implants breaking, but Rancher made excellent progress over the next few days. In fact, he felt so well in himself, he became very boisterous in the stable, but luckily his mum did a great job of keeping him calm.”

After three weeks at Liphook, Rancher was able to go home, where he spent six weeks on box rest in a barn.

In early June, he was allowed back out in the field, and Mrs Hiscock said it has been “wonderful” to watch him enjoying the sun.

“We can’t thank Russell and the team at Liphook enough for saving Rancher and giving him the best care possible,” she said. “As well as the Suffolk being an extremely rare breed that needs its numbers boosting, Rancher was the first foal we had bred in four years, so he is very special to us. He is such a lovely, bonny foal and it would have been devastating to lose him.”

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The couple own 12 adult Suffolks, and four other 2021 foals. Some of the horses work on the farm, and take part in shows and displays, and they have a team of mares who pull the Badger Brewery dray.

Mrs Hiscock said: “We may keep Rancher entire so he can breed his own foals in the future, or he could be used as a driving horse. On the day his accident happened I really thought we were going to lose him, so it is lovely to think that he has an exciting future ahead of him.”

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Rare breeds of the “highest concern” will be recognised at a show with new championship classes aimed at promoting the breeds’ high standards.

For the first time the Norfolk Equestrian Show (28 July) will host Rare Breed Survival Trust watchlist classes, with the highest-placed horses and ponies going on to compete in the RBST championship for priority and at-risk breeds. The classes follow the release of the 2021/2022 RBST watchlist published last month with updated categories; priority, at risk, UK native breeds and Irish breeds in the UK. Previously the categories were critical, endangered, vulnerable, at risk and minority.

Cleveland Bays, Dales, Dartmoors, Eriskays, Exmoors, Hackneys and Suffolk horses appear in the priority category. Clydesdale horses, Fell and Highland ponies, New Forests, and Shires have been classed as at risk.

RBST chief executive Christopher Price told H&H the watchlist classes will give dedicated owners and breeders of rare native horses and ponies the chance to demonstrate their “amazingly high standards”, and show the great potential of the breeds.

“We hope this will also encourage more people to get involved in the work to ensure rare native equine breeds such as Eriskays and Suffolks can thrive long into the future,” he said.

RBST chairman Gale Sprake added that with competitions so severely limited over the last 18 months, the trust is delighted to provide this “fantastic opportunity” to celebrate rare breeds, as well as the people, organisations and communities that support their survival.

“Each of our native pony and horse breeds has its own characteristics, unique features and history and each has played an extraordinary role in our nation’s history,” she said.

“The new RBST priority and at-risk classes at the Norfolk Equestrian Show will really show why they are special.”

Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association chief executive Mark Nicholas said the organisation is “thrilled” to be welcoming competitors.

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The 2021/22 watchlist, published this week (8 April), has been updated with new categories: priority, at risk, UK native breeds

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“We are particularly pleased to be working in partnership with RBST and helping them to promote the importance of breed diversity and survival,” he said.

The show’s organisers hope that holding the “streamlined” show behind closed doors in 2021 will support the planned return of a full Royal Norfolk Show in June 2022. The schedule includes in-hand and ridden classes and retains Horse of the Year Show qualifiers from the cancelled Royal Norfolk Show. Entries close on 30 June.

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A natural flood management scheme has been built in an Essex park with the help of some extra horsepower.

Contractor Hawthorn Heavy Horses, which is based in Chelmsford, took Suffolk Roy to help fell and move trees to build “leaky” dams in Rise Park Stream at Bedfords Park.

Roy played a vital role, moving whole tree trunks across the site from the woodlands to the watercourse. The advantage of using whole tree trunks to build the dams is that they recreate a natural process and are very effective at safely slowing the flow of water.

Roy was able to transport 16 trees to the stream, which volunteers used to build four tree-trunk dams.

Using heavy horses to move the timber into place rather than heavy machinery offers better protection for the environment, preventing trees and ground being disturbed.

Leaky dams are a form of natural flood management that help slow the flow of water in times of heavy rain, and reduce surface water flood risk to surrounding properties.

Each of the dams at the Bedfords Park site has a QR code that if scanned by mobile phone will open the SlowFlow app to show information about the dams and invites users to upload photos of the leaky dams retaining water in “high flow events”.

The project was put together by The Land of the Fanns Landscape Partnership Scheme working with Thames21 and the London Borough of Havering.

The aim of the scheme is to work with nature to restore the natural functioning of river catchments, or, where that is not possible, to mimic natural processes.

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Your breed needs you: push to save our rare horses *H&H Plus*

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Thames21 is trialling natural flood management in several areas. The aim is to slow down and store floodwaters at the same time as enhancing the environment for local wildlife.

Land of the Fanns scheme manager Benjamin Sanderson said: “It’s been great to see the heavy horses back at Bedfords Park local nature reserve contributing to this pilot project funded by the Environment Agency.

“Volunteers have also been instrumental in helping to build the dams and also suppporting the monitoring work that is vital to see how effective the scheme is.”

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A Suffolk foal who survived a complicated birth and spent her first 10 days in hospital is now thriving.

Suffolk mare Whatton Jasmine, owned by Tommyshop Farm near King’s Lynn, went into labour on 22 April but veterinary intervention was required when the foal became stuck.

The farm’s head groom Claire Bartarm told H&H seven-year-old Jasmine was around five to six days overdue and noticing she had become “twitchy”, Claire phoned the vet to say she expected her to foal that evening.

“Five minutes later we had a bag, so we didn’t get much warning!” she said. “But it soon became apparent she wasn’t going to push the foal out herself. There was no way.

“We had the two legs and a nose but the mare couldn’t push her any further, the foal was rapidly stuck.”

Claire said the vet arrived and after 40 minutes, Tommyshop Astra was born at 10.30pm. The filly, by Colony Cuthbert, showed signs of being a “dummy foal”; neonatal maladjustment syndrome is a condition caused by oxygen deprivation that can cause a newborn foal to be slow in following expected patterns of behaviour, such as standing or drinking within the normal time-frame.

“She was struggling to get up on her back legs on her own, and while she had an excellent suckle reflex she couldn’t get the jist of tipping her head to feed,” Claire said.

“I milked the mare for the first 24 hours and bottle-fed her but we weren’t making any progress and Astra started to look like she was going downhill.“

The mare and foal were referred to Newmarket Equine Hospital, where Astra underwent plasma infusions and was treated with antibiotics.

“We thought everything was going well then Jasmine developed signs of foaling laminitis,” said Claire. “She was treated with ice boots and painkillers but it was a real worry.”

After 10 days Jasmine and Astra both improved and returned home.

“We kept them in an extra couple of days just to make sure everything was 100% before they came home. Collecting them was the most exciting day,” said Claire.

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“Now they’re just amazing. Jasmine is a first-time mum and she never gave up on her foal, she was so good letting us milk her. Astra is now feeding well and is a little live wire running around.”

Claire said welcoming a filly had been “extra special”, and the foal is the farm’s first for seven years. The farm has five Suffolk mares and is embarking on a breeding programme in the hope of boosting the rare breed’s numbers.

“We are hoping to have two foals next year. The farm’s owner Jackie Taylor also likes them to be used for exercise and working on the farm too so we will also use embryo transfer when we can,” she said.

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A Suffolk foal born on the evening of Prince Philip’s funeral has been named in his honour.

George Paul’s 11-year-old mare Samford Tourmaline, “Tilly”, gave birth to a colt at the Suffolk Punch Trust, where she had gone for foaling, at 9pm on 17 April. The foal is by the trust’s stallion Stockton Boxer.

Mr Paul told H&H the foal’s name, Samford Prince Philip, was a “mark of esteem” to the Duke of Edinburgh, who died on 9 April.

“It seems to have gone down very with people,” he said. “The mare and foal are still at the trust at the moment, it reopens this weekend and there has been so much publicity about him that I thought I would leave them there until after the weekend.”

Mr Paul started breeding Suffolks in 1967, with foundation mare Colony Russet bought from a Suffolk stud, owned by the prison service, which later became the Suffolk Punch Trust.

“I have continued breeding in a small way ever since,” he said. “I just have the one mare at the moment. I’ve had a direct female line since 1967 and she’s a continuation of that line.

Continued below…

Seven equine breeds classed as ‘highest concern’ in Rare Breeds Survival Trust watchlist

The 2021/22 watchlist, published this week (8 April), has been updated with new categories: priority, at risk, UK native breeds

Your breed needs you: push to save our rare horses *H&H Plus*

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“She’s a very good mother and has a wonderful temperament. A two-year-old child could lead her. She’s for ever doing school visits and that sort of thing, she’s a lovely kind mare.”

Mr Paul said Tilly has so far produced three colts and a filly.

“I sold the filly to a man who is establishing a stud in Devon, so I desperately wanted a filly this time, but that’s what I got. He’s a very nice little colt,” he said. “I often keep my foals through the winter and sell them in spring when they’re yearlings so I will find a buyer for him in due course.”

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Societies and enthusiasts are asking “what’s in your paddock” in the hope of finding more breeding-age members of our rarest equine species. H&H finds out more

OWNERS of pure-bred rare-breed horses are urged to consider breeding from them this year as the fight to save our equine heritage goes on.

Five British horse breeds are listed as critical by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, which means there are fewer than 300 registered breeding females: Cleveland Bays, Suffolks, Hackneys, Eriskays and Dales.

Bruce Langley-McKim of Thorpeley Stud, which stands rare-breed stallions, is pushing the catchphrase “Your breed needs you”.

“I’m asking, ‘What’s in your paddock?’” he told H&H. “These breeds are getting rarer and they’re part of our heritage; it’s not right they should die off because we’ve made them redundant and then don’t act to save them.”

Mr Langley-McKim added that if horses change hands, or die, and passports are not updated, they can drop out of the system, so breed societies do not know the full picture.

He also wants to promote the range of jobs the rare-breed horses can excel in. He hunts and has evented his Suffolk stallion Craikhow Hall Jensen to show he can do it, which he thinks is crucial as without a market, especially for the heavier horses, there may be less reason to breed them.

“Otherwise, in 20 years, they’ll be gone,” he said. “We’ve got the tech and the science to keep these breeds going; it can be done, we’ve just got to have people coming forward with horses.”

Cleveland Bay Horse Society council deputy chair Jackie Sparrow told H&H she agrees with the push to breed.

“We’re struggling a bit because people have mares but aren’t breeding them,” she said. “Because they’re critically endangered, we need pure-bred mares to go to pure-bred stallions, and a lot of people may not realise the genetic value of their horses.”

Ms Sparrow said the society found in a survey that there are only 84 mares in the breeding programme in this country, and a total of about 300 worldwide.

“It’s that bad,” she said. “We really need people who have pure-bred mares to think about letting them have a pure-bred foal, naturally or by freezing of embryos or embryo transfer.. The breed is so versatile; they jump, event, do really good dressage and do a lot of endurance in the US.

“We need to know where the mares are. Anyone with one, please contact the society so we can make sure they’re at least in the genetic database.”

Ms Sparrow also urged owners of colts to get in touch, as semen can be preserved from testes after gelding. Tissue banking to harvest DNA from deceased horses for possible future cloning has also recently started.

Suffolk Horse Society chairman Mark Donsworth said the society has just completed a census, in a drive to find out exact numbers, and there are fewer than 70 breeding-age mares left.

“Last year, we bred 32 foals; that’s how critical things are,” he told H&H.

He added that for anyone wary or nervous of breeding, the society has advisers and experts to help at every stage of the process, as well as grants towards breeding, and webinars that will be uploaded to the society’s website early next year.

“We spent £30,000 helping breeders this year; and for anyone with doubts, we’ve got people delighted to help,” he said.

“I can’t tell you how important this is. Suffolks are rarer than giant pandas; there was a suggestion the breed might die out in 10 years if something wasn’t done.

“We’re doing our best and are looking at opportunities like sexed semen to breed fillies, and all sorts of scientific advances, but fundamentally, we need owners and breeders to help us.

“If there’s a mare out there and we can help, it’s crucial.”

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Countryfile’s Adam Henson on raising the profile of Suffolk horses and making a buck from his childhood animals

Visitors to the Cotswold Farm Park, which my late dad Joe founded in 1971 to help protect rare breeds of farm animals, are always impressed by the stature of our Suffolk horses and are amazed by their history. The animals are part of our living heritage; they ploughed the land, provided us with food and kept everything going before tractors.

As a child, my dad worked with heavy horses on the farm and so he had an incredible affinity to them. We used to run heavy horse working courses here with Shires and Ardennes – a heavy European breed that we imported – to keep the skills alive.

Suffolk owner and enthusiast Nigel Oakley gifted me the mare Victoria five years ago to have on show to the public at the farm. I was really keen to help promote the breed because they are so critically rare; it seems like they’re on this helix to extinction.

My livestock manager and I decided we ought to try to breed a Suffolk, and as Victoria was getting a bit old, we bought another called Lexi who was in foal. We followed her story on Countryfile but sadly the foal died two days after birth. It was tragic. Lexi is now back in foal and we’re hoping she’ll foal this spring.

With Countryfile we filmed at Stallion AI Services in Shropshire last year and looked at how they’ve used the process of sexed semen with Suffolks, where female-only sperm is selected to impregnate the mare to increase the number of mares being born.

I’ve heard from the Suffolk Horse Society that after the programme they had a lot of interest with people joining the society and donating money. It’s brilliant that it can help. Draught horses have served us over hundreds of years incredibly well, so it would be a tragic thing if they were lost for ever.

My dad was a great trailblazer and advocate for rare breeds’ conservation back in the late 1960s and early ’70s. I grew up with three older sisters and he gave us all a rare breed as children to help us understand the husbandry and responsibility of looking after those animals. We would go with him to sales and we had a financial interest because if we sold something, half the money would go into our piggy bank and the other half would go into the farm.

The animals that I had initially as a little boy were Exmoor ponies, which are categorised as endangered by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. We now have half a dozen of them here on the farm. On Countryfile I’ve helped gather them up on Exmoor and they’re up there in all conditions; watching them graze gorse and moving those spiny stems around in their mouth is extraordinary.

There’s one Exmoor mare on the farm, May, who is now 28 years old. There was something wrong with her mother so we had to bottle-feed her as a foal and so she is super-friendly.

I always wanted to be a cowboy when I was little, but I was never very good at riding. My dad gave me a spotted pony called Domino with a Western saddle and I used to get about a mile away from home on him, he’d buck me off and then I’d walk home crying.

Because I don’t ride now, when I took part in the Golden Horseshoe Ride – a 160km endurance ride over two days – on Exmoor for Countryfile, I used muscles that I didn’t know existed.

We went out to Australia with the cameras for Countryfile and were rounding up cattle with helicopters in areas people can’t get to. They then dropped me off and I jumped on one of their stock horses, which were like sheepdogs, reacting if they saw a calf or cow about to break from the herd. You had to have your wits about you and make sure you were sitting on well.

Having loved cowboy films as a child that was an amazing experience, like a dream come true.

Ref: Horse & Hound; 3 December 2020

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A healthy Suffolk horse filly has been born thanks to the innovative use of sexed semen to determine her gender.

In the first time the technique has been used to support a rare breed’s survival, the as yet unnamed foal was born to Ruby, owned by Nottingham Trent University, by Mike Clarke’s stallion Holbeach Iggy. Sire and dam were selected based on their genetics as part of a project between The Rare Breed Survival Trust (RBST) and Nottingham Trent University, which “uses pedigree information to enable the breeding of small populations in a way that minimises the risk of inbreeding and genetic decline”.

It was Tullis Matson, owner and managing director of Stallion AI Services and supporter of the RBST, who saw the sexed semen technique as a way to support Britain’s endangered equine breeds.

“To be able to use our reproduction expertise in this way, to help preserve an irreplaceable part of our magnificent heavy horse heritage is something we have been working towards for many years,” he said.

“The challenges have been great and many but watching the birth of this beautiful, healthy filly foal was a truly magical experience.”

The sex-sorting project, carried out in with leading bovine semen sexing companies Cogent and Sexing Technologies, uses specialist equipment to sort the semen before insemination.

RBST chief executive Christopher Price said: “This is tremendous news for anyone concerned with the conservation of our native equines. The most effective way of increasing the population size of this very rare breed is by increasing the number of fillies born.

“The project demonstrates the viability of using new techniques for selecting female foals in order to increase the breeding population much more rapidly than could be achieved through relying on traditional methods. We hope it will prove to be a model for more projects in future.”

There are fewer than 72 female Suffolks in the UK, fewer than 300 in the world, so every mare is crucial to the breed’s future.

Continues below…

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Ruby was inseminated in June last year, but was found not to be in foal. The second attempt, in August, was successful.

Gareth Starbuck, head of animal and equine sciences at Nottingham Trent University, said: “The birth of this foal marks a major step towards securing the future of the Suffolk horse and all other rare animal breeds. We are overjoyed that the 11-month wait has resulted in success and I want to thank everyone who has played a part in it.

“It has been a pleasure to work with the RBST to further develop the process of mare and stallion matching amongst rare breeds.”

Tullis added: “The project required significant financial support and we were incredibly fortunate that all involved parties donated both time and resources and we received substantial financial backing from both the Suffolk Horse Society and the RBST, without which we would have been unable to continue.

“Eleven months on we are delighted to announce the birth of a healthy filly Suffolk foal, whose birth is a beacon of hope not just for the Suffolk horse, but for all critically endangered breeds currently nearing extinction.”

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A Suffolk mare who developed a life-threatening infection after foaling beat the odds to survive and look after her foal.

The Suffolk Punch Trust’s 11-year-old Vumba Deanne delivered a healthy filly by Stockton Boxer on 3 May, but a few days later the mare developed an infection owing to complications caused by a retained placenta. Deanne was treated for the infection but then developed laminitis brought on by toxic shock.

Stud manager Tracey Pettitt told H&H Deanne and her foal, who will be named by the public in a fundraising competition, received round-the-clock care.

“Things like a retained placenta can be deadly, and then for the infection to sadly leave Deanne laminitic was sad,” she said. “It’s just one of those things and Deanne has been incredibly unlucky. She’s had foals before without any complications.

“The main thing is she’s still here when we thought at one point she had little chance of survival. She is free of infection, the laminitis is going the right way and we’re quietly confident she is coming out the other side.”

Tracey said Deanne has been an “exceptional” mother despite her illnesses.

“She is an absolute sweetheart. You can see she’s under the weather but she’s done her best for her foal. She’s a diamond of a mare,” she said.

“We’ve been watching them 24 hours a day on camera and were prepared to bottle-feed if we had to, but it hasn’t come to that. At times when Deanne has been down she’s lifted her hind leg to let her foal nurse from the ground.”

Tracey added Deanne and her filly will remain indoors until the mare is fully recovered but it is hoped they will get to enjoy the summer with the charity’s other new arrivals; Colony Gremlin out of Weatherfield Daisy and by Hasset Haratio, and Colony Gunther out of Colony Vee and by Stockton Boxer.

“The filly has seen Gunther and Gremlin in the foaling barn when they come in at night but we’re just longing for the day all three mares and foals can meet properly and play together,” said Tracey.

“Gunther was named by staff after the character from Friends but Gremlin was named in a earlier competition. We decided with the tough times we are facing right now to hold a fundrasier and allow the public to put a name forward. We are now giving people the chance to name Deanne’s foal too.”

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Tracey said the three foals are “vital” for the breed, which remains on the critically endangered list.

“To have a filly born is amazing and hopefully in the future she will go forward into our breeding programme,” she said.

“We do what we can in respect of breeding and trying to promote the breed by encouraging new owners to come forward. People don’t always realise although they’re a heavy breed, they’ve been proven to do well in a variety of disciplines.”

The competition to name the filly is open until 9 June (www.thesuffolkpunchtrust.co.uk)

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Despite five of the 12 equine breeds on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust 2020/21 watchlist being described as ‘critical’, H&H finds some positive news from those working for the breeds’ futures...

The latest figures on endangered equines “shine a light” on the efforts of those working to save at-risk breeds.

There are 12 equine breeds on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) 2020/21 watchlist, with five of those in the “critical” category, meaning there are fewer than 300 breeding females.

There is some good news among some of the more worrying figures, with several of the most endangered breeds showing positive signs of stabilising and, in some cases, increasing their numbers.

“This year’s watchlist shines a light on the great efforts of rare-equine breeders working alongside RBST,” chief executive of the RBST Christopher Price told H&H.

“It is great to see that, three years into our heavy horse campaign, their numbers are stable with some breeds such as the Suffolk showing an increase.”

He added there is also positive news for the Cleveland Bay, which has an estimated 98 breeding females registered in total.

“In 2019, 18 [new] females were registered, whereas in 2016 just five were registered,” Mr Price said.

“This is a really important improvement but the breed remains in a critical position and so our efforts to safeguard their future continue, in close collaboration with the Cleveland Bay Horse Society.

“These increases are heartening, but they are in the context of generally declining numbers of rare-breed ponies and horses over the past decade.”

In 2011, H&H reported the number of hackney breeding mares had dropped from 500 to around 300, which has more than halved again during the past nine years.

“The five breeds in our critical category have very low numbers, with hackney horse numbers declining further to an estimated breeding number of 129 and the Eriskay breed only registering four female foals in 2019,” he added. “The two endangered breeds – Exmoor ponies and Dartmoor ponies – have both decreased in number.”

He added the RBST has vital conservation programmes under way to save breeds most at risk and thanked all those who support this “crucial work”.

Barbara Stockton, of the Hackney Horse Society, has been exhibiting and breeding hackneys since the 1970s, judging for the past 30 years, and spent five years as the society’s chairman.

“Obviously the decline is incredibly sad,” she told H&H. “The picture we see as a breed society is possibly slightly different to the RBST – we are actually seeing [overall] registrations increasing slowly, but surely.”

She added there was one very low year in the past five years with about 25 new registrations, but the 2019 totals are around 62.

Gene pool mapping work is being done by the RBST and Mrs Stockton added one of the pluses of the breed is owners tend to keep the stallions entire, unless there is a reason for them to be cut.

“I have been a fan of the horses for so many years and I cannot understand why a horse with so many great attributes isn’t taken on by more people,” she said. “They are incredibly athletic, their stamina is amazing and are a naturally elegant, beautiful breed.”

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The birth of a “special” rare breed foal has helped lift spirits during “dark days”.

Pauline and Clive Wainwright welcomed Suffolk colt Coppermantle Big Stig from their five-year-old mare Horkesley Park Faith on 8 March.

Pauline told H&H Stig, who is the first Suffolk foal to be born in the UK this year, was bred in memory of the couple’s daughter, Emma, who died of cancer aged 27 in 2006.

“Emma was doing a PhD at the University of Cambridge studying molecular genetics in lowland mountain gorillas,” she said.

“Obviously we’ll never be able to put a gorilla back on the planet, but it is wonderful to have bred a Suffolk foal – Emma would be really proud.”

Pauline, who began riding aged 53, said she and her husband fell in love with Suffolks a few years ago when visiting the Suffolk Punch Trust.

“My husband isn’t horsey at all, but we decided to do some heavy horse courses with the breeder Nigel Oakley at Rede Hall Farm,” she said. While we were there we fell in love with a filly called Faith who was a livery, but she wasn’t for sale at the time.

“We became smitten with the breed and started going to shows where there would be Suffolks. In July 2016 Nigel approached us and told us Faith was for sale – we couldn’t resist and within the week she was ours.”

Pauline said Nigel suggested they put Faith in foal and they had her covered by Springtime Earl, owned by Keith Cracknell

“Faith is liveried at Nigel’s and he has been a big part of this. Faith is an absolute treasure, she is the most easy-going, affectionate mare,” she said.

“We named the foal Stig after a Hungarian Vizsla we bought when Emma was ill. We lost him three years ago, he was a real character and Stig is already proving to be the same sort of character – it’s like he’s been here before. He is so charismatic and special. It’s such dark days at the moment we need anything that can lift our spirits, and he certainly does that.”

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Pauline said she and Clive are still deciding on Stig’s future plans but said helping the breed means a lot to them.

“Had we had a filly we were going to call her Emma and would have kept her to breed, but as we’ve been thrown the challenge of a colt it’s going to depend what his confirmation is like as he gets older whether we keep him as a stallion – we will wait and see.

“He is a living memorial to Emma and at the same time we’re doing our little bit for the conservation of a critically endangered species. We really want to help this breed, we can’t lose these horses.”

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Two rare breed horses have lent their strength to a flood protection project at a country park.

Chelmsford-based Hawthorn Heavy Horses’ 16.2hh Suffolk, Roy, and 18.2hh Shire Joe provided their assistance last week at Essex County Council’s new natural flood management scheme at Thorndon Country Park, Essex.

Roy and Joe replaced machinery by pulling logs into the park, a protected woodland, where ‘leaky dams’ are being installed on two tributaries at Old Hall Pond. The dams are a form of natural flood management which helps allow the slow flow of water in times of heavy rainfall and reduce flood risk to residential properties downstream in West Horndon.

Matt Waller, who runs Hawthorn Heavy Horses with his wife Claudia, told H&H 10-year-old Roy and 16-year-old Joe know their jobs well.

“We’ve had Roy since he was two, he started his training and began working commercially at five. There’s not many Suffolks who work commercially, they tend to be more used for showing and riding, so it’s nice to be supporting the breed in this way,” he said.

“Roy is very steady and he’s quite quirky. He likes his food and will stop and take a nibble on something at any opportunity he can.”

Matt said Roy and Joe each have their own “little specialisms”.

“Joe has longer legs so he works faster over long distances whereas Roy is a bit slower so we use him for shorter work. Roy is also used for the steeper work; because he’s two hands shorter he’s got a better sense of gravity to get up and down and is more comfortable doing that than Joe.”

Matt Butcher, project lead and environment manager for the Environment Agency, told H&H heavy horses were a perfect fit for the work at the sensitive woodland site.

“Using dump trucks and excavators could have caused a lot of damage whereas using heavy horses meant we could get right into the tightest woodland that we needed to without leaving a trace,” he said.

“The horses are usually used for logging and pulling trees out of the woods but we asked them to pull the logs into the woods so we were using the skills they already had and applying them in a slightly different way.”

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Matt said the horses had been an excellent addition to the project and the council plans to work with Hawthorn Heavy Horses on other projects in future.

“The park is a really popular open space and with it being half-term we’ve had lots of interest from people with their children interacting with the horses and learning about them,” he said.

“It’s been a real talking point and allows people to come into contact with horses doing something you don’t see every day.”

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A rare Suffolk mare who featured on BBC’s Countryfile has been scanned in foal from sexed semen, thanks to innovative technology.

The 14-day scan confirmed Euston Ruby is pregnant, as a result of insemination using equine breeding technology at Stallion AI Services.

It was a second attempt to use the technology to inseminate the five-year-old mare after the first proved unsuccessful, as shown on the episode of Countryfile aired on 14 July.

In a first for rare breeds, “female” sperm cells were selected, giving a 96% chance of a filly foal, as mares are so important for the breed’s future survival.

“Stallion AI Services, Cogent Breeding Ltd, Twemlows Stud Farm, the Suffolk Horse Society and Nottingham Trent University have been working together to protect the critically endangered Suffolk breed and are thrilled to announce the pregnancy,” a spokesman for Stallion AI Services said.

There are fewer than 500 Suffolks registered in the UK, with some 70 breeding mares and about 30 listed and licensed stallions. There were 29 live foals born this year.

“What this technology can do for all rare breeds is outstanding,” said Stallion Ai Services’ managing director Tullis Matson. “Hopefully this may be a way to stop these breeds from disappearing.”

Owing to the limited number of breeding animals, Stallion AI Services and Twemlows Stud Farm have been working with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust using specialist services to protect and preserve the breed.

For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.

In tomorrow’s edition (29 August) don’t miss all the in-depth reports and analysis on the dressage, para dressage and showjumping European Championships. Also in this edition, you will find our full Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials preview; Mark Todd walks us around the 2019 cross-country track, plus take a look at the dressage test and don’t forget your copy of the course map.

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The owner of a Suffolk mare who “flew” round her first course of showjumps hopes to raise awareness of the breed’s versatility.

Jessica Miller from Cornwall had been competing in showing classes at the Gwennap riding club annual show on Sunday (4 August) with 17.2hh mare Katy when her 13-year-old daughter, April, asked to take the mare into the 70cm showjumping class.

“It was a very spontaneous decision,” Jessica told H&H.

“Katy has done some little jumps at home made from tyres, but she’s never seen a coloured pole and she absolutely flew round. They came fifth – I was over the moon.”

Jessica, who also owns a 14-month Suffolk colt Wyatt, said she became interested in the breed after volunteering at the Shire Horse Trust in Cornwall last year where she helped train young horses.

“There was a Suffolk stallion at the farm called Geronimo and I fell in love,” said Jessica.

“I saw an advert for Wyatt as a six-month foal and his mother was related to Geronimo so I made the trip to Wales buy him. After that I kept thinking imagine if I could find a mare for sale and eventually set up a breeding programme.”

In April Jessica saw a for sale advert online for Katy and took her home the day after viewing her in Devon.

“When I saw her in the stable she had so much presence – she was huge. I was so excited,” said Jessica.

“Once Wyatt is mature I would like to breed him with Katy. I also have my eye on buying some more Suffolks in the future.”

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Jessica said she would like to set up a riding centre in the future with Suffolks.

“I previously ran a small riding school and I’d like to set up again and include carriage rides. With Suffolks being a rare breed I believe it will be something people would really like to come and do,” she said.

“It’s great seeing Suffolks out competing and doing things like dressage and jumping. It adds versatility to the breed – if they’re promoted doing other activities then hopefully it will encourage more people to own them.”

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A Suffolk stallion left people in “awe” as he completed a one-day event at Burghley.

Bruce Langley McKim, of the family-run Thorpeley Irish Draught and Rare Breed Stud in Market Harborough, and 16.3hh Craikhow Hall Jensen took part in the 80cm class at the event at Burghley Park, run by the Burghley branch of the Pony Club last Saturday (13 July).

Bruce told H&H Jensen’s “claim to fame” is being the first Suffolk stallion to compete at the iconic venue.

“We made our way to the dressage arena and everyone was staring. People were taking photographs and were in awe of the ‘big ginger warrior’,” said Bruce.

“We did an above average test and scored mostly sixes and sevens with a score of 39.2. We had a couple of poles down in the showjumping but he was getting in the air much better than he has previously.”

Bruce and Jensen then jumped clear across country.

“Jensen thoroughly enjoyed it – he didn’t look at anything. We did a bit of trotting in places, but he’s not designed for galloping,” said Bruce.

“When we completed, some of the Pony Club kids had a sit on him in the lorry park and had their photographs taken.”

The event is Jensen’s second this season.

“We took part at a Pony Club one-day event at Rolleston on 30 June where we had a 38.9 dressage, a few poles showjumping and one run-out at a skinny in the cross-country. We weren’t the worst dressage score, or the slowest time,” said Bruce.

“You wouldn’t know he’s a stallion when you take him to events – he’s so chilled out, he even covered a mare the day before Burghley. He has a covering bridle and a separate exercise bridle – when he sees it’s the exercise bridle he knows there’s work to be done and doesn’t get silly.”

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Bruce plans to do some more events and team chasing as he campaigns to show the breed is “not just a plough horse”.

“He’s really turned heads and I think the message is getting out there,” said Bruce. “People have been asking if Jensen is a pure Suffolk – we’re making people realise there’s more to the breed.

“There’s no reason we can’t utilise pure Suffolks without refining them. I’m not trying to refine the breed into a sport horse. You can take a gypsy cob and you see people competing them, they still need the same amount of fitness and conditioning – why can’t you do that with a Suffolk?”

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A police force has welcomed a critically rare Suffolk horse as its latest recruit after she successfully passed her training.

The nine-year-old mare, Rose, passed the recruitment process on 19 June and joins the Police Scotland mounted unit.

Sergeant Lesley Winchester told H&H the force was “quite taken” with the 16.3hh mare when she arrived at the unit’s headquarters, Blairfield Farm, in Kilmarnock.

“We thought she was huge. She’s very wide – she might not be the tallest at 16.3hh but she’s very big built and will certainly make a good impression and have presence on patrol,” said the sergeant.

“She has the right temperament; she’s friendly and has good stable manners. She wasn’t fazed by the nuisance training with things like flags and plastic sheeting on the ground.”

Rose was owned and bred by Bill Ireland and spent her early years in the show ring with producer Richard Telford before it was decided she needed “a more varied life” and she was put forward to Police Scotland.

“We have some retirements coming up so we’ve been looking for horses to increase our establishment,” said Sergeant Winchester.

“There’s a lot of horses that come in and go straight back out – they’re just not suitable. It takes a special type of horse to make the grade; it’s a long list to tick off, but the temperament is the big one – and being good in traffic and noisy crowds. After a trial period it’s still a work-in-progress and they still have more training to go through.”

Sergeant Winchester said the force was “delighted” to have a rare breed join the stables.

“We appreciate they are a critically endangered breed and we hope to make Rose into a good police horse. It’s a good thing for the breed, which has many uses,” she said.

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“She’s come at the right time and we think she’ll adapt quite quickly. We’ll build up her work gradually and she’ll attend some of the lower profile football matches to start. We don’t like to throw our horses into too much too soon.”

Rose has been assigned to PC Fiona Campbell and will be assigned an official police horse name.

“All our horses are named after places in Scotland so she will receive that soon,” said Sergeant Winchester.

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The critically endangered population of Britain’s oldest draught breed has received a boost with the birth of a prized filly.

The Suffolk, who has been named Dawley Flossie of Foy, was born at Thorpeley Stud and is by Bruce Langley-McKim’s stallion Craikhow Hall Jensen out of Dawley Freya Of Foy.

In order for the breed to survive, around 40 foals need to be born each year, but in 2018 just 26 were registered.

This year, numbers are already up with 34 foals on the ground, evenly split between 17 colts and 17 fillies.

“We’re desperately short of fillies, so the more born the better,” said Bruce, who was donated the mare and her daughter Dawley Duchess Of Foy to use for breeding by Mr and Mrs Parker from Hereford.

“Freya foaled out in the field as she’s a big mare, with me up watching all night,” he said. “The foal was already sold 10 months ago and I already have two buyers lined up for foals next year.”

Bruce said his stallion had become “a bit of an international playboy” since hitting H&H and the national press when he took him out hunting last year — an unusual occupation for such a heavy draught breed.

The impulsive purchase of the imposing 10-year-old has propelled Bruce, who already had an interest in native draughts, into the world of Suffolk breeding.

“When I spotted him, what I saw was a big man’s hunter,” he said. “If you were breeding with a bog standard Suffolk, you wouldn’t know if they can jump, but he can do the job, which makes him attractive.”

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Bruce now plans to put him forward for Sport Horse Breeding of Great Britain grading next year, which would make him the first Suffolk on their books, and believes he will be useful in producing true heavyweights for the show ring.

“People have been coming to use him left, right and centre — as well as Suffolk breeders we’ve put him to two or three thoroughbreds, an Irish hunter and I have a warmblood by Indoctro in foal to him. He’s useful for cross-breeding if you want a big horse that can operate.

“He lived on a farm before I bought him not doing very much and now he’s become the Susan Boyle of the equestrian world!” he added.

In 2018 the Rare Breed Survival Trust placed Suffolks third on the list for critically endangered horses, with projections suggesting the breed could become extinct by 2027.

The increase in mechanisation after the second World War saw numbers dwindle, and the population currently stands at around 300 to 400 horses in the UK.

The Suffolk Horse Society currently offer incentives to breeders in a bid to boost numbers to sustainable levels.

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The way new technology is helping save rare breeds of horses is set to feature on Countryfile.

Presenter Adam Henson, who owns a Suffolk mare, visited Stallion AI Services in Shropshire to look at the pioneering science that is being used to help save endangered breeds, such as the Suffolk horse.

“I feel very fortunate as this is now the third time they have been to see us now,” founder and managing director Tullis Matson told H&H.

He added that the programme is watched by so many, which is a great way of highlighting the work going on with rare breeds and in this particular episode, Suffolk Horses.

While Mr Matson could not give too many details away, the stallion centre and neighbouring Twemlows Stud Farm work at the cutting edge of breeding science.

Twemlows is the “mares side” of the two businesses, while Stallion AI Services is home to both top sport horse sires and rare breed stallions while they carry out their breeding duties.

Both businesses have been working with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust in using specialist services to ensure the Suffolk — and other rare breeds — are protected and preserved.

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There are under 500 Suffolk horses registered in the UK, including fewer than 73 breeding females and 34 listed and licensed stallions.

This year there have been only 29 live foals and the breed is classed as “critical” on the RBST watchlist, which monitors the estimated number of breeding females producing pure-bred offspring in the UK.

The programme, which is set to air on BBC One on 14 July, features stallion Thornfield Pendragon and mare Easton Ruby.

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A breeder has welcomed the birth of three Suffolk foals this season as he hopes to boost numbers of the rare breed.

Adrian Hoskins from Buckinghamshire, a former thoroughbred breeder, welcomed a colt and two fillies last month.

Adrian, who bought his first Suffolk mare in 2015, told H&H he is keen to keep the breed lines diversified and all three foals are unrelated.

“People say breeding Suffolks is hard, they can be difficult to get in foal because they’re such big horses, though mine have been quite good and all took first time,” said Adrian.

“I chose mares as far genetically removed as I could get. Each of my mares is a different line and they went to a different stallion. It would have been easier to use the same stallion but I split them up so I would have the diversity.”

Colt Edgehill Bumble, by Hollbeach Iggy, was born on 11 May out of Holbeache Honey. Edgehill Bellflower, by Hessett Horation, was born on 28 May out of Millgreen Midnight Rose, and Edgehill Baroness Beatrix by Shotleyfield Dazzling Duke was born on 31 May out of Gateridge Imogen.

Adrian, who owns five Suffolk mares and two yearlings, plans to sell the colt Bumble, and hopes to breed from at least one of the fillies in the future.

“The aim is to have a herd by all different lines. It’s difficult to do; because there are so few they’re all over the country and it can become quite costly,” said Adrian.

“There has been press about how few Suffolks there are, but people tend not to breed from them.”

Adrian plans to show his Suffolks and says the idea that they are just work horses has gone “out of the window”.

“I’ll show the youngsters I have this year, and once the foals are weaned they’ll be shown next year. I have a mare who sadly lost a foal in January, and she’ll be broken to drive this year,” he said.

“There are people doing dressage and hunting with Suffolks. They’re getting a bigger profile but we’re at a critical stage where there is only a limited number of them. So far there have been 25 Suffolk foals born this year, and only 11 fillies which doesn’t help the situation.”

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Adrian said the three foals are doing well.

“They’re very inquisitive and growing really quickly. They’re all out in the field together; the mums are really good but the foals sometimes get a bit confused – yesterday two were at one mare and the mum was looking like ‘which one is mine?’,” said Adrian.

“I would like to ultimately have a herd of between six and eight mares to breed from but the mares are really difficult to come by, people don’t want to part with them understandably.”

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A breeder hopes to show that the Suffolk horse is “more than just a plough horse” by completing a one-day-event.

Bruce Langley Kim of the family-run Thorpeley Irish Draught and Rare Breed Stud in Market Harborough told H&H he recently took 16.3hh stallion Craikhow Hall Jensen, who weighs more than a ton, cross-country schooling for a “giggle” with his girlfriend, Georgie Burrin.

“We decided to take Jensen and my Irish draught stallion Carrigfada Diamond to the cross-country course up the road to have a play and let them enjoy themselves,” said Bruce.

“All my stallions standing at stud need to have fun and enjoy their lives, and Jensen thrives on work. The more you work him the better he is and he enjoys being out.”

Bruce said Jensen “loved” the jumping and is a “natural” at it.

Bruce is now aiming for the 70cm class at the Gawcott unaffiliated one-day-event near Buckingham on 16 June with 11-year-old Jensen, who made national news last year after making his debut on the hunting field at Illston and now regularly hunts with the Cottesmore.

“We had been at a hunter trials and we joked I could ride Jensen at something. A few days later I got a text from Georgie saying she had entered me for Gawcott,” said Bruce.

“Dressage will be interesting. It will be very basic, but it will be fun. Showjumping he’s popped coloured fences; we’re taking him schooling next week and he’ll have another spin cross-country before the event.”

Bruce, who bought Jensen in 2017, said despite the jokes he wants to show that Suffolk horses are versatile and warned that the breed, which is on the endangered list, has to adapt in order to survive.

“I’m not a heavy horse person but when I first saw Jensen I saw a smart model of a gent’s heavy hunter, I saw conformation and bone. We weren’t sure Suffolks would fit in with what we were doing at the stud but when I saw Jensen I said ‘we’re having him’,” he said.

“My theory is you don’t plough any more with horses so you’ve got to give them another job. With Jensen being as athletic and genuine as he is he can show that these big horses do have another job.

“If we don’t do something to keep them going they’re going to die out – it’s that simple.”

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Bruce said 10 mares, including a warmblood, are currently in foal to Jensen, whom he described as “soft as a kitten”.

“The breed has to diversify. I don’t want them to be any smaller, or lighter-framed – I don’t want to lose what a Suffolk horse is, but we need to reinvent it,” said Bruce.

“People often think of a great big, overweight, ginger cob when they think of Suffolks. Jensen has got condition – but he is lean and fit as a fiddle. That’s what the breed can do – they don’t have to be bulbous, it’s just how the breed has been portrayed.

“People are starting to think outside the box now when they see what I’m doing and think ‘I do want a horse with a lot more bone, I do want one with quality conformation’.”

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A rare breed horse with feet “the size of dinner plates” has travelled more than 1,000 miles to return to the UK.

Tallyho, a 14-year-old Suffolk horse of about 18hh who was transported to Mallorca in 2006 has returned home to Coxwell Stud.

Heather Glockling, who owns the stud with husband David, told H&H: “My parents bred Tallyho in 2005. He was seen by a Mallorcan lady when he was a foal at a show and she bought him and took him home.

“He was broken in to drive and every Sunday he would drive around the island. He worked on a farm and would appear at children’s parties and festivals.”

Around 2012 following a change in the owner’s circumstances Tallyho was taken into the care of another person temporarily. When he returned, he was “not in good way”.

In 2018 the owner took the decision to rehome Tallyho back to the UK.

“There had been severe weather, the harvest failed and the grass hadn’t come through. The mosquitos were attacking other horses too but there was nowhere off the island to move him to,” said Heather.

“The owner wanted to do what was best for him so she contacted my parents. They didn’t have room for a gelding at their stud so my husband and I paid for him to come to us.”

Tallyho arrived on 12 March and has started to put on weight.

“He is doing really well,“ Heather said. “He’s very calm and quiet and takes everything in his stride, and his feet are the size of dinner plates.”

Heather plans to show Tallyho this year and drive him.

“We’ve entered him into the Suffolk show in May, my daughters Leona and Jasmine are going to do young handler classes with him. They’re really small but he’s very gentle and loves his cuddles,” she said.

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“We have another young Suffolk gelding so we are going to use Tallyho to help teach him to drive. We’ve been invited to the British Carriage Driving trials at Sandringham in June in the heavy horse section.”

Heather said members of the public are welcome to meet Tallyho at the stud.

“Coxwell Stud is on Facebook for anyone interested in following his journey and we would love people to come and meet him or speak to us at shows if they want any information on the breed.”

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Efforts to save the Suffolk horse from extinction have taken an international turn as genetics from a popular rare breed stallion are sent in New Zealand.

Frozen semen from Suffolk stallion Craikhow Hall Jensen is in the process of being imported to New Zealand.

Breeding specialists EquiBreed NZ revealed the news yesterday (10 August).

“We are thrilled to announced this semen is also for sale and should be with us early in the breeding season,” a company spokesman said on social media.

“As well as boosting the [Suffolk horse] gene pool in NZ, we think he would make a fabulous cross with other heavy horse breeds, or over thoroughbreds etc perhaps to breed hunting types.”

The spokesman added that the company has been working with “a dedicated group of rare breed enthusiasts”, including the Suffolk Horse Society, Stallion AI Services, the Thorpley Irish Draught and Rare Breed Stud and the Clydesdale Horse Society of New Zealand.

Craikhow Hall Jensen, owned by Bruce Langley McKim, hit the headlines on his hunting debut with the Fernie last winter.

The nine-year-old chestnut has also been helping to preserve the breed in the UK — as well as standing at Thorpeley Stud, he has also spent time at Stallion AI Services so his semen can be collected and preserved.

This is part of a joint venture between the horses’ owners, the stallion centre, the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) and the Suffolk Horse Society.

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Tullis Matson, managing director of Stallion AI Services and RBST trustee, told H&H the move to export Suffolk horse genetics to New Zealand is “really exciting”.

“There are only 72 breeding females left in the country and only 300 in the world,” he said, adding that he hopes to export semen to the US and Australia in the near future.

“I was at a Livestock Conservancy meeting in America recently [where it was discussed that] one of the only ways we can try to protect the Suffolk horse is to spread their genetic pool around the world.”

He added while there are “a lot of hoops to jump through”, Stallion AI Services is experienced in exporting semen across the world and understands the import, export and biosecurity measures that go with shipping semen internationally.

The RBST has also welcomed the news.

“We are very pleased to hear that Craikhow Hall Jensen will be helping to increase genepool diversity within the registered Suffolk horse population in New Zealand,” RBST field officer Richard Broad told H&H.

The Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand added this is “one more wonderful step” towards reviving the Suffolk horse in New Zealand.

“Thank you to Lee of Equibreed NZ Ltd, not only for arranging these straws of the most amazing stallion, but for her belief in the [Suffolk horse’s] place in NZ.”

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“Urgent action” is needed to save three British heavy horse breeds from extinction, the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) has warned.

The RBST has launched an appeal for support in its efforts to protect Shire horses, Clydesdale horses and Suffolk horses, numbers of which are “worryingly low”.

Last year, 240 Shire, 199 Clydesdale and just 25 Suffolk pedigree foals were registered.

“These numbers are in stark contrast to the 2.6 million heavy horses being used in agriculture and trade at the dawn of the 20th century,” said an RBST spokesman

“The mechanisation of farming and warfare has meant the original purposes of heavy horses may be a thing of the past, but these large horses have an essential role to play today, including in the army, policing, equine therapy and commercial logging.”

The RBST, the only UK charity dedicated to preserving rare farm animal and equine breeds, has created a video celebrating the heavy horse, and a fundraising appeal.

“These working class heavy horse heroes need our help now so that they can survive and thrive in the future, said trust president Jimmy Doherty.

The film celebrates the breeds’ “crucial” roles in agriculture, transport and war, in Britain and abroad, as well as their uses today.

“These breeds of horse reflect human developments and accomplishments across centuries,” said the spokesman.

“Our use of horses throughout history alone dictates that they are just as worthy of conservation as any other breed, landscape, stately home or historic monument.”

A major aspect of the RBST’s work is collecting genetic material, which is stored in the UK National Livestock Gene Bank, “making it possible to re-create a breed if extinction occurs”.

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The Suffolk Horse Society’s Nigel Oakley said: “We, as a generation, are custodians of our rare breed heavy horses.

“We should not let down our grandchildren’s children and allow the breeds to become extinct. We are responsible.”

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New foals are always special but none is more so than Kelsale June, a Suffolk filly born in Saxmundham in May.

Owners Jackey and Trevor Phillips lost their first foal born last year under their prefix at just three weeks old.

Kelsale May had a heart problem, which worsened as she grew causing much heartache for her owners when she died.

Her mother, Withersfield Daisy, is fit and well and currently at stud and hoped to have a foal next year.

The latest arrival is the first foal for the couple’s other mare Colony Zeta but she has taken to motherhood straight away.

Zeta proved a natural mother, giving birth on her own by the time the vet arrived.

The pretty filly has been named Kelsale June after Trevor’s mother, not the month she was born.

She was up and suckling quickly and is growing fast.

A forward lady, friendly and confidant she has been nicknamed Sunny “because she’s such a ray of sunshine”.

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Her sire is the stately Shotleyfield Dazzling Duke, who has been a dominant force in the stallion showing classes recently.

The Phillips have decided to keep June and hopefully breed from her in future to help safeguard Suffolk horse numbers.

According to the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) last year there were just 15 filly foals registered and only 10 colts.

The rare Suffolk horse is registered as critical with the RBST with only 80 registered breeding mares.

Beth Fernley, RBST press officer described June’s arrival “as brilliant news.”

“We at the Rare Breeds Survival Trust are over the moon to hear of the arrival of Kelsale June. Last year on our Danger List of rare breed farm animals and equines we recorded that only 15 Suffolk filly foals were registered. We wish her and her owners Jackey and Trevor every good wish,” she said.

In this week’s Horse & Hound magazine, out on Thursday 28 June 2018, don’t miss our full report from the Hickstead Derby meeting, including all the showjumping and showing action, plus don’t miss our six-page report from Royal Ascot.

We also have a feature on the much discussed whip rules across the disciplines and in this week’s ‘Vet clinic’ we find out how to spot the signs of sand colic.

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A rare Suffolk foal is capturing hearts at a Dorset sanctuary.

Lilly Rose, who was born on 12 June at Dorset Heavy Horse Farm Park, is helping educate visitors about the rare breed.

Taya Street from the centre told H&H it has gone from having no Suffolk horses to three in a matter of months.

“We were looking for a Suffolk punch at the start of the winter,” said Taya, explaining that the park had recently lost its old Suffolk due to old age.

“We found a pair together in Liverpool — Abby Rose, who was in foal, and another Suffolk named Uno.

“We brought back Uno to work on the farm and by the time we got back we thought ‘we can’t leave the other behind’.

“We went and brought Abby Rose back and are able to offer them a home for life.”

Abby Rose and her foal (Lilly Rose) are both doing well. Once she is weaned, Abby Rose will return to work at the farm.

Taya added that while these are working horses, staff do hope they will breed again.

The centre promotes heavy horses and educates visitors about the history of the breeds.

“Working heavy horses aren’t an everyday sight these days,” she said, adding it is important to teach children about why these horses are special.

“To them these are just horses — they have no idea of the history.

“It is a real eye-opener for them. We plant the seed of interest to the young generation in the hope they do come on board.”

The Suffolk is rarer than the giant panda, with an estimated 73-75 breeding mares left in the UK.

The Rare Breed Survival Trust and Suffolk Horse Society are planning significant investment in genetic research to help preserve the breed.

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The Suffolk Punch Trust also welcomed a filly in April — Colony Dot, known as “Little Dot”.

​“We have had other foals born this year, but this is the first one belonging to the trust, so we are very excited,” said Suffolk Punch Trust manager Tracey Pettitt.

Dorothy will stay with the Suffolk Punch Trust breeding program to help boost the numbers of this critically endangered horse.

Emma Grace, stud groom at the trust, said she Little Dot is “very kind natured” with a laid-back temperament.

“Within an hour of labour she was born and up on her toes, she is a shy but curious little filly; often wondering what is going on and sticking her nose into places,” she said.

“Visitors are so pleased and excited, we are over the moon.”

Jackey Phillips, who has been involved with the breed since the 1990s, has started a Suffolk breeding programme with her two mares.

Sadly her first homebred died this year due to a heart problem, but Mrs Phillips has had confirmation that this was not congenital or genetic and hopes to breed from the mare again. She is also hoping to have a foal from her other mare next year.

“We as Britons — as humans — owe them an awful lot,” she told H&H.

“They were pulling gun carriages for us in both wars and keeping the country going with farming — it would be criminal if we did not keep our end up and try to keep the breed going.

“We would lose something precious if we lost the Suffolk Punch.”

For more news on Suffolk horses and what recent shocking statistics mean in real terms, don’t miss this week’s H&H — out Thursday (6 July).

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Fans of heavy horses will be heading to Nottinghamshire this spring, as the county’s show is the only one in the country to hold classes for all breeds of heavy horse.

At this year’s Nottinghamshire County Show (9-10 May) there will be separate in-hand classes for Clydesdale horses, Suffolk Punch, Shire horses and Percherons — and all breeds will compete together in the turnout classes.

The show also is hosting a qualifier event for Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) shire of the year in 2015 after a break last year.

Entries are expected from all over the country for the qualifier — which was last held at the show in 2013.

Liz Lambert has attended the show for more than 40 years and is now the chief steward of the heavy horse classes.

She feels it is important to keep heavy horses a regular feature of county shows.

“It is important to maintain the future of the heavy horse classes and keep that aspect of county shows alive,” said Mrs Lambert.

“The Suffolk in particular is an endangered breed and there are very limited numbers or opportunities for them to be showed to the public and compete.”

Heavy horse breeders travel from Scotland, Kent, Hampshire and Wales who want to take part.

Jayne Olney, showground manager said: “This is an exciting year for the equestrian world as we host the shire horse of the year qualifier.

“We want the show to be perceived as having those traditional classes but also moving with the times and sharing the Nottinghamshire Country show’s history with a modern audience.”

The 132nd show is open from 8am-6pm on both Saturday 9 May and Sunday 10 May. Tickets are £15 on the gate, £10 online or over the phone.

For more information visit www.nottinghamshirecountyshow.com

The largest gathering of shire horses in Britain can be seen at the Shire Horse Society show at Arena UK in Lincolnshire on 21-22 March.

More than 250 shire horses from across Europe are expected, as well as spectators from around the globe.

“It is the chance to celebrate a breed that was once in danger of dying out but is now experiencing a resurgence in popularity, both as a working animal and a riding horse,” said Shire Horse Society secretary David Ralley-Davies.

Adult day tickets cost £8 in advance, £6 for under 12s and seniors.

For more information visit: www.shire-horse.org.uk

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A family of rare donkeys and a pair of Suffolk heavy horses have been taken in by Redwings.

A pair of very hairy Poitou donkeys (one pictured top) and their young foals (one pictured left) arrived on 29 August at the charity’s Warwickshire base.

The donkeys came from a Redwings volunteer, who was no longer able to care for them.

One, called Adel, had been rescued from the meat trade in Italy. The other, Millie, is a full registered Poitou donkey, a rare breed also known as the Baudet that originates in France.

The breed faced extinction in the Seventies with only 77 left in the world, but numbers are now up to 400 following a campaign to save them.

The donkeys are one of the largest breed in the world with adults growing to 14hh-15hh.

The 16hh Suffolk geldings, Wilf and Stanley (pictured right), were found in a tiny barn in Norfolk. Both were seven years old, had poor feet and one was suffering from severe sweet itch.

The Suffolk horse is on the critical list of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust watch list.

“We feel so privileged to have two such stunning chaps in our care,” said Redwings field officer Julie Harding.

The charity hopes the rare heavy horses will be soon be able to go to one of its visitor centres so supporters can see them close-up.

For more information visit www.redwings.org.uk

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A rare Suffolk Punch foal, who had to be fostered when her mother died (17 July), returned home to the Suffolk Punch Trust at Hollesley in Suffolk earlier this week.

When six-year-old Colony Tamzin died shortly after giving birth to the unnamed filly an urgent search was launched to find a foster mother.

Luckily The Newmarket Foster Mare Company was able to help and recommended thoroughbred ex-eventer Lilly.

Experienced foster mum Lilly, who has fostered five foals before, took to her task quickly and a close bond has formed.

Suffolk Punch Trust head groom Tracey Pettitt said: “It’s brilliant to see how Lilly has completely adopted the foal, who in turn is doing very well and is quite feisty!

“They are now outside in their paddock and are proving a big attraction to our visitors — possibly an even bigger draw than all the piglets which have recently been born here to our three large black sows.

“We’re so pleased as she is the third filly foal to have been born here so far this year.”

Her progress is excellent news for the breed as there are only 410 Suffolk Punch horses in existence.

To support the Suffolk Punch Trust visit www.suffolkpunchtrust.org or call 01394 411327.

For more information about The Newmarket Foster Mare Company visit www.newmarketfostermarecompany.co.uk

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A rare Suffolk Punch filly, whose mother died within minutes of giving birth early on Sunday (17 July) morning, has been introduced to her new Connemara foster mother.

Following the death of the Suffolk Punch mare of complications during foaling, urgent appeals from The Hollesley Bay Colony Stud for help were answered by a fostering business, The Newmarket Foster Mare Company.

However the filly, which is yet to be named, is far from out of the woods according to general manager Jo Cresdee.

She said: “She is still having blood transfusions and has low immunity levels, she really did not get enough colostrum.

“The treatment she is undergoing is running into the thousands currently, we are always grateful for any donation.”

Head groom Tracey Pettitt said: “Her survival is particularly important as this is a filly foal, so it’s about the future of the breed.”

The Hollesley Bay Colony Stud own and care for 10% of the breeding population of Suffolk Punch Horses.

Of the 410 Suffolk Punch Horses in existence there are approximately 120 breeding animals.

To support the Suffolk Punch Trust visit www.suffolkpunchtrust.org or call 01394 411327.

For more information about The Newmarket Foster Mare Company visit www.newmarketfostermarecompany.co.uk

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Visitors to a new equine centre opening near Woodbridge, in Suffolk, will be offered an insight into one of the world’s most endangered breeds — the Suffolk Punch.

The £1.8 million learning and heritage centre, due to open on 23 March, is part of the Suffolk Punch Hollesley Bay Colony Stud.

The centre has been funded by the Suffolk Punch Horse Trust, which launched in 2002 to expand the Suffolk Punch breed and provide education about their heritage.

“We have two superb circular walks which take you around the stud,” said manager Krystyna Smithers. “They enable you to get close to the horses as well as the beautiful landscaped grounds, which are home to Red Poll cattle and large black pigs.”

The centre will also offer educational programmes for young people and work-skills training for older age groups.

“We are working closely with organisations such as the Country Trust, which gives children from towns the chance to have access to the countryside that they may not otherwise have,” continued Krystyna.

“The value of visits like these is obvious. They teach children things that textbooks can’t.”

Although the Suffolk Punch is an icon of the countryside, dating back to the 16th century, in 1966 only nine Suffolk Punch foals were born, and there are currently less than 300 breeding horses surviving.

“The Trust is committed to preserving this superb animal for future generations,” said Fiona Johnson, Suffolk coastal and district council’s economic development officer.

“The new centre will provide education and training as well as a chance to see these amazing horses in their beautiful natural habitat.”

For more details, visit www.suffolkpunchtrust.org or the www.suffolkhorsesociety.org.uk

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The Suffolk Punch Trust’s Colony Stud in Woodbridge is hosting an open day this Sunday (2 August).

Visitors will have the chance to see the 32 resident Suffolk Punch horses, as well as displays of farm machinery, local trade stands, rural craft displays and birds of prey.

The Suffolk Punch Trust’s Colony Stud is the oldest stud of Suffolk Punch horses in the world, and this year bred four fillies and three colts.

Colony Vee, a filly born in February, was the champion Suffolk foal at both the Suffolk Show in May, and the Framlingham Show in July.

Since 2004, the Suffolk Punch Trust has raised over £1.8m to help to ensure the future of the breed and to stop the dispersal of the Colony Stud.

In 2010 a new learning and heritage visitor centre will open, aimed to make the stud more accessible to the public and to develop educational and work skills programmes for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in society.

The open day runs from 10am to 4pm, and entrance is £5 per car.

For more information, visit www.suffolkpunchtrust.org.

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Museum staff are mourning the death of a rare Suffolk Punch horse — just months after his companion died.

Eighteen-year-old George lived at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, near Dereham. He died last week after showing signs of colic — which also claimed his companion, Queenie, five months ago.

Like Queenie, George died within hours of becoming ill.

Spokesman Charles Wilde said: “The guys are devastated because they have lost not one but two very close friends in a matter of months.

“Suffolk Punch horses are very rare — there’s only about 240 in the world.

“Over the past few months staff have put in an enormous effort to increase the number of Suffolk Punches at the museum to ensure the future of this endangered breed and then this happened.”

Farm manager Richard Dalton added: “George was in such good health, getting regular exercise, pulling cart rides and doing general farm work. He was so loveable.”

Gressenhall’s Mike Crisp was working with George the day he became ill.

He said: “Colic is completely unexpected. One feels helpless watching a healthy horse become ill so rapidly and die for no visibly apparent reason. It’s the hardest thing a stockman has to deal with and for George to follow Queenie so quickly is just heartbreaking.”

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The Suffolk Punch Trust are well on the way to raising enough money to start working on their “educational visitor attraction” to help preserve the rare horse breed — thanks to grants and generous donations from local people and businesses.

A total of £700,000 is needed for the project — which includes refurbishing the stables as well as a new visitor centre, car parks and access road.

So far the Trust have raised £570,000, and project director John Marsh is hoping to raise the remaining money in time for work to begin in March.

“I’m confident that in the next couple of months we will have raised enough money to begin building with the aim of opening the new centre in September,” said Mr Marsh.

This week The Waste Recycling Group gave the Trust a massive boost in the form of a £250,000 grant.

Mr Marsh added: “It’s fabulous news, without it we would have been struggling and now we’re not far off our target.”

Other grants have come in from the council, local business as well as people raising money through barn dances, balls and bazaars.

The Hollesley Bay Colony Stud on the Trust site has 30 Suffolk Punch horses and the money raised will help keep it in action.

Mr Marsh added: “Having a visitor centre is crucially important to raise money for the Trust. The stud is not self-supporting — it costs around £120,000 a year to run — and it is impossible to generate that money without visitor income. The new centre will deliver security for the future.”

The centre will be in 3 separate parts — a retail area, a heritage area and an education area.

Within the heritage area there will be artefacts and displays about the breed and rural life. The education area will be fitted out with lecture facilities — aimed at teaching groups of school children as well as adults from deprived and vulnerable sectors of society who can gain NVQs.

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The Queen is playing her part in the survival of one of our most endangered native breeds.

Four years ago the Suffolk Horse Society (SHS) presented the Queen with a filly foal named Whitton Poppy, who had been bred on a farm at Ipswich.

And in May Poppy (pictured below) produced her own foal, a colt to be named Sandringham Sailor II after a Suffolk horse once owned by the Queen’s father George VI.

Amanda Hillier, administrative secretary of the SHS said Sailor is registered number 9000, meaning he is the 9000th Suffolk colt to be born since the society was formed in 1877.

“It’s lovely that he should have a special number like that,” said Mrs Hillier.

“We are still a critically endangered breed according to the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

“We are moving forward, but slowly.”

Before the First World War there were more than two million Suffolk heavy horses used on farms in the UK.

Now the breed is considered by some to be more endangered than the Great Panda, with only 420 registered – 110 of which are geldings.

Sailor could become one of the breed’s registered stallions if at two years old he is found to conform to breed standards.

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The Weald & Downland Open Air Museum at Singleton, near Chichester is hosting a two-day Heavy Horse Summer Spectacular over the weekend of 2-3 June.

More than 40 Shires, Clydesdales, Suffolks, British Percherons and Ardennes horses will take part in a range of events, which will include, for the first time, cross-country driving.

The museum’s own shires will be undertaking seasonal tasks, while other demonstrations — introduced by ringside commentator Sarah Rouse — will include agricultural vehicles, brewers’ drays, harnessing and decoration. There will also be a selection of trade and craft stands.

The museum is open from 10.30am to 6pm, and admission costs £8.25 (adult) or £4.40 (children 5-15). Contact the museum (tel: 01243 811363) or visit www.wealddown.co.uk

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The largest stud of Suffolk Punch horses in the UK is to be taken over by a trust set up for the purpose of securing the future of the rare breed.

The Colony Stud at Hollesley Bay near Woodbridge has been in existence for more than 100 years. It was originally an agricultural college where the younger sons of the gentry were trained how to farm in the colonies, hence its name, but the estate became an open prison in 1938, and the Prison Service took over the farm.

The stud developed into the largest Suffolk Punch breeding establishment in the UK, largely due to the work and support of the Home Office and HM Prison Service (HMPS).

For a variety of reasons, HMPS now feel that it is in the best interests of prisoners to sell the farm, but as Philip Ryder-Davies, chairman of the Suffolk Punch Trust explains, “HMPS has been very responsible about what it is doing. They recognise that the stud is of great value, and they are doing their utmost to co-operate with us.

“Initially, we will take over the farm on a renting basis in September of this year, but the prisoners will go on working in the stud even when we eventually purchase the farm,” he added.

The Suffolk Punch Trust was set up two years ago to take over ownership of the stud, which has played a crucial role in perpetuating the breed. The breed has the longest written pedigree of any livestock, and can be traced back to a single stallion foaled in 1768, but it is said that only 300 Suffolk Punches exist, making it more rare than the Giant Panda.

“The issue is not how many of the breed exist, but how many breeding stock exist. And at the moment, there are only 70 breeding mares, and nominally 25 stallions, but that is very much a case of nominally as they may not be standing at stud,” says Philip Ryder-Davies.

Had the Suffolk Punch Trust not come into existence, the land and farm would have been sold, and the horses would have been sold separately. However, one of the greatest advantages of conserving the Colony Stud is that it has the facilities for three stallions, and also has its own, professional stud groom, meaning that the breeding efficiency is very high.

The trust registered as an environmental body, entitling it to a £100,000 grant from Waste Recycling Environmental Ltd (WREN), which enabled them to give a contract to architects to apply for planning permission.

The whole project, including buying the land and horses, and developing the land to fulfil the main aims of the trust, which are educational as well as breeding-based, is expected to cost up to £2 ½ million. The trust is far short of this goal, but it has made a major Lottery bid, amongst other fundraising efforts, and hopes to have bought the stud and have it up and running as an educational centre by 2007.

Michael Wood, governor of Hollesley Bay prison said: “I am pleased that the Trust is seeking to secure the long term future of these horses at Hollesley and that training and employment opportunities will be available for prisoners and will be linked to their resettlement needs.”

For more information, e-mail suffolkpunchtrust@wren.org.uk, or tel: 01953 714123.

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The Suffolk Punch Trust was awarded charitable status last week in an important step towards safeguarding the future of the rare breed’s stud farm at Hollesley Bay Prison.

Philip Ryder-Davies, the chairman of the trust, explains: “Getting charity status was critically important because it means we can start raising money.

“Really though it is just one more step and there is still a long way to go. The next step is getting planning permission, but until we became a charity we couldn’t even get the money to apply for that.”

The stud has been in operation for more than 100 years, and has around 35 Suffolk Punch horses. When the Prison Service announced around a year ago that it no longer wanted to have responsibility for the stud, the Suffolk Punch Trust was set up as a limited company to purchase and run it.

The trust plans to open the stud to the public to help make it financially viable, but Philip states its main focus is to foster the preservation of the breed, which is on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust’s critical list.

“The Suffolk Punch is a very rare breed, and this stud is an ideal home for stallions which can sometimes be hard to home,” he says. “We also have a professional stud groom, which greatly increases the chances of getting mares in foal.”

Having been granted charitable status, the trust also intends to develop its education and rehabilitation projects.

“The stud is in an environmentally unusual area,” Philip continues. “Horses and carts are already used to transport 500 schoolchildren a year through the marshland to the seashore, but the educational side of this is underdeveloped.

“We want to increase their appreciation of the rare plants and birds, so we’ll be working in association with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.

“The prisoners look after the horses as part of their rehabilitation, so we hope to raise the level of their involvement too.”

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The future of a historic stud farm which has been under threat of closure since 2001 looks brighter following the Home Office’s decision to offer the Colony Stud at Hollesley Bay Prison in Suffolk a new site within the prison grounds.

Home to the Colony herd of Suffolk Punches, Hollesley houses one of Britain’s largest populations of the rare draught breed, of which there are only about 200 examples in the world.

Although the Home Office is offering the stud an alternative home, it wishes to find a new owner to take on the 24 mares, young stock and the stallion, Fenland Eric, and also run the stud.

Hollesley estate manager Allan Douglass says: “I think that the Prison Service recognises that the horses are important to Suffolk. The stud can remain on the same site and could even be expanded and that is very good news.”

The Home Office has offered the Suffolk Punch Trust, a group of Suffolk owners, breeders and enthusiasts, first refusal on the horses and some land on the estate.

Vet Philip Ryder Davies, who is also a council member of the Suffolk Horse Society, is chairman of the trust.

He says: “Negotiations with the Home Office are progressing well. It is vital for the breed that we save the stud, as it has such an excellent track record for fertility and has been extremely well run, which means that live foaling rates are high.

“We plan to run the stud in conjunction with the prison, so that inmates will still benefit from the experience of working with and caring for such wonderful horses.”

Prison inmates have traditionally provided much of the labour on the stud, accompanying their charges to shows in some cases, and former prisoners speak passionately about how working with horses gives them a sense of achievement and taught valuable lessons for life on the outside.

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