The Suffolk Punch is the oldest of English Heavy horses and the most pure-bred.
All registered-Suffolks can trace their ancestry back to Thomas Crisp.
The breed was used mainly for draught work on farms, but was also often used to pull heavy artillery in wartime.
Like other heavy horses, they were also used to pull non-motorised vans and other commercial vehicles.
Today, they are used for commercial forestry operations, for other draught work, and in advertising.
The Suffolk horse was bred to work on the local farms in England and well suited to working in the heavy soils of East Anglia, for it was cleaned legged.
This lack of feather on its legs meant that the heavy clay soil did not cling to them.
English horse image by KaitlinS1998
It was also a ” good doer”, meaning it did not need a lot of food for its size which made it cheep to keep.
The breed stands between 16 – 16.3hh with stallions standing up to 17hh.
As well as being used for farm work, the breed pulled artillery and non-motorised commercial vans and buses.
It was also exported to other countries to upgrade local equine stock.
They are also used for crossbreeding, to produce heavy sport horses for use in hunter and show jumping competition.
Image by o0chloe0o
Despite their size they are a friendly and docile breed that are easy to handle.
The coat colour is always chestnut.
Horses of the breed come in many different shades of chestnut, ranging from dark to red to light.
In the stud books this colour is recorded as Chesnut.
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