A rare breed with serious pulling power

Once the engine of British agriculture, the endangered Suffolk Horse has found new purpose by exchanging farming for forestry, the show ring and even the field

- Charlotte Reather

Like many native breeds of the British Isles, the Suffolk Horse is not only critically endangered but also right at the top of the Rare Breed Survival Trust’s (RBST) 2024-25 Equine Watchlist. Farmer and rare-breeds champion Adam Henson, whose father Joe Henson set up the RBST in 1973, lays bare the figures: “There are only 75 breeding mares left in Britain and just 300 females left in the world. It’s a sad situation, especially as most people championing rare breeds are now in their seventies and eighties.”

Henson continues his father’s rare-breed legacy at the Cotswold Farm Park in Gloucestershire. In response to the plight of the Suffolk Horse – or Suffolk Punch as it is often known – in June last summer the farm park hosted a Suffolk Punch Extravaganza in collaboration with the Suffolk Horse Society (SHS), the breed society founded in 1877 to promote the horses and maintain the pedigrees of the UK population.

The Suffolk Horse is thought to be the oldest breed in Britain, explains Nigel Oakley, long-standing member of the SHS, breeder and commentator: “Modern Suffolks can trace their lineage back to a single stallion: ‘Crisp’s horse’, a stallion foaled in 1768 in Woodbridge, Suffolk in the early 16th century.” Shorter and squatter than Shire horses, with strong legs and massive shoulders, Suffolks can work long hours and are ideal for agriculture and transportation. In his History and Antiquities of Hawsted, in the County of Suffolk of 1784, Sir John Cullum describes the Suffolk Punch as 'generally about 15 hands high, of a remarkably short and compact make; their legs bony; and their shoulders loaded with flesh. Their colour is often of a light sorrel.’