Suffolk Horse Society

The Suffolk Horse Society has been notified that the following pure-bred registered Suffolks are for sale.

GELDING

Name: Craigogantlet Isaac 8924
Foaled: 15 May 2003
Sire: Mulgrave Lord Thor 8855  Licence Number SHS68
Dam: Donhead Hall Penny 28447
Dam’s Sire: Marquis of Brancaster 8880 Licence Number SHS72
Location: County Down

YEARLING

Name: Whatton Demolition 9004
Foaled: 17 May 2007
Sire: Golden Grandchild 8810  Licence Number SHS55
Dam: Mulgrave Pretty Poppy 28421
Dam’s Sire: Easton King 8704 Licence Number SHS29
Location: Nottinghamshire

COLT (to be available after weaning)

Name: Whatton Einstein 9015
Foaled: 14 April 2008
Sire: Whatton Albert 8935  Licence Number SHS93
Dam: Whatton Alice 28519
Dam’s Sire: Golden Grandchild 8810  Licence Number SHS55
Location: Nottinghamshire

 

Contact the Society for further details.

 

The Suffolk Horse Society
The Market Hill
Woodbridge
Suffolk
IP12 4LU
United Kingdom

Tel: 01394-380643
E-mail: sec@suffolkhorsesociety.org.uk

Become a Friend or a Member of The Suffolk Horse Society and help us preserve the oldest and rarest breed of British horse.

Please click here to download the membership form for printing.

---

Friend of the Suffolk Horse Society

Join as a Friend of the Suffolk Horse society and your subscription helps support the vital work of conserving and promoting the rarest of our native breeds of heavy horse.  You will be entitled to receive at least three ful colour magazines, each year, packed with information.

The magazines will include details about forthcoming and past Shows and Events featuring the Suffolk horse, activities of the Society and its Friends and Members, archive and historical articles, plus correspondence from supporters and horse owners.

A complimentary Society car sticker will be sent to you together with an exclusive enamel lapel badge.  You will also have the oppurtunity of meeting fellow Suffolk horse enthusiasts at the Annual Dinner and be eligible to attend talks/lectures, and other social events.

Please note that eligibility for Friends subscription restricted to the U.K. only.

---

Member of the Suffolk Horse Society Join as a Member of the Suffolk Horse Society and you will receive all the benefits for Friends, as above, plus full voting rights at the Annual General Meetings and extraordinary general meetings.  Membership also gives entitlement to stand for election to the council of the Society and to become a probationary breed judge.In addition if you are the owner of a Suffolk horse or horses, which are kept in the U.K., and which are registered with the Society, you will be eligible for the various financial grants provided each year in support of breeding maresand stallions, details of which are available from the Society’s office.Additional information of particular interest to horse owners/breeders, e.g. stallion lists and show lists, will be provided, as available, to Members.

---

Please click here to download the membership form for printing.

The Suffolk Horse Society is a registered charity and is managed by a body of Trustees, known as the Council, elected from amongst the members at the Annual General Meeting. Elected members serve for a four year term at the end of which they may seek re-election. The Society has a President who is chosen annually by the AGM and who serves for one year. The President is supported by a President Elect, who is also chosen by the AGM, and who takes on the presidency on an annual rolling basis.

The Officers and Council of the Suffolk Horse Society

President: Mr Martin Goymour
President Elect: The Countess of Euston, DL
Chairman: Mr Chris Bushby
Vice-Chairman: Mr Jeff Hallett
Honorary Treasurer: Mr Michael Tollemache

Council Members:

Mr Bernard Adams
Mrs Norma Bradley
Mrs Gill Buckle
Mr Daniel Bunting
Mr Mark Donsworth
Mr Ivan Cooke
Mr John Fleming
Mrs Cheryl Grover
Mrs Jill Kerr
Mrs Lesley Miller
Mrs Sue Merrill
Mr Philip Morley
Mr Nigel Oakley
Mr George Paul, DL
Mr Philip Ryder-Davies
Mr Bruce Smith
Mr Nigel Smith
Mr Neil Syrett
Mr Andrew Thompson
Miss Susan Wager

Heavy Horse Skills Training 2008

The Suffolk Horse Society will, once again, be offering Heavy Horse Training Days during March and early April 2008. Topics covered will be

• braiding and showing
• driving heavy horses
• heavy horsemanship
• working heavy horses

all under the tuition of Cherry Grover and Nigel Oakley. We also hope to be able to offer PLOUGHING with Roger Clarke. The venues will all be in East Anglia.

Training days are dependent upon a minimum number of attendees; 6 for ploughing days and 8 for all other days. Advance booking is essential.

In previous years we have set specific dates which, in some instances, have had to be cancelled because of low numbers or bad weather. This year we are asking those wanting to attend a training day to contact the office to register their interest. Then, when we have an idea of numbers, we will liaise with everyone over suitable days.

The price per day will £65 per person (£75 per person for ploughing).

Register your interest by e-mail to sec@suffolkhorsesociety.org.uk and state which topic you are interested in.

Sunday 7th September 2008 - Euston Park, Euston, Nr Thetford

by kind permission of the Duke of Grafton KG

A fantastic day for all the family!

• Birds of prey flying
• Braiding competition
• British heavy horse breeds
• Grand Parade
• Horse drawn vehicles and implements
• Hounds
• New judges competition
• Procession of stallions, mares, geldings, colts and fillies
• Suffolk gymkhana
• The best dressed horse in harness
• Timber snigging & balance the beam
• Young braider competition
• Young handler competition

Events start at 10:00am

with the Grand Parade scheduled for 4:15pm

PLUS - Crafts, produce, food and music

Euston Hall and Gardens  Opens 2:30-5:00pm  

The 14th running of The Suffolk Horse Society’s Ploughing Championships was held on the 7th October 2007 at Red House Farm Bucklesham in conjunction with The Bucklesham & District Vintage Tractor Groups plough day by kind permission of Bob & Ann Ramsey.

This ploughing Championship is unique in that it is specific to Suffolk horses and was the brainchild of Paul Heiney in 1992. It has been a struggle in some years to gather enough horses together for a match but in recent years and certainly since we have been privileged to plough on the lovely ground at Bucklesham (which Bob Ramsey and his team always prepare so well for us) the turn out has been amazing. This year eight teams came forward to plough for the prestigious copper kettle and a tailored Horseman’s jacket, again most generously donated by Neil Lanham and his Bumpstead boys.

A valiant effort was made by Ian Victor Smith again bringing two teams up from Henley on Thames, his George & Duchess were partnered by their usual ploughman John Barker and his other pair Boxer & Punch were this year partnered by Peter Bundock (a previous winner of this event). Boxer & Punch have had a busy summer on their ‘rides’ wagon at home and were not too keen keep to the sedate pace necessary for a good ploughing job. Peter worked very hard and used all his expertise to accomplish the task in hand with a helping hand from Peter Crockford with the horses.

Roger (Clark) has for over a year now only had one working Suffolk at Weylands, which was why he elected to judge last year but was determined to plough again this year, so we could not think of a better horse to borrow back to try alongside our Jester than Nedging Golden Delight (Ned), who is now owned by Andrew Wager and very appropriately bred by The SHS 2007 President Mrs Gill Buckle. Ned came to Weylands as a weaned foal and stayed until he was broken, when Andrew and Sue picked him out of the bunch of Suffolks on offer at Weylands at that time. Although he had started work and was ‘quiet in all gears’ he had never ploughed, being sold before autumn ploughing. He came back to Weylands the Saturday before the match, settled as though he had never been away, ploughed with Jester four times at home before the match and worked brilliantly together throughout the match unaided, winning their class and also Best Working pair, Best turned out team. Ned won the prize for ‘The Horse The Judge Would Most Like to Take Home’ and Jester won Best Gelding on field.

Not to be outdone  by Ian Victor Smith bringing two teams, Richard Dalton pulled out all his stops to bring two teams from Gressenhall Museum of Rural Life near Dereham. He ploughed with Golden Queen Gwenivere (Queenie) & his young horse Milden Bowler, whilst his good friend and transporter Neil Syrett made his ploughing debut with Samford George (another old friend from Weylands) and Trojan. Edward Knowles (winner of this event last year) made the trip down from Somerleyton with Marshland Pablo & Waveney Pandora. Bunting & Sons sent a team to provide Bill Smith with his first Championship win.

Last to mention in the alphabetic order of plots but by no means least was Bruce Smith from The Suffolk Punch Trust at Hollesley with Colony Nettles and Colony Charlie. Bruce was ably assisted all day by his new ‘right hand’ Tracey Pettit who was rewarded by picking up Dennis Hayter’s prize for The Best Plaiting on field.

Each ploughman is designated his own plot which and starts ploughing at 11 o’clock and horses must be off the plots by 3.30pm. The ploughing is judged a little like a dressage test, in that it is marked out of a possible 200 good points, these points being allocated for several different stages. The opening is marked separately, then there is a mark allocated for the start of the work – the first ten furrows. The firmness and skimmer effectiveness is then marked (the plough skimmer should push the rubbish, such as straw etc. into the bottom of the furrow where it should be buried.

The evenness & uniformity of the work is then marked before we move along to mark the finish, here the rounds of work on each plot have to be neatly finished together with as straight a furrow (at an even depth) as possible down the middle. The last mark allocated is for the ends of the work where both ends should be tidy with a level start and finish with no drag marks where the plough goes in & out of the ground.

Competition as always was fierce, with all ploughmen taking time out to compare work on adjoining plots. As the ‘shutting up’ stage approaches tape measures come out and heads are scratched to try and achieve the best and straightest finish.

The overall standard of ploughing work encouragingly seems to improve year on year but one thing that is very noticeable is how few horses work comfortably together with out ‘outside’ assistance.

There were two ploughing classes both with a possible 200 marks that the judge could award and an overall Championship. Judging for the day was in the capable hands of Eric Purkiss from Rochford, Essex. Eric has spent a lifetime on the land,  using his father’s Percheron horses on the farm when horses were a necessity and ploughing at many matches with a Goldhanger Wooden plough.

Class 1, The  Long Turn Furrow class was won by Roger Clark with John Barker 2nd with Ian Victor smith’s horses. The Short Turn Furrow class was won by Bill Smith using The Bunting horses, Edward Knowles was. 2nd and Richard Dalton from Gressenhall was third, also collecting the prize for Best mare on field with Queenie.

The overall Championship was won By Bill Smith with reserve going to Edward Knowles with The Fritton Lake horses. Edward is Agent for The Hon Hugh Crossley on The Somerleyton estate near Lowestoft and a great supporter of ‘The Suffolk Horse’. Roger was very proud that both the winner and reserve were protégés of  his ploughing expertise.
President Gill Buckle presents Bill Smith
with his prizes.  Photo - Fiona Clark

The Compton Challenge trophy for the Best horse working not ploughing was again won by Lesley Miller from Ramsey with her mare Colony Gina Maxine.

The day culminated with the prize giving at The SHS caravan by The Society’s 2007 President, Mrs Gill Buckle.
This concluded proceedings to a very successful, enjoyable and relaxing day. The icing on the cake has been an extremely generous donation to The Suffolk Horse Society of £1450 from The Bucklesham Vintage Tractor Group which is the agreed 50% share of the gate money. Following the debriefing meeting at the end of October, we are kindly invited back next year on Sunday 5th October 2008.

This passage would not be complete without acknowledgment to those who made the day possible by either giving up their day to help or helping to finance. A big thank you to the following for their generosity:-  Barker Gotelee (Solicitors), Charnwood Milling Co Ltd, Dennis Hayter for providing the Best turned out prizes, Stacey & Partners (accountants) & Wright Training Services for the  Best Plaiting prize.

Roger & Fiona Clark, along with Philip & Mary Ryder Davies, sponsored the ploughmans lunches which were so efficiently prepared and served out of the Clarke’s lorry by Dora Betts, Brenda Cooke and Ann Hogsbjerg along with Mary - Thank You.

Fiona & Roger Clark sponsored the rosettes and will again engrave the plinth for the copper kettle which she had made for The Society several years ago.

I would publicly like to thank Sue & Andrew Wager for lending Roger their horse, making it possible for him to plough and especially to Sue for all the hard work and trips to Weylands helping to prepare harness and horses for the day. I personally was not present because I had a Riding club Team engagement with some of our other horses, so needed all the help we could muster to have light and heavy horses out on the same day at different ends of the county. Our good friend Graham Lush must be thanked for driving Roger to the match and helping all day not least keeping the generator fuelled in order to provide a continual supply of tea!

Suffolk Horse Society Grants for 2008

WOULD ALL STALLION AND MARE OWNERS MAKE CERTAIN THAT THEY READ THE DETAILS OF THE GRANTS AND THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THEY WILL BE GIVEN AS PUBLISHED BELOW.

The Society is very grateful to the Horserace Betting Levy Board and to all those supporters who help to raise money for the Society, enabling it to offer breeding grants for 2008 in the following categories.

For Stallion Owners

• £100.00 Grant for placing a licensed registered stallion on the list of stallions standing at stud.
  Condition:
  1. Stallion owners to provide the Society with a photograph of their stallion for publication in the Suffolk Horse Magazine and promotion on the Society’s website.  (Pictures provided for 2007 will be used unless owners wish to provide a more recent image)
• £100.00 Grant in respect of each registered Suffolk mare covered by a licensed registered stallion from the list.
  Conditions: 
  1. Stallion owners must complete an annual covering record sheet and return this to the  Society by 26th September 2008. (Record sheets will be sent out by the Society in September).
  2. Stallion owners must provide mare owners with a covering certificate for each mare covered.  This is to enable any resulting foal to be registered. Covering
  certificates are mandatory under EU legislation. 
• £39.00 Grant for each reported birth of a foal sired by his or her stallion.
  Conditions: 
  1. The owner of the dam of each foal must report the birth of the live foal to the Suffolk Horse Society within seven  days of it occurring.
  2. Grants will be paid to the stallion owner for each live foal, foal born dead, or aborted visible foetus and will also be paid if a mare dies and is shown to be in foal by a veterinary surgeon’s post mortem report.  Each of these events, however, must be reported to the Society’s office within seven days.
• £100.00 Grant for all stallions forward at the Woodbridge Horse Show.
• £300.00 Grant for maintaining a colt entire until the age of two years.
  This grant is payable to the owner of a colt that reaches two years old and is presented for inspection for stallion. This is a two part process requiring an initial examination by a veterinary surgeon (a grant of £50.00 will be made towards the vetting fee) and subsequent examination by two inspectors appointed by the Society.  Contact the Society’s office for further details.
  Condition: 
  1. Animals achieving licence must be placed on the stallion list and offered for service.

Grants for Mare Owners

• £60.00 Grant to owners of every registered Suffolk mare covered by a registered licensed Suffolk stallion or inseminated by frozen semen. Contact the Society’s office for AI details.
  Condition: 
  1. Only one grant payable per mare per year.
• £150.00 Grant to mare owners for registering foals before 1st October 2008. 
  In addition each registered foal will be provided with an equine passport free of charge as part of the registration process.
  Condition: 
  1. The owner of the dam of each foal must report the birth of the foal to the Suffolk Horse Society within seven days of it occurring or the grant may be forfeit.
  2. On receipt of the report of each live birth the office will send a registration form to the mare owner for completion by a veterinary surgeon. The completed  form must be returned to the office before 1st October 2008 and will be incorporated into the equine passport. 
  3.  The owner of the dam of each foal must provide the Society with a covering certificate for each foal to be registered.
  4.  Owners of foals forward for registration must submit a blood sample, which will be held by the Animal Health Trust at Newmarket. Details will be provided with the registration forms.
  NB. There will be a registration fee of £20 for foals registered after 1st October.  This  fee will be waived by the Society for each foal registered by 1st October.  If an animal is registered after the end of the year in which it was born it will have to be inspected by two appointed members of the Society’s Panel of Judges and this inspection will be at the owner’s expense. Please note DEFRA states that all horses born after 30 November 2003  require a passport by the 31st December in the year of birth or by 6 months of age, whichever is later.
• Travelling Grant. Available to mare owners for expenses incurred in travelling long distances to a suitable stallion. Payable at 50p per mile, excluding the first 50 miles out and back, with the horse on board.
  Condition:
  1. Owners wishing to claim a travel grant must write to the Society with details of the mileage incurred.  Claims must be made by 1st October 2008.
• Owners of mares that have had difficulties conceiving for the last two years may apply for financial assistance for examination to identify problems.  The terms of this grant are that the mare is examined at a centre specialising in horse fertility, preferably the Equine Fertility Unit at Newmarket. Each application for such assistance will be considered by the Society’s Breeding Committee.

PLEASE NOTE

GRANTS AND PREMIUMS ARE PAYABLE ONLY TO FULLY PAID UP MEMBERS OF THE SUFFOLK HORSE SOCIETY.

GRANTS AND PREMIUMS ARE PAYABLE ONLY IN RESPECT OF UK REGISTERED SUFFOLK HORSES.

East of England

• The Suffolk Horse Society Museum
• Banham Zoo
• Museum of East Anglian Life
• Easton Farm Park
• Fritton Lake
• Gressenhall
• Kentwell Hall
• Norfolk Shire Horse Centre
• The Stow Badolph Rare Breeds Centre - 01366-382162

East Midlands

• Northcote Horses
• Sherwood Forest Farm Park

North-West England

• Lakeland Heavy Horse Centre

South-East England

• The Working Horse Trust

South-West England

• The Shire Horse Centre & Carriage Museum - 01209-713606

The Suffolk Horse Museum is an exhibition devoted to the Suffolk punch breed of heavy working horse.  The Museum displays the history of the breed and its Society, the work of the blacksith and the harness maker, the world of shows and showing, the work the horses did and the life of the horsemen.  The museum has been laid out to illustrate various themes in different areas including a blacksmiths shop and harness makers workshop.

The Society’s remarkable collection of about 50 paintings are on show, including oils, watercolours and drawings, the earliest one dating back to 1790 by the artist Hobart of Monks Eleigh. There are also a large number of exceptional early photographs.  The Museum will be of particular interest to the horse lover, as well as those interested in the countryside, in paintings and, of course, especially enthusiasts of the Suffolk horse.

The Museum is situated in an impressive Elizabethan building in the middle of the lovely old town of Woodbridge and is a fitting tribute to a breed of horse which touched on the lives of everyone living in the County of Suffolk before the days of the internal combustion engine.

Open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays: 2PM-5PM from Easter Monday to the end of September.

Evening Groups welcomed, with optional tour and talk, by prior arrangement.

Telephone 01394-380643 for further information.

The Suffolk Horse Society was founded in 1877 and the office has always been in Woodbridge.  The Society publishes the Stud Book and encourages breeding by presenting premiums and grants, in which it receives very substantial support from the Horse Race Betting Levy Board.The society publishes a regular newsletter and organises a major display of Suffolk horses at the Suffolk Punch Spectacular, each September.  An Annual Dinner is held each October.  A recent innovation has been the holding of the annual Ploughing Match for Suffolks.  This event is the only ploughing match restricted to a single breed of horse in the country.

Today the breed is in the hands of a hard working group of enthusiastic people who are doing all they can to prevent such an important part of our living heritage from dissapearing.  A most encouraging trend is the considerable increase in interest in training Suffolk horses to work and besides farm work they are being used for forestry tasks and in the tourist industry.

Members of this Society are not only saving the Suffolk breed but they are also preserving the very considerable skills involved in working the heavy horse.  The pleasures of owning a breed of working horse whose characteristics have been fashioned over such a long period of time are enormous and the Society’s optimism for the future is clearly well founded.

The Society continues to increase its Supporters.  Currently there are around 1500, of whom only a relatively small number own Suffolks.  Other supporters belong to the Society in order to be part of saving this wonderful animal and new friends and members are always welcome.

The Suffolk horse is the oldest breed of heavy horse in Great Britain.  The breed dates from the sixteenth century but all animals alive today trace their male lines back to one stallion, a horse called Crisp’s Horse of Ufford, who was foaled in 1768.

Volume 1 of the Suffolk Stud Book is the classic amongst livestock books.  The author, Herman Bidell, the first Secretary of the Society, spent two years tracing the pedigree of all animals alive at that time.  These he published in the book, which he prefaced with a fascinating history of the breed and a contemporary account of the Suffolk and the people associated with it.  The book was illustrated by the Ipswich artist, John Duvall.

At the height of its popularity there were huge numbers of Suffolks in East Anglia and one might wonder why it was that, despite its clear commercial qualities, the breed never moved out of its homeland.  It must be remembered however that until relatively recently East Anglia was a remote area isolated from the rest of the country.

In the late 1930s the Suffolk did start to move out of East Anglia in a major way with new studs being started in a number of areas but it was too late, as agricultural mechanisation was looming.  The need for a big increase in food production caused by the Second World War stimulated this and the large, level arable farms of East Anglia were ideal for early machinery.

This dealt the Suffolk a severe blow and numbers fell dramatically, with large farms getting rid of forty horses in a single day.  The number of horses on the market meant that the only buyers were the slaughter houses and in 1966 only nine Suffolk foals were born.

It was realised that extinction was imminent and new breeders came to the rescue so that since that time the numbers have slowly risen.

It takes a very long time to secure a breed from a very low number of individuals so the situation is still far from safe.

2008 Trimpley Heavy Horse Festival - May 5th, 2008

The Holbeache stud will be holding its annual heavy horse festival on Sunday 27th July 2008 at Holbeache Farm, Trimpley, Worcestershire.  Further details can be found here.

Suffolk Punch Spectacular - March 7th, 2008

Don’t miss the Suffolk Punch Spectacular on Sunday 7th September 2008 at Euston Hall, near Thetford, Suffolk.

Used Printer Cartridges and Old Mobile Phones - March 7th, 2008

Don’t throw away your empty printer cartridges or old mobile phones. The Suffolk Horse Society can use them to raise funds. Send your cartridges to The Suffolk Horse Society Empty Printer Cartridge Appeal, Freepost NAT16879, PO Box 575, Ipswich, Suffolk IP8 4WR. Why not ask the Society for a supply of Freepost envelopes for your office. (Freepost is only available within the UK) Not only will you be helping the Suffolk horse but you will be reducing the waste that goes to landfill.

PLEASE NOTE (i) It is not possible to recycle Epson/Epson compatible cartridges so these cannot be accepted . (2) We cannot accept laser or toner cartridges.

Foal Watch - March 7th, 2008

In 2007 the Suffolk Horse Society registered 36 pure-bred Suffolk foals born during the year - 13 colts and 23 fillies.  So far in 2008 the birth of 33 foals has been recorded - 16 colts and 17 fillies.

Spring 2008 Magazine Now Available - March 7th, 2008

Issue Number 79 of the Suffolk Horse Magazine has now been published. Packed with news about Suffolk horses the magazine is sent free to all members and friends of the Society or can be purchased at £3.50 a copy from the SHS trailer at selected shows, from the Suffolk Heavy Horse Museum in Woodbridge, or by post from the office. p&p 50p extra.

Ploughing Championship - March 7th, 2008

See Suffolk-Only Teams Ploughing at THE ANNUAL SUFFOLK PUNCH PLOUGHING CHAMPIONSHIP Sunday 5th October 2008 Red House Farm, Bucklesham, Ipswich, Suffolk.

2007 Stud Book Available - March 7th, 2008