|
|
|
|
|
The Suffolk Punch Horse Breed - By Geneva |
|
I am doing my report on the Suffolk Horse, or called the Suffolk Punch. It is the rarest and one of the oldest heavy breeds in the world. It is called the Suffolk Punch because of its body type. It is a “punchy” type of horse that is short-legged and barrel-bodied. It is a heavy draft horse originating from in the second half of the 18th century. It is one of the purest of all breeds of heavy horse, and is kind and intelligent. The modern Suffolk is compact but wide horse with short, powerful legs. They are usually 16-16.2 hands and stallions can be 17 hands. They usually have straight shoulders but it’s not considered a flaw because it can provide more strength and pulling power. The Suffolk Punch is a very reliable draft horse often used for farm work. It is a unique heavy breed and it only comes in one color, chestnut, spelled without the t. There are 7 shades of chestnut to choose from—bright, red, golden, yellow, light, dark, and dull dark. Bright chestnut is the most common. Small amounts of white are allowed on the face and just above the hips. The Suffolk horse has very little feathering on it’s legs. In the heavy clay fields in Eastern England, the farmers don’t want to spend more time than necessary cleaning the horse’s legs after a hard day’s work. All living Suffolk Punches can be traced to one stallion, Crisp’s Horse of Ufford, foaled in the 1760’s. The breed was developed purely for agricultural use and historically has not been utilized in battle. Suffolk Punch are probably descended from English mares bred to French-Norman, Flanders, and Norfolk trotter stallions. It is said the Suffolk is descendant of the Great Horse of medieval times, which was used in jousting. Today it is estimated there are around 1,000 individuals representing the breed worldwide and perhaps only 75 broodmares. I hope you learned a lot about the Suffolk Punch. |
bravenet.com