The Suffolk Horse is the oldest breed of heavy horse in Great Britain to exist in its present state.

Known often as the Suffolk Punch, the breed dates at least into 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. 

The Suffolk Horse is one of the true icons of our county of Suffolk.  It is one of the four British breeds of heavy horse bred for ploughing and pulling loads in farm work, and used for pulling guns and heavy supply waggons in the First World War.

A more popular and older name for the Suffolk Horse is the Suffolk Punch.  Its colour has to be chesnut, (always spelt in the traditional Suffolk way, without the middle t of chestnut). 

By the 1960s the population of Suffolk Horses had fallen to such an extent that only nine foals were registered in the Stud Book in 1966.  A few farmers kept the breed alive over the next few years with a gradual increase to 50 foals in 2010.  Since then, national economic problems caused incomes to fall and numbers again dropped a little.  In 2019 34 foals were registered in the UK and in 2020 there were 32. The Suffolk Horse has a total UK population of less than 500, and it is classified as a critically endangered breed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Today the Suffolk Punch horses are used less for farm work, such as ploughing and pulling waggons at the walk, and more for riding or pulling light carts at the trot.