Where are we now ? May 2021, Part 3: The Elephant in the Room Continues to Grow – The American & Canadian Suffolk Herd

Introduction

For the UK Suffolk Horse Society, its Membership and all supporters of this breed, it is  no longer a case of ‘Carry on Regardless‘.   

The Suffolk Horse Society is making some small changes, but there is doubt that this will be sufficient in the remaining six and a half years left before the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (UK) prediction of genetic extinction in 2027

Much more open and detailed information needs to be available to owners and breeders so they are fully aware of the urgency of the situation.  

The ever present but unused ‘International Register‘ horses (both females and the few stallions that have not been gelded) has been and continues to be a shamefully wasted resource.

As it has always been, an even greater resource is available,  with the North American Suffolk Horse Association (NASHA).   Up until this year, previously known as the American Suffolk Horse Association (ASHA)

The combination of continuing Elite Sires dominating breeding results, together with only approximately one third of mares covered producing progeny which become registered youngstock, can only have catastrophic consequences without seriously determined   scientific and conservation favoured intervention.  

The Ever Growing & Very Visible Transatlantic ‘Chesnut’ Elephant

 The following Figures and Tables demonstrate only too clearly that despite being classified a critically endangered draught horse breed across the Atlantic, the Suffolk Horse in the USA and Canada definitely has a flourishing herd compared to the United Kingdom

The American Suffolk Horse Association total number of registered horses is shown below in Table 11.0.     The apparent gender disparity Table 11.0 is due to  many colts are gelded for working not breeding,  and thus often not registered.   

(NB:  ASHA has undergone a name change.   Since 1st January 2021, it is now The North American Suffolk Horse   Association, NASHA.  Where material is used up to and including 31 December 2020, the name ASHA will be used to avoid confusion: thereafter NASHA) 

Table 11.1 shows eleven years of registered foals for the Suffolk Horse Society 2010-2020

And Figure 11.1 below amply demonstrates the resource which might replenish the ailing stock of the Suffolk Horse in the United Kingdom.

One more telling comparison:  that of Stallions used.

For further information about Minimum and Maximum Optima, see:  https://wp.me/P91AzN-3D  Section:  Minimum Optimum)

For more about the Suffolk Horse in the USA and Canada, see: https://wp.me/P91AzN-h4 

The website of the North American Suffolk Horse Association (aka The American Suffolk Horse Association) is well worth a visit. https://www.suffolkpunch.com/

The Persistently Wasted Resource – the ‘International Register’

The 2020 SHS Stud Book (Volume 97) has an additional three mares added to the ‘International Register’.    One 16-year old, one 15-year old, and one 13-year old.    All three were registered with the American Suffolk Horse Association (ASHA) soon after birth.  There is no information given as to any prior progeny from these three mares.

One has bred at least three foals, two of which are already in the International Register.   Another has bred at least two.

Almost all of the Stud Book entries in the ‘International Register’ are perfunctory, with minimal detail over many of the Stud Books.    Surely if these animals, and/or their progeny  are to make the change to the Pedigree Section of the Stud Book, it makes sense for any potential purchaser to be able to find out more.

Colts and Stallions definitely Not Required

The ‘International Register’ and the Grade Register rules for entry display a cavalier attitude to the much needed diversity for the UK Suffolks.   

Male progeny even with 75% English bloodlines cannot be Licensed as Stallions.   Nor, it seems, may the next generation.    For example, Volume  95, UK SHS 2018,  shows an 87.5% colt who is in the Pedigree Register with appropriate registration number, but against his entry is the disclaimer “*Not Eligible to be a UK Registered Licensed Stallion”.

Interestingly, in the 2020 Stud Book, Volume 97 Preface, there is an unexplained comment:

“The Society got the opportunity to assess a colt on the International Register”

To which questions might be asked:  where, when, how and why?  And, what conclusions were drawn?   Perhaps more importantly, there have been ‘Anglo American’ colts in the UK since 2005, and at least three were foaled in Norfolk, the northern most part of East Anglia – heartland of the Suffolk Horse.  Does this mean that no-one from the UK Suffolk Horse Society has seen an ‘Internationally Registered’ colt before?

Grants for Grade Mares.   None for ‘International Registered’ Mares

 Neither the Grade Register, nor the ‘International Register’ in the Stud Books contain in-depth information on pedigrees. and entries are inconsistent over several Volumes of the Stud Book.  (For example, see pp30-31 International Register, 2017 Suffolk Horse Society Stud Book, Volume 94)

There are benefits, however, in choosing from the very start to enter progeny with percentages of ASHA/NASHA bloodlines in the Grade Register rather than the “International Register’.  

 “Owners of mares submitted to the grade programme are eligible for breeding grants if     the mare has been covered by a UK registered and licensed Stallion.” 

and

‘Fully paid up members of the Suffolk Horse Society who are owners of UK registered and licensed Suffolk stallions are eligible for grants in respect of Grade Register mares covered by their stallions.”

Divisions of the Stud Book, pp 7-8, latest Edition, 2020, Volume 97, Suffolk Horse Society

There is too another deterrent to those wishing to use Licensed Stallions for their non-100% English bloodlines: a higher service fee.

The reader is left to his/her own conclusions as to why such protocols are in place, and why many owners and breeders of Suffolks with transatlantic bloodlines, prefer to register their horses with the North American Suffolk Horse Association.

Four Vitally Determined Actions Needed Now – and Simultaneously

As consistently proposed before, the ‘Anglo-American Mares’ need to be utilised properly, without false restraints  to bolster the breedable 100% English bloodline mares.  Please review previously articles from 2009, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 as well as Parts 1 and 2 of this article 2021.

From the 2018 Article,  How far have we got?  Considering our options in securing the future of the Suffolk Punch in the United Kingdom,  the 2018  Figure 4, is relevant and is shown again here.

 

Action 1

These ‘Anglo American’ breedable mares, and their progeny are needed for the 2021 Breeding Season;  not next year or the year after when it might seem a good idea as signs and symptoms of diversity loss become even more manifestly pronounced.    These mares are already in the United Kingdom and have bred, and breeding, as their progeny continue to do.

Action 2

Importing American and Canadian bloodlines is the second reinforcing wave of defence against genetic extinction.   These could be live animals, both male and female, or frozen semen.     Even if a cohort of transatlantic Suffolks were to arrive this year, 2021, without now using the ‘Anglo American’ mares and stallions, it still will take too long, to achieve any progeny – male or female – as the following Figure 12.0 demonstrates.

 Figure 12.0 above may be also used to calculate how many years it would take to  arrive at  a 75% English X 25% Transatlantic bloodline to achieve entry into the Pedigree Register, subject to  Inspection: eight years.        Each stage would take approximately four years, always assuming  a  filly foal each time.      If the first two foals in sequence were colts before a filly foal, then it would be 12 years.   

A gentle reminder:   there are only 6.5 years left before the forecast genetic extinction.

(For more on the UK Suffolk Mares scroll down to the Section:  And the Mares)

Action 3

Conservation – Urgently needed.


Decisions made on Conversation matters should be based on scientific knowledge and understanding.   This is biobanking with the primary and vital objective to safeguard against genetic extinction.  

Semen harvesting for commercial considerations is a separate entity.

Action 4

Fundraising  for Conservation of the Suffolk Horse  by Suffolk Horse Society and its Membership

There is no question that the COVID pandemic has seriously affected voluntary donations.   Nonetheless, there is wide support for the preservation of The Suffolk Horse among the membership, and a fund raising exercise to specifically raise money for only conservation purposes for The  Suffolk Horse should be instigated.  This would be quite distinct and separate from the Heavy Horse Appeal of the RBST..    Perhaps the Suffolk Horse Society could start this off with a sizeable donation.

Proposal:  Funds be released to enable gene banking of as many Licensed Stallions as possible.

Testing for inter-relatedness of the Licensed Stallions would be necessary.   This may reduce the number of Stallions needing to be harvested, or may not.

Harvesting Semen from All Licensed Stallions where possible

Part 2 of Where are we now?  May 2021, Figure 7 shows how only an average 37% of the available stallions for any year within  the period 2010-2020 were used for breeding.

The proposed collection each year of significant numbers of stallions, for both yearly use AND gene banking seems to have lost impetus and stalled.     After an initial positive response to the Rare Breeds Trust’s Heavy Horse Appeal in 2017, and although the donations page is still active on the website of the RBST UK, by 16stApril 2021, only £48,039.64 was in the fund.   As of 31 May 2021, it is not clear if further donations have been received. 

If the 16 April 2021 fund stands at £48,039.64,  this is the equivalent of £1144.00 per month since 2017.   The fund, however,  is for all three native breeds of draught horses in the UK.  So for each breed, that’s only £382.00 per month each breed, per month of collection.

Let us suppose that the fund has now been raised to hypothetical total of £50,000.00.   This amount would be divided between the three UK native breeds of heavy horse:  The Shire, The Clydesdale and The Suffolk.  That is only £16,667 each.   The 2017 Gene Bank booklet (downloadable from the Rare Breeds Survival UK website), gives a price per equine semen collection of £6,800.   With the hypothetical increased fund of £50,000, equally divided by three, £16,667 would only cover 2.4 semen collections at the 2017 cost of £6,800 each.  That’s a total of six draught stallions – two Shires, two Clydesdales and two Suffolks.

It would be good to know  just how many stored Suffolk Horse frozen semen collections there are.   The Gene Bank Booklet (2017) is still showing only three.    Are these Elite Sires?   No further information appears to be available

(see: https://www.rbst.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=17934420-7a41-4ae8-a9b9-4cc432c011d3)

‘Gene Banks

To safeguard the UK’s rare and native breeds against diminishing numbers and potential threats posed by disease outbreaks, a key part of  RBST’s work involves collecting genetic material in the form of semen and embryos.’

(A reminder from Suffolk Punch Australia: Although equine reproductive research is ever progressing, to date thawed frozen draught horse embryos have not been successfully implanted in a surrogate mare with a successful live foaling. ) 

‘Most genetic material collected is frozen and archived so that if a breed does become extinct we could recreate it.    However, we also utilise some of the material in active conservation breeding programmes carried out by RBST and by individual breeders.’

‘Objectives of a Gene Bank
          • For security to safeguard breeds in the future
          • To ensure future genetic diversity
          • For current conservation breeding to produce new breeding lines
          • To store genetics that may otherwise be lost ‘

Gene Banks RBST (UK), 2017.

Table 12 ‘Countdown to Extinction’ serves as a guide to the time already lost and irreplaceable, and the compelling reasons that the four Actions outlined above need implementation now.

Commercial Semen Collecting.

It is to be hoped that The Suffolk Horse Society  is investigating why more stallion owners are not supporting the frozen semen initiatives.

What concerns do they have about participating in the commercial collections of frozen semen as detailed in the new “Owner’s Manual” (https://suffolkhorsesociety.org.uk/horse-business/owners-manual/).  

What would need to be changed to ensure a great participation?

Both for Domestic (UK) and Export use, commercial buying and selling of equine semen, whether fresh, chilled, frozen, domestic or export quality, is not a readily cheap option to all owners and breeders..   Nevertheless, where Export sales are concerned it is a lot cheaper that importing or exporting the live colt/stallion.    For the Domestic use, it is also convenient when geographical distances are made more difficult by having to float a mare more than two-three hundred miles.

What choice there currently is continues to be extremely limited.   One area that does need immediate attention is the use of Elite Sires both in live cover and via semen collection.    Until numbers of viable and healthy youngstock are available, the Society might actively revisit and promote the use of ‘Not Used” or “Little Used” Licensed Stallions by significantly increasing  Stallion Grants for the latter, and decreasing those same grants for the Popular Sires.

It follows that the Society should avoid exporting the problem of Elite Stallions.   As it stands now, the three currently available Export Quality frozen semen have sired  between them a total of 75 foals in the UK.  

But where is the money to come from?

Figure 12.0 below shows the last five years of Income & Expenditure, with Figure 12.1 showing the longer period of 2012-2020

Total Income 2012-2020 was £1,962,451 with Total Expenditure £1,361,597, with a possible residue of £600,944 as of 31 December 2020.

Surely this is the time to release funding for Conservation initiatives.   Even without COVID restricting public Shows and Events, funds would be better targeting Conservation considerations rather than subsidising Events and showing.

How can all the  Suffolk Horse Society Membership contribute?

Valid, Reliable and Accurate Information is Paramount – and it’s a two way street

 If one accepts the Rare Breed’s Survival Trust prediction of genetic extinction for the Suffolk Horse in the UK by 2027, then the seemingly laissez faire attitude which has prevailed since 2017, has no place in the remaining six and one half years.   

Suffolk Horse owners and breeders need a mechanism by which information forwarded to the Society is rapidly analysed and given to other owners and breeders as quickly as possible.      For the past few years, much of this information has been available on various social media pages, together with queries asking why the Society is not doing more to engage with its owners and breeders.    In Part 1 of this May 2021 update, the Suffolk Horse Census was mentioned and quoted Jessica Ellis’ plea for the remaining 93 owners who had not replied to get in touch.

(Suffolk Horse Census, Jessica Ellis (Suffolk Horse Society) SHS Magazine, P9, Issue 104 Spring 2021)

There needs to be some more accessible way to update information – it is now 15 months since the findings of this Census are being held in abeyance.    And surely it is time for the 2021 Census forms to be sent out? 

Some Possible Initiatives to Implement

Via the website :

a) Subscribed Members Only area (password might include membership number)

    1. A yearly planner available on the new website detailing the latest dates when census returns and other returns are required, together with dates for release to the membership of completed information. 
    2. Forms available electronically for owners and breeders to complete and return, also electronically such as Ballot Papers for the yearly Council Elections.
    3. Electronic Newsletters: analyses, records, and much needed information could be  published quarterly each year, at set intervals and dates – Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter-  and available as downloads from the website.   (See below ‘Breeding Results’ for both Stallions and Mares.
    4. Minutes of the various meetings downloadable to subscribed members.
    5. Zoom meeting might be organised for ‘face to face’ discussions, since relevant dialogue between the Society’s Committees and owners & breeders is essential to arrive at clear planning. Bookings would be essential.
    6. Prior to such meetings, a relevant, brief discussion paper might be electronically distributed two or three days before the scheduled Zoom meeting available as a download from the website, to those members who previously have booked in.  Numbers should be limited since too many participants at a Zoom meeting inevitably means that some people do not get a chance to ask their questions, or put their point of view.
    7. Reports from such Zoom Meetings between the various Society Committees and owners and breeders, would subsequently be published in the quarterly newsletter.
    8. Where any reports or notifications are urgent, these might be e-mailed to all members, with a reminder to check on for further information on the Website – Members only portal. 

b) An Open Area on the Suffolk Horse Society Website

      • Downloads with PayPal facilities of
      • SHS Magazines*
      • Stud Books
      • An Owner’s Manual
      • Gifts and other items for sale
      • Uploads with PayPal facilities
      • Donations – general
      • Donations – specific, such as Special Fund Raisers

These measures, once implemented, would save on time and money:  printing, postage and packaging, and perhaps more so for overseas members. 

*ASHA began e-mailing their newsletter “Punchline’ in 2010  and still do.   

A slight digression

It should be noted that the new Membership Rates (see p8 SHS Magazine, Spring 2021 edition) include an extra levy for overseas members of £25.00 per year, along with the annual new Membership Rate for everyone of £45.00.   That’s a round total of £75.00 per annum, or in US$106.40 as of 2 June 2021.     It is somewhat salutary to see that the North American Suffolk Horse Association yearly subscription is only US$50.00 (£35.00 as of early June 2021 conversion rates).   

At first thought one might be forgiven for thinking this is for airmail postage and packaging, although UK members are not asked for the equivalent for UK postage. 

But perhaps this a mistake, since the p.2 of the same Spring Issue 2021, underneath the Category of Corporate Member [£200] states:  ‘Add £10.00 for overseas subscriptions.’ 

It is reassuring to note that The Society appreciates ‘that not everyone will be able to continue their membership but we are extremely grateful to all the support we receive from you all.” 

There’s certainly the faintest whiff of “Oh we don’t want to lose you, but we think you ought to go…..”   

Proposed Re-introduction of Results of Each Breeding Season – see (a)3 above

Up until and including 2007, the earlier Suffolk Horse Newsletter, and the subsequent Suffolk Horse Magazine used to show a full page (A4 size):  ‘Results of the (year )Breeding Season.   It had the following headings: 

                        • Stallion and where he stood. 
                        • Mares Covered.  
                        • Not in Foal. 
                        • Aborted. 
                        • Foal born dead.  
                        • Live Foal.    

Totals were given  at the end of each category, with numbers in parenthesis for the previous year’s totals.

It would be helpful to re-introduce the table of Breeding Results, with some additional information.  Below is a proposed example, which might serve as a starting point.

 

The Mares

Where are we now?  2021 May, Part 2, Figures 9.1-9.4  Section:  Other Losses in Breeding the Mare, showed that only about a third of all mares covered during the breeding season,  resulted in a live foal.  Derived from Prefaces of Suffolk Horse Society Stud Books, Volumes 87- 97 (2010-2020), Table 14.0 below shows the same continuing pattern.

Note: for the Breeding -> Foaling Years 2013-2014 and 2017-2018, the Suffolk Horse Society Stud Books make no mention of how many mares were actually covered.  Nonetheless, based on foaling figures (for which there are yearly totals for the period 2010-2021),  the linear forecast shows the constant decline.   Even if the 2021 foaling totals still have a few more foals to come, it is unlikely that Foals Registered for 2021 will match 2012’s Foals Register of 41.

‘The Time it Takes….”

The term ‘Breeding Year -> Foaling Year’ is this writer’s term to avoid confusion when reading statements such as : ” During the year, xx mares were covered.   xx foals were recording in the Pedigree Register……”.   

In the old Breeding Results Table (see Table 13.0 above), asterisks (*) were used to denote the foaling years’ tables.

 It is a long haul from the mare’s covering to when one can see the results in the published Pedigree Register – usually three years. 

With missing two years’ data – 2013 and 2017 – for numbers of mares covered, the total of Mares Covered in the years 2010-2021 totals 591 producing only 299 foals

*The 2021 totals for Foals Registered will not be known officially until 2022,   with the March publication of the 2021 SHS Stud Book.

And the recurring theme: 

To the total of 299 foals should be added another 53 for progeny produced in 2013 and 2017  making a total of 352 for the years 2010-2021.   

Sequential SHS Stud Books also reveal the sad reality that not all foals born survive to appear with Registration Numbers in the Pedigree Register.

What is the cause of the poor foaling percentages?

Three sequential years in the 1930’s list foaling percentages for Suffolk mares left in foal by the then travelling stallions  at:

                            • 1934 : 68% 
                            • 1935:  67.2%, 
                            • 1936:  66.6%.

Possibly the last time foaling percentages of this nature were seen would be pre-WW2.

The 1930s were very differing times:  a major contrast was the Stallion travelled to the Mare, rather than today, when it usually the Mare going to the Stallion for live cover, or to the Vet for AI.

In present times, it seems the causes of poor foaling percentages, particularly in draught horses, are varied.   There is real concern that this is  a reflection of reduced and continual reducing genetic diversity.  

Others reasons espoused are:   that the Mare is too young (bred early in her third year of life);  too old (more than 15 or 16 years); is an older maiden mare;  is bred too late in the breeding year, or too early;  too much condition, or not enough.    And for others that they are kept too busy, floated too often, and sometimes too late in the pregnancy.  

This latter was often more frequently encountered in the pre-COVID restricted era, as the following two knowledgeable horsemen present:

‘Very few famous show mares were also great breed mares.   There may be two reasons for this.   In the first place , whereas after the London Show the stallion had time to get into breeding condition before his season began and was rarely or ever shown again that year, the show mare was likely to be kept in luxurious form all through the spring  and summer and there was a temptation not to breed as soon as was really desirable.   She was then more likely to prove a difficult breeder than her less august sisters. 

Secondly the show mare was also likely to be the big mare, and the biggest well-bred cart mares were usually the lest prolific: it is almost as if nature was anxious to set a limit by inhibiting fertility at a certain point. ….  Most of the celebrated Shire mares owed their reputation either to their prizes or their progeny, but not to both.”

Keith Chivers, Tail Female, Chapter IX,  The Shire Horse, A History of the Breed the Society & the Men. J. Allen & Co, London, 1976

“There is no doubt that mares should be left at a stud until they are found to be in foal.   If owners keep taking mares away from a stud to go to a show or for any other reason and then taking them back again during the breeding programme than this rarely ends in a successful conclusion”

Phillip Ryder-Davis , Notes on Breeding, January 1998, Suffolk Horse Society, Newsletter No.48

Review  also the Section “Why  is there such a difference between the number of  mares covered and the number of live and registered foals each year?“ in:  https://suffolkpunchaustralia.com/eight-articles-on-the-status-of-the-suffolk-horse/where-are-we-now-may-2021-part-2-more-rocks-difficult-terrain/ 

 

Where did the overall decline begin?  Looking for clues over six decades (1960-2021)

There are three groups of Figures, each of two decade covering a total of 61 years.   

The time period 1960-2021 may be divided into 7-year intervals or put another way:  7-year horse generations.   61 divided by 7 is equal to 8.714.   In 2023, it will be exactly nine 7-year horse generations:  in 2027, one year short of ten 7-year horse generations.

Dr Sarah Blott in 2017 drew attention  to  a gender disparity, pointing out to the wider Suffolk Horse Community,  the significance of the 7-year horse generations and its impact on achieving a healthy increase in Effective Population Size. 

The Upward Trajectory – the first two decades from 1960

Figures through this section  show the importance of detail, not just the overall results.

Looking at Figure 15.0 covering 60 years of foal production for the UK Suffolk Horse, the overall impression is one of steady and increasing growth in both total numbers and a continuing swing of the ratio  of male to female, to the female side.   A total of 1,752 foals were registered, with 940 fillies and 826 colts.

(Those with an eye for patterns, will see the similarity between between  Figure 15.1 above and Figure 11.0 at the beginning of this article (Part 3) on ASHA to SHS foal production.)

Figures 15.1 and 15.2 covering the years 1960-1979 are the most optimistic of these three groups.

Figure 15.1 showing the overall total for 20 years (almost three 7-year horse generations) favouring the female side in 3:2. in the first two decades of the period under review.

Although the linear forecast is upward and to all extents, positive, the fluctuating gender ratio is surprising and of concern.  There are only three years, in the whole two decades, or the almost three – 7-year horse generations, 1972, 1973, 1974 with the fourth year, 1975 seemingly continuing to travel in tandem, although not parallel paths by 1976.

Aiming for balanced expansion in the 1980s and 1990s

By the decades’ end in  1998,  foal registrations for the period 1960-1977 had increased over the earlier two decades by 225,  Eleven years out of the 19 there were noticeable disparities in the gender ratios.  What is interesting is that it was in the mid to late 1990s that mention was first made of gonadal hypoplasia (aka gonadal dysgenesis) with regard to the UK Suffolk Punch.   See: https://suffolkpunchaustralia.com/clock-ticking-part-2/  and the Section:  The Curious Case of Stallion Z – Suffolk Horse Breeding Investigation August 1999.

As Figure 16.1 above shows there were only seven years out of the two decades when filly foals soared ahead  in number.

The Last Two Decades and Two Years.

Figure 17.1 below illustrates there is at least a total of 11 years in the 22 years, when more colts were produced than fillies.  And perhaps only two years 2005-2006 when the two genders are in briefly in parallel.

 In answer to a question sometimes asked: why no concern when colts numbers fall below fillies, it is that  one stallion can sire several progeny in the one breeding season:  a mare can only produce one foal in that same time.  

The very expensive and less successful method of live Embryo Transfer reproduction may produce two embryos in one season.    Using Assisted Reproduction methods, one stallion can sire many progeny in addition to live cover, by chilled  and frozen semen.    The latter if collected at export quality may be used overseas.

Figure 17.1 above shows that although overall Colt registrations are  slightly rising, the overall total for progeny produced  and filly foal registrations for the two decades and two years of 2000-2021 are inexorably declining, continuing the tend of the previous two decades.

Some Conclusions

In September 2021, it will be four years since the article cited above and with link:   The Clocking is Ticking …  … … Part 2, drew attention to the breeding problems of the UK Suffolk Horse, specifically to gonadal hypolasia.     Despite great endeavours on the part of some owners and breeders, the much needed introduction of the SPARKS database in 2019, the gradual downward decline continues and expeditiously at that.   It may sound simplistic to say, we need fresh bloodlines, but any experienced farmer or stockman, would recognise the validity of that point.

The Suffolk Punch Horse is a working horse, originally bred to draw a weight, be that plough, wagon, cart, or snigging logs through woodland.  It was never to bear a weight.   Promoting the Suffolk as a riding horse, is a short term solution which will inevitably result in changing the phenotype.   

As has been mentioned before, the pool of experienced working horsemen and women, is diminishing year by year.    They fought so hard through the ‘revival’ years of the draught horse in these past six decades,  and it was not to keep it as enshrined as a Critically Endangered Rare Breed but to return the Suffolk Horse to a working draught.

The transatlantic herd is still true to its origins as a working draught horse;  make no mistake:  it is A Suffolk Horse.

Without major changes now and in the critical six and one half years ahead, the Suffolk Horse in the United Kingdom will not survive as a breed.   And it will be no comfort to any when the last Suffolk capable of breeding is laid to rest in its grave, with those who ardently continue to  promulgate their adverse views on NASHA horses, peering down into the pit and muttering, “Well, at least they died pure”.

 

 

 

© Eleanor Yvonne Hatch, Suffolk Punch Australia 2021