HEAVY HORSES 195 



distinct breed five hundred years ago by crossing the old Norman horse 

 with East of England mares; though it must be observed, in justice to 

 other breeds of less remote antiquity, that the proofs of such assertions 

 are insufficient. Be this as it may, the fact remains that the Suffolks 

 of the present day can boast of pedigrees that extend back as far as 

 17G8, at which period there existed a notable but nameless stallion 

 belonging to one Crisp, a resident at Ufford, near Woodbridge. From 

 this animal every prominent winner at our horse shows to-day, if not 

 every pure-bred Suffolk, is in some way or other descended. It is 

 noticeable, too, that the allusions made to this horse in the Suffolk 

 Chronicle and Tpsivich Journal are substantiated by the writings of 

 persons living about the middle of the eighteenth century, who, according 

 to a writer in Heavy Horses, were accustomed to advertise the pedigrees 

 of animals which went back for two or three generations at the very least. 

 In stating that every Suffolk of to-day can take his pedigree back to the 

 nameless horse of Mr. Crisp, it must not be understood that no attempts 

 have been made to effect improvements in the variety by the introduction 

 of outside crosses; but, at the same time, these have all been made in 

 connection with the descendants of the old horse, and, so far as can be 

 gathered by persons who have interested themselves in following these 

 crosses out, they have not been attended with success, as all trace of them 

 has been lost in the course of a few generations. It is known that certain 

 crosses of the old Lincolnshire blood have been attempted, and the ex- 

 periment of crossing with a trotting horse has also been made — the latter 

 being possibly introduced with an idea of rendering the Suffolk more 

 valuable as a coacher, as it is stated that the breed was cultivated by 

 the owners of stage-coaches in the early days of the eighteenth century, 

 when the rate of progression was slower than it became later on. 



It would appear probable that these crosses with alien blood were 

 responsible for the bay animals which formerly appeared in the breed, 

 but for the past half-century the Suffolk Punches have returned to the 

 ancient colour of their race, chestnut, and even the darker shade of this 

 colour has practically ceased to be seen. No doubt many persons more 

 or less strongly object to chestnuts, which are by some considered to be 

 weakly in constitution, and by others to be fretful and irritable in their 

 dispositions; and perhaps the Suffolks may owe to the colour of their 

 coats a little of their failure to gain new admirers as quickly as have 

 some other breeds; but the fact remains that all the original horses of the 

 breed concerning which descriptions are forthcoming were chestnuts, and 

 that the old colour came out again as strongly and as unvaryingly as 

 ever even in the descendants of some of the crosses which were attempted 



