THE SUFFOLK 163 



The Suffolk has a tendency to small ears, the forehead is 

 broad, and the eyes are of medium size and only fairly prominent. 

 The nose tends to Roman form, which has been rather character- 

 istic of the breed. The jaws are strong and the cheeks deep and 

 full. The neck has something of an arch, in fact, with stallions 

 this is very pronounced, with not too much heaviness at the 

 crest. The neck sometimes joins the head a bit heavily, but at 

 the shoulders it is, as a rule, well placed. The shoulder should 

 be " long but not extremely oblique. A race-horse placing of 

 shoulder is not desired among Suffolk breeders, a straighter 

 shoulder being better suited to draft work. The body of this 

 breed is one of its notable features. It has long been character- 

 ized by great depth and circumference, considering the size of 

 the horse. The ribs have an unusual spring and depth, thus 

 giving the body a very round, full form. Formerly this was 

 unnecessarily deep and round, giving the body a paunchiness 

 from which the term " Punch " was evolved and given as a part 

 of the breed name. Modern breeders object to heaviness of belly. 

 For size the body girths unusually well. A girth of about eight 

 feet back of the shoulders is commended. The croup is full 

 and well carried out, the tendency to steepness being slight. 



Strong quarters and hocks are a feature of the breed, but there 

 has been some criticism of the hocks. One family, Catlin's 

 Boxer 299, has had this feature of bent hind legs and weak 

 hocks, and Crisp's Conqueror 413 and Cupbearer 416, famous 

 sires as they were, had a tendency to this trouble. The legs of 

 the Suffolk are very free from superfluous hair, and while they 

 have been criticized as lacking in bone, the breeders insist that 

 this is not so. If fairly compared with the long-haired breeds, 

 they maintain that plenty of bone will be manifest. Yet the bone 

 is not large, but of superior texture. A girth of iol inches below 

 the knee is given by Mr. Biddell as ample, more being thought 

 unnecessary. The feet have been criticized much in the past. 

 The middle of the last century it was claimed that the feet were 

 flat and the hoofs brittle and that sidebones were common. Now 

 for years, however, by the rules of the Suffolk Society, all horses 

 shown must be submitted to a veterinarian's examination, which 

 has resulted in a great improvement. 



