184 THE HORSE BOOK. 



or other alien blood has ever been made. Cer- 

 tain it is that the clean leg and characteristic 

 conformation were never brought about by 

 crossing with French stallions. What the breed 

 is today is solely the result of another lone 

 very small territory to which this breed seems 

 to have been indigenous. The chestnut color is 

 readily transmitted to the Suffolk's grades and 

 I have seen some very good specimens among 

 them. 



It is doubtful if this breed has ever re- 

 ceived in the United States the recognition to 

 which its many good qualities entitle it. This 

 perhaps is accounted for in the fact that the 

 color is not a popular one among draft horse 

 breeders generally, and from the personal ex- 

 perience of the writer there has always been 

 some sort of a lurking suspicion in the public 

 mind that these clean-legged, heavy-quartered 

 chestnuts were French horses of some sort 

 masquerading under a name to which they had 

 no right. It is hard to persuade some folks that 

 the very hairy-legged Shire and the very 

 smooth-legged Suffolk are bred in the same 

 island. Nevertheless the Suffolk can trace his 

 lineage back to the middle of the eighteenth 

 century and beyond in an absolutely unbroken 

 line. 



Insofar as they have been given a trial here 

 they have made good. The individuals do not 



