ALLIANCE, Ohio — The existence of Suffolk Punch horses reflects the spirit of the rural landscape. That’s what makes Blue Ridge Farmstead, a farm in Alliance where eight Suffolk Punch horses make their home, seem like a needle in a haystack.
Suffolk Punch horses originated in a county called Suffolk in East Anglia, an eastern region of England, roughly 500 years ago. The draft horses were bred for farmers by farmers, lovingly labeled as “punch,” then a slang term for people who were short and stout. Punches are stocky and formidable, with thick, arching necks and incredibly well-muscled shoulders that are made for pulling plows, carts and shaping the ground beneath them. They are bred to be docile, powerful and have the stamina to work from sunup to sundown with the longevity to do it again and again.
Horses that once represented the foundation of agricultural life are now nearly relics of the past. Only about 600 Suffolk Punch horses are registered across the U.S., with only 200 registered in England according to The Livestock Conservancy. By way of comparison, the Percheron Horse Association of America estimates that about 10,000 Percheron draft horses are registered every single year. The Rare Breeds Survival Trust considers the Suffolk Punch horse breed to be critically endangered.
Keeping the breed alive
When the Nidy family purchased and began raising Punch horses, they didn’t know they were undertaking a rare venture. Andrew Nidy and his wife Jennifer began their journey into the world of Suffolk Punch horses six years ago.
“We were looking for farm horses to do farm work, and Suffolks are the only draft horse breed that was bred originally for farming purposes,” Andrew said. “Once we got [Suffolks], we didn’t want anything else.”
The Nidys operate a hobby farm, dabbling in every corner of agriculture. They grow fresh produce in their gardens, raise dairy and beef cattle, tend poultry for meat and eggs and bale their own hay. Their herd of horses participates in the maintenance of the farm, plowing and cultivating the garden, spreading manure, raking the hay and even baling hay before the Nidys got a hay baler.
In under 20 minutes, Andrew can harness up the horses in their plowing tack. On the farm, two horses can be hitched together and drag a variety of farm tools behind them to complete a long list of daily tasks. The Nidys also take their horses to plow day events, where they can hitch together three horses to help farmers plow and turn over fresh soil in their cropland.
It’s not all hard work and no play, though. While Suffolks aren’t traditional show horses, the Nidys take them to the Portage County Fair, participating in halter and hitch classes. Andrew says the family has a 35-gallon bucket full of ribbons that the horses have scored over the years. In mid-October, Jennifer and Andrew rode two of their horses across the beach of Lake Erie during a benefit event to support the Cleveland Metroparks Mounted Unit. These events are great places to spread the word about the breed and educate others.
“We’ve run across folks who have had draft horses their entire lives but have never heard of Suffolks,” Andrew said. “When I read that people used these horses for farming, I thought they’d be more common, but they’re pretty rare.”
Disappearance
The disappearance of Suffolk Punch horses boils down to two words: farm mechanization.
The sorrel-colored draft horses didn’t make their way to the U.S. from England until the early 1900s. While they remained popular for a time due to their hardiness and propensity for farm work, after World War II, horses were out and tractors were in.
“The population of draft horses in general had huge, huge population drops at that time,” Andrew said. “Suffolks were never fully established in the United States.”
Instead, farmers favored Percherons and Belgians, two breeds of draft horses that had already been established in the U.S. before tractors and other mechanical equipment took over. Suffolks’ late arrival to the U.S. nearly snuffed out their existence. However, the timeless strength and resilience of the horses once again beckoned the attention from farmers looking for a good worker.
Suffolks rising
Andrew has found that interest in Suffolk horses is rising, especially on “mixed power” farms where farmers use both animals and mechanical equipment to get their work done. He says that using Suffolks is a good mix of being green and saving money.
“Horses are superior for pulling logs out of forests for selective harvests because if you take a machine in the woods, you would have to cut a much larger path,” he said. “As we move forward, we see people who are conscious of their footprint on the earth and care about green energy — if you want to talk about green energy, horses are green energy.”
Horses “eat sunshine and poop fertilizer” as Andrew puts it. With talk about battery-operated tractors, he thinks that horses could make a good fit on farms once again, providing nutrients back into the soil. Not only that, but horses come without startup problems in the winter, unlike diesel equipment that can freeze up and be inoperable in cold temperatures. On his farm, Andrew can hitch up a horse and get the work done no matter the weather.
“Horses are great, but if they’re out in the pasture not doing what they were bred to do, they lose some of their existence in my mind,” Andrew said. “[Suffolks] have stayed true to type as a farming horse. We wanted a laid-back, docile horse that can do just about anything you ask it to do — and we got it.”
(Hayley Shasteen is a writer based in northeastern Ohio. She enjoys reporting on agriculture and science, and likes to spend time outdoors. She can be reached at hayleyshasteen@gmail.com with questions, story ideas or invitations to your farm to pet the cows.)
OMIGOSH!! I grew up on a horse farm, love all horses but have a special affinity for draft breeds. As a child I learned about Suffolk Punch and have often wondered why I never see the breed at Fairs or shows!!!And NOW see this article that they exist VERY NEAR to where I live?!!!!!
I would love to learn more about these horses. We have Missouri Foxtrotters for riding but have often thought of breeding and raising docile horses for heavier work around the farm.