Suffolk Punch

One of my 'dailies' on Habitrpg is to learn something new. Learning is important to me, but it is something I haven't been doing so much lately, which in turn has made my mind feel very empty and hollow. (Aka, a cabbage.)

Therefore, I thought about making a blog post about one of my favourite breeds of horses, The Suffolk Punch. Not only is the horse local to my hometown, it is one of the strongest breeds of horse, once used for farm work and pulling heavy carriages. Despite the fact that they're huge, they're generally a friendly breed too.

Unfortunately the Suffolk Punch is also a dying breed. According to one source there are only 80 breeding mares left.

Organisations such as the Suffolk Punch Trust promise a great day out in return for a small entry fee which goes towards conserving the breed. I am not sure how I feel about conserving horse breeds that are no longer in demand. On the one side, the Suffolk Punch is a pretty cool horse, and it would be an awful shame for them to disappear. On the other side, as they are so big, they are unlikely to be kept as domestic horses and have a small gene pool which if not handed properly, could lead to some defects in the future. Luckily most of the time, stud books with horses are taken very seriously, and as along as there are enough volunteers to care for them I don't see it as too much of a problem.

This information is all fair, but it isn't exactly fresh for me. From a little bit of research I've stumbled upon a stallion named 'Oppenheim LXII' a very likely Suffolk Punch, who was sent to Denmark probably for breeding in 1860. Some sources say that it is partly responsible for various Danish and German breeds including the Jutland and the Schleswig. One such horse, Oldrup Munkedal is said to be a direct ancestor of Oppenheim LXII. All three of these horse breeds are large working horses.

So there you have it. Now you know that someone out there in the big wide world named their horse Oppenheim LXII.