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The Horkesley Park Suffolk Punches are a division of Bunting & Sons, a firm
which has been in the ownership of the Bunting family for almost 200 years. Established in Colchester, Essex in 1820, Bunting & Sons is now run by the 6th and 7th generations of partners.
The Suffolk horse, affectionately known as the “Suffolk Punch”, is East Anglia’s only indigenous breed of heavy horse and as it dates
back to at least 1768 it is also the oldest breed of heavy horse in existence. Prior to the end of the war and being almost completely replaced by the tractor during the 1950/60s, there were over 300,000 Suffolk Punches when the breed was at its peak, mainly in East Anglia, where the horses are ideally suited to the region’s heavy clay soils.
Beloved by millions, the breed has nevertheless dramatically declined in recent years to such an extent it is in critical danger of dying
out, and would surely do so, if it were not for a small number of enthusiasts keeping and breeding the horses.
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