Our world-class herd of registered Suffolks

Ridgewind Suffolk Farm is home to some of highest quality Suffolks Punch horses in North America.  Our Suffolk Punch breeding program focuses on big horses that are willing, good natured, and have a lot of heart.

Generally we have 15 Suffolks on the farm.  Here are a few of them:

Eyke Sovereign, Stallion  #3396-S

Our Stallion, imported from England is standing for breeding.  We provide services via live cover only at this point.
Sire: Euston Bobby Dazzler
Sire's Sire: Donhead Hall Navar
Dam: Eyke Opal

Eyke Sovereign ES 9035 3396-S

New Horse from the Old World 

It was the late winter of 2009-10. We had record snowfall in the central Appalachians. 102 inches total, with relentless wind and drifts beyond head height in several places. Despite snow fences, hedgerows and multiple attempts to mechanically remove it, it kept coming back. The snow was the worst we had ever experienced. It had gone way beyond the usefulness of the old horse drawn Galion Pony road grader and my first string team of stout Suffolk Geldings. Our movements on the farm were around snow drifts or by human foot, on snowshoes. The public road was blocked for days. These conditions had worn this old country boy beyond any delusions of easy self-sufficiency and independence. It was all we could do to feed the stock. I was tired of dealing with winter weather and my thoughts were dominated by hope for the coming spring like never before. So in late March the weather broke (to the new one word description of weather everywhere) “extreme” the other way - warm and sunny.  We began the journey of a lifetime for me and eventually for a horse - a Suffolk Punch colt, 10 months old. 


Some farmers have joyfully invested their lives in their land and animals and vacating isn’t a desire or even an option. So the story of this journey is not about a vacation, but a “mission” - to do the most we could for our breed and for draft horse culture in general. 

This mission and journey was graced by the company of my business partner Donald H. “Swede” McBroom. We had done considerable research prior to our flight. This study was informed and inspired by all my experiences raising this breed since 1981, including the serendipitous seeing of my first Suffolk Punch in England during my active duty in the Navy back in ‘69. (I’ll come back to that story later.) If there was one thing that we could do to help the Suffolk horse in America, it was to import a good, unrelated stallion. This was cultural missionary work. 

Upon contacting the Suffolk Horse Society in England prior to deciding to go over, we were told that there were only two colts under 24 months available for sale in the entire United Kingdom. This didn’t sound like much of a shopping opportunity.  Having had some experience with Associations and breed registries, I was quite sure that there were more horses there than the official parties were aware of or willing to reveal, particularly to a “yank” - an American. It will be a challenge to find, buy and bring a great horse back to the colony.
 
~The Cultural Back Door

Fortunately, through the internet and several chat boards I had virtually met a real working horseman in the U.K. The first National Champion Horse Logger of the British Horse Loggers Associaton- Simon Anthony Lenihan. Simon was awarded this title in a competitive process judged by Foresters and Horseman and was awarded the title by Prince Charles. Simon and his sons operate as Celtic Horse Logging, www.celtichorselogging.com . Yes Celtic, because Simon has dual citizenship in England as well as his native homeland of Ireland. I had gotten to know him through many email exchanges and several phone calls over the course of a year or so before I ask for his help on this search for the best Suffolk colt we could find. He took the task on, just as he seems to undertake most of his life – with vigor, determination and persistence. Simon Lenihan is the real deal, a proven master. A man that is as dedicated to horses and horse logging as anyone I have ever known. His skill level is equal to his heart-felt commitment to this culture. He has taught these skills to his sons who are also great horsemen and loggers. I had asked Simon to look into the availability of Suffolk colts in the U.K. His National Champion Horse Logger award was national news in this country and he was well known among most draft horse people in the nation. Simon is a breed specific practitioner and works Ardenners or Ardennes horses. He was working two stallions when I met him, as singles and in a team on his state of the art Swedish manufactured horse drawn log forwarder. When Simon began his research by acquiring a membership list and making some phone calls he told us he had located at least 18 colts to examine. We had developed access to the Suffolk world through a cultural back door. Suffolk breeders were intrigued with the idea that the Champion horse logger was interested in their breed. He didn’t always mention that a couple of American’s would be traveling with him. This approach was something I had learned in my training as a Vista Volunteer as a “community organizer” - find someone supportive of your cause, that everyone knows and respects - then follow their lead into the community. Simon Lenihan is a good reason this story is worth telling, because he influenced the outcome so profoundly and positively. We were very lucky and grateful for his help and our friendship has continued to grow over the years. We were in the privileged company of a true Master of his chosen skills. 

Simon was not only our cultural access to see many Suffolk horses, he was our native guide, driver and advisor on the decision making process of which horse was best to bring back to Virginia. He made all the arrangements for housing, transportation and connections to see over 180 Suffolk horses. For two weeks we travelled over 2000 miles in a relatively small country. 

We landed in Belfast, Ireland and saw the only Suffolks in that country first, on our own. The Irish horse was of a rare bloodline among the English Suffolks and there was a colt there that was available. From there we hopped a flight to England and took a train to where we met Simon in Ipswich and then headed for Woodbridge, Suffolk. We stayed in a B and B on the square that had portions of the building that dated in the late 1300’s. The stepping stone into the house had a deep dip worn from millions of feet and the Inn Keeper told us it was the second one. We were in the old world. 

But it was still the new world because as I stood on the sidewalk having a smoke break and chatting on the cell, two lovely middle aged English women walked past me. They heard me talking and turned around and ask me if I was Leonard Cohen? I told them no and who I really was and what I was doing there and thanked them for their hospitality. But in fact they had made my job harder, because on top of trying to figure out the best colt in the country to pick, I now had to find out who Leonard Cohen was. As some readers here may know and I found out - he’s a great gravelly voiced American singer. 

The center of the village square had a building that was a beautiful old official looking structure.  It currently housed the Suffolk Horse Society office and museum. The building was jammed to the ceiling with Suffolk Punch artifacts. It was totally fascinating, a Suffolk horse powered/inspired time capsule into the past. The SHS secretary was professional, gracious and polite. They had an area on one wall with bloodlines back hundreds of years. This was one of the last times the old office would be available, as it was my understanding that it was being moved to the Suffolk Trust at the former Hollesly Bay Colony, which was near completion and opening soon. Dr. Phillp Ryder Davies, DVM met us there and kindly invited us to visit the Suffolk Trust next, although it wasn’t open for the season yet.   

Meanwhile Simon is busy making dates and getting directions and accommodations throughout the country to see more horses. We travelled out of Woodbridge for three days. We went to the Colony, Jon and Fiona Flemings in Eyke, Suffolk, Easton Farm Park, Lady Euston’s, Cheryl and Gordon Grover’s.

Simon reckoned we should see what he thinks might be the best one first, so we went to Cheryl and Gordon Grover’s and looked at two fine colts. Eyke Sovereign and Easton Farm Park Alex. Cheryl (Cherrie) is well known in this country (USA) from her work with Suffolk horses in videos. In England she serves in several official capacities of the Suffolk Horse Society. I think of Cherrie as the Matriarch of the Suffolk Punch. I deeply respect her eye for a horse and hand in handling them. She had taken “Sovereign” to a couple of weanling classes where he had won once. He had more substance, in pure presence - flesh and personality, than any other colt we saw. But we didn’t know this until we saw all the Suffolk colts we could see.  

The next stop was at John and Fiona Flemings in Eyke, Suffolk, England. John didn’t have any colts for sale, but Simon knew that was where the Sovereign colt’s sire and dam, grandsire and grand dam were available to see. The Grand sire was Golden Grandchild on the dam’s side and the sire was Euston Bobby Dazzler. The dam was Eyke Opal who was in the pasture with her dam. We were able to see several generations in one place. John and Fiona spent most of a beautiful spring afternoon showing us every horse they had and talking about their ancestry and history all along the way. It was a relaxing setting of a working place, the fences were much like my own. I think John was about the 10th generation of males born at this farm. The depth of culture was palpable. John and Fiona breed and show Suffolk Punch horses - where the Suffolk Punch started. 

The Hollesbay Colony was our next stop. We met Phillip Ryder Davies and The Suffolk Trust staff and were shown two big weanling colts. We met an amazing young female head groom - Tracey Petitis, who handles their Stallion, “Besthrope Achilles” in the show ring and on the farm. Very impressive horses and handlers. Achilles was the 2013 Grand Champion Suffolk Stallion for the year. This is the same place that the DHJ founder Maury Telleen and Illinois Suffolk Breeder Bill Hardt came decades ago and bought Colony Gordon as agents for Ira Lange.  Colony Gordon became a foundation level horse for the modern American Suffolk Punch. This a special place in time for me as a student of the Suffolk horse. 

The Colony was legendary and almost mythical in stories I’d heard over the years. Historically I’d heard that the inmates at the nearby penitentiary worked with the horses in a labor rehabilitation combination, maybe a forerunner to similar programs with mustangs in the west now. There was a time when the facility was nearly failed and needed support, ownership and care for what is one of the largest herds of Suffolk horses in the world. It was actually started as a training facility for second sons of English landowners. The first born male inherited the father’s estate and the second son was trained in the latest skills of agriculture and sent to the “colonies” to work. The agriculture of that time was based upon the Suffolk Trinity of Suffolk Punch horses, Suffolk Sheep and Red Poll cattle. The Colony is now the Suffolk Trust and looking good for the future.  

Probably the greatest difference in Suffolk horses in the U.K. and the U.S. is not the horses themselves. DNA tests on the imported American horses in England proved that. The biggest difference is the state support the breed is given in the mother country. The brilliance of Dr. Davies in establishing the Suffolk Trust at the Colony as a charitable organization is in making it a perfect focal point for continuing support of “rare endangered breeds”. This is my rough country boy understanding of the defining difference.  The Suffolk Horse Society pays for breeding, showing and publicly displaying (SHS) registered and approved Suffolk horses. The funding is from the para mutual betting on horse racing and it is disbursed as a duty of the Royal Family, to the benefit of the country. “Brilliant”, (read spoken quickly with a crisp English accent). That support ensures that the horses have a chance of surviving in their birthplace. I don’t know the exact figures or how much money is given to the folks that do this or that, but that it is publicly supported is the positive factor that we don’t enjoy in this country – USA. And in fact, some Suffolk horses in the U.K. don’t either. The Suffolk horses that don’t enjoy the support of the SHS are the American Suffolk Punch horses imported back to the homeland. This is a subject that comes and goes throughout this story, but probably won’t go away if the Suffolk Punch horse is to have the best chance at survival and growth into the future.  

We visited Easton Farm Park that has been the site of the Suffolk Punch Spectacular and has a herd of several mares and are a linage from a fellow whose lovely female descendent now runs the park. The cultural continuity is good in the old world. We examined a colt there that was by Euston Malachite. These mares are related to an imported English mare “Easton Judy” that lived out her life with Mack Gavitt in Alabama.  We have two mares (Phelan Sally and Sadie) that are related to that mare here now. They are large Suffolk horses standing 18 hands high and weighing over a ton. The park was beautiful with classic structures and lush English pastures grazing an impressive group of Punch mares. 

We travelled to Lady Euston’s farm and met her groom Ms. Sam Maloy and horseman Simon Juby. Their stallion is Euston Malachite “Rocky”. They also have some American Suffolk horses or descendants. Ms. Sam showed us several horses, all of which she had started on long lines and some under saddle. Simon Juby showed us the stallion. Simon Juby is the grandson of a famous Mr. Jack Juby that was once in charge of all the Queens horses. This cultural continuity thing keeps showing up. He did a fine job showing us this horse’s movement and manners. Very impressive horse from any view. He was just on the wrong side of a big ocean. Lady Euston has served on the SHS leadership and is an avid supporter of American Suffolk horses being included in the English stud books and society. She may be the lone voice of that sentiment among the SHS leadership. 

We visited Neil Syrett that raises horses with the farm prefix of Besthrope. This was also a working farm, mostly conventional, but some horses in harness. Neil’s father was a lifelong breeder, worker and promoter of the Suffolk Punch. This is where the 2013 Champion Suffolk stallion Besthorpe Achilles came from. Cultural continuity again.  Neil had two young colts there that really caught Simon Lenihan’s fancy. They looked like real working horses to him and me too. By this time in the long journey around the country Simon and I were thinking about working some of these fine horses, not just looking at them.  

We headed to Birmingham to visit Mr. Clark and his daughter and see possibly the largest private herd of Suffolk Punch horses probably in the world. They had three stallions, dozens of mares and the many young horses that were produce of their efforts. It was still late winter and all the horses were in confinement, so seeing many horses close up was easy. They were gracious and generous in showing us every horse they had. They were hard working folks that had a company that maintained living fences/hedges that were common throughout the region. They also kept some sheep and cattle. Their place was on a ridge above a valley leading into the old industrial city of Birmingham. They showed us small craters in their fields they said were made by WWII German planes dumping bombs not used in attacks on the factories as they flew back across the water to the Europe. 

The next stop was monumental in a couple of ways. The first being that we drove by Stonehenge on the way to Dorset. The second being that I finally returned the visit to the only English Suffolk horseman I had ever met before this mission. We went to Randy and Eugenie Hiscock’s Donhall Farm in Dorset. Randy had come through Virginia years ago and photographed and measured every Suffolk horse he could find in the U.S. I enjoyed his insight and company tremendously in Virginia and he was the same incredible Suffolk man at home.  This man had probably seen more living Suffolk horses than anyone alive. His friendship is another version of that “cultural continuity”.  A very important aspect is that much of that viewing was over their backs when he worked his Suffolk Punch horses.  That means he knows what he’s looking at from the real purpose of this breed – work.  There is a team hooked there regularly for lots of farm chores. They were kind enough to let us help them clean barn, watched him spread manure with a team of huge Suffolk mares and then took us for a drive through the village on narrow roads that were an everyday obstacle course of ancient animal powered proportions. Randy uses American styled harness for most of his farm work. Suffolk sweat smells good in Dorset. 

Randy Hiscock is sort of the Martin Luther of the Suffolk Punch (to belabor a religious metaphor). He’s the only person that has ever imported an American Suffolk Punch stallion back to England - Garrettland’s Golden Eagle. GGE was bred by Samuel Yoder of Oakland, Md.  He is a descendent of Colony Gordon picked out by Maury Telleen and Bill Hardt, mentioned earlier in this story. There’s some more of that cultural continuity value. Randy has bred several English mares with GGE. Lady Euston has bred some of her mares with this American horse also. The challenge now is to have those horses included in the grace of the SHS support of this rare breed.  The inevitable need for the genetic diversity available through the American Suffolk Draft horse herd is becoming more evident yearly. Randy Hiscock, Lady Euston and Heather Keeble are ahead of the curve by already recognizing the need for genetic diversity. An Australian Veterinarian had just published a study of the English Suffolk that supported the need for an influx of new genetics and blood in the English herd - based on scientific observations and DNA testing.  

I was again fortunate to be in the company of Simon Lenihan, as his guest to a meeting of the FETCU organization hosted by the British Horse Loggers Association. FETCU is a European Draft Horse Association with member countries from all over the continent.  There were calloused hands to shake and truly serious horsemen and horsewomen to meet at a gathering of this caliber. I felt comfortable and affirmed in the company of these proven practitioners and peers despite language barriers. I was asked to say a few words about our work in America at the end of the meeting. I stood before an audience of cultural depth beyond anything I’d ever experienced. As I began to speak the entire room full of folks broke into conversation. I paused. I began to speak again to the same response. At that point I realized that the various languages of the group were being interpreted into English as I spoke. It was somewhat bewildering for an instant, adding more gravity to the choice of what to say. I did my best to express gratitude for their work and hospitality and suggested that since the words ooo and ahhh were universal that I proposed to watch a video I had brought instead of me talking. That’s what we did and it was enjoyed, especially the hard pulls on big logs. Each countries group had at least one English speaking translator. A young English speaking French woman came up to me during a break with an interesting comment. She shook her finger side to side and said there were differences I should understand in response to a remark I’d made about animal husbandry being important worldwide. She said and I paraphrase -“we no marry our horses, we eat them if they don’t work”.  Then admonished me for the American attitude of telling people of the world what they should and could eat. I agreed with her sentiments. I was honored and humbled to be in the company of these real horse people. 

We then travelled to Nottingham to visit the Player estate and view the Whatton horses, where we inspected a lovely colt named Whatton’s Freddie. This was a beautiful place with many thoroughbred horses and various herds of different age groups, mare and foals groups and a few good Suffolk horses. We passed by the Sherwood Forest on the way and it was far from the huge trees portrayed in Hollywood versions of the Robin Hood story. The forest in the U.K. need more Simon Lenihan’s and less conventional foresters. The same could be said about much of the U.S. 

The final stop was closer to London where we would catch our flight back home. We visited Heather Keeble who we had met first at the National Shire Show. Heather had imported three American Suffolk fillies from the High Meadows Farm in N.Y. state. She is an innovator by this choice of vision for the future of this breed. In this old country of deep traditions, she has bravely resisted the status quo of the Suffolk establishment and went to the new world to find and bring back American Suffolk Punch Horses. Heather is an accomplished horseman of many disciplines. In our search for a Suffolk colt we came to favor two weanlings. Whatton’s Freddie and Eyke Sovereign. Whatton’s Freddie was a Euston Malachite son. Eyke Sovereign was a Euston Bobby Dazzler son. Randy Hiscock’s prior stallion Donhall Head Navar was Dazzler’s sire. We shared this decision making responsibility with the English Suffolk breeders that we felt alliance with, in particular Randy Hiscock and Heather Keeble. We settled on buying Eyke Sovereign. Later we learned that Heather and Randy has purchased Whatton’s Freddie and share him today.  In their care he has grown to be a proven stallion of his own. 

We contacted Cheryl Grover and bought Eyke Sovereign. Then the process of vet inspection to qualify him as a potential stallion, inoculations to meet export requirements and transportation service through an international shipping company, by airplane to the Rock Tavern USDA Quarantine station in New York state.  Six weeks later we drove there and picked up our English colt, now 11 months old. We brought him back to Ridgewind Farm in Copper Hill, Virginia, where he lives today. 

Now I would like to make somewhat of a disclaimer about why it has taken this long to tell this story, given that it all happened in 2010. For me it would have been premature to tell the story of importing a breeding horse before he was proven to reproduce. At this point Eyke Sovereign has sired 5 Suffolk foals in America. He has six mares settled for 2014. He is broke to work in harness and will do his part in the woods and fields of our community. He will also continue to service select mares with hope to increase the size, quality and numbers of Suffolk horses in America. When the time comes to export American Suffolk Punch horses back to the U.K. again, we suspect some of his blood will return home. Meanwhile his colts are being sold throughout the country to owners that have good mares to breed. Cultural continuity - to be continued. 

 

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Ridgewind Rubescent Rudra ("Rudy"), 
Former Ridgewind Stallion  #2650-S

Sire: Marshal of Arcadia Canada
Sire's Sire: Marshland Punch
Dam: Starith of Patch's Starfire

Ridgewind Aethling John 3471-S = Eyke Sovereign ES 9035 3396-S foaled: 13 June 2013 For Sale

Welcome our new colt: Ridgewind Aethling Don, first foal by Eyke out of Ridgewind Rubescent Ent.

Ent, Mare  #3728-M

Sire: Ridgewind Rubescent Rudra
Sire's Sire: Marshal of Arcadia Canada
Dam: Ridgewind Rubescent Ruby

Ent is the epitome of a Suffolk Punch mare, she'll be first to foal an Eyke baby this spring.

Ridgewind Rubescent Tong - For Sale

The horse on the left from the read is our most mature gelding Ridgewind Rubescent Tong. Tong is 16 and very sound and experienced. He is now for sale. Call for price - 540-798-1828

Rube, Gelding

Rube is a Rudy son out of a Tom Bombidil of Rohan daughter, could have been a good stallion, but no takers, so we gelded him. Great young horse, willing and kind. He is working now in the garden and woods in harness as well as on the trails under saddle.