Latest News

Could you be a future Trustee?

Could you be a future trustee/Council member of the Suffolk Horse Society? If you are a fully paid up member, then you are eligible. The Council is the Suffolk Horse Society’s governing body, and is responsible for the strategic direction of the Society and monitoring its operations and overall performance. The Society is both a registered charity and a Company Limited by Guarantee, and a Council member is therefore both a charity trustee and a company director. Trustees are the volunteers who lead the charity and decide how it is run. Volunteering as a trustee gives you the opportunity to make a difference at a strategic level and ensure that a charity’s resources are used effectively. You share, with all members of that body, equal responsibility for the charity. As trustees, the Council has a duty to ensure that the charity complies with the governing document, that is, the Articles of Association. These Articles of Association were updated at the 2024 AGM with members giving almost unanimous approval to bringing the Articles up to date. View the current Articles of Association. The Council currently meets six times a year. In addition, Council members are expected to attend the AGM and…

Mary Ryder Davies – Retiring President Speech 2024

This time last year I said how honoured I felt to be elected as President. Wearing the chain of office at events during the year and reading all the names of the Past Presidents engraved on it really did bring home to me the full realisation of that great honour. It has been a year of enjoyable events and I would like to thank Council members, horse owners and Society members for making that possible for me, but also the volunteers who are always ready and willing to help. These events do not just happen and I have seen when attending Committee meetings just how much work goes on behind the scenes in preparing for different occasions and competitions. The weather of course always helps or hinders. This was the case with the end of season Autumn working event John Latham was hosting, which after all the planning had to be cancelled after persistent heavy rain made using the land difficult. Our Suffolk horse pre–decessors must have encountered that more than once when planning a day’s farm work! All of the Committees appointed by the Council do a great deal of work in order to present the relevant facts in…

Meet the President 2024 – Mr Neil Syrett

I should perhaps start by writing a few words about who I am, and how I became to be in this position, as I am sure most of you know nothing about me. We acquired our first Suffolk in 1997, my father being fed up with the few sheep we were using to keep some odd bits of grass on the farm in order. As with many of his generation he liked the idea of having a Suffolk, it was what he remembered from his childhood and youth. However, somehow it was to be me who owned it and be a member of the SHS. I still don’t get the logic of that decision! However having acquired a couple of mares, I soon found that I could handle them and it was decided that we should be breeding from them. We resurrected the Besthorpe Prefix as it had been used on the farm during the 1930’s and 1940’s by my Mother’s Uncle. However finding a suitable stallion that was close by proved a bit more difficult. Then Randy Hiscox said to Father it would be easier if we had our own stallion; of course he knew of one! Ben (Robeck…

150th Woodbridge Show – May 6th 2024

The 150th Woodbridge Horse Show was a memorable day and an impressive start to the 2024 show season. To all our members who supported the Show, the Society would like to offer a sincere ‘thank you’ – horses were immaculately turned out, most classes were well attended and competition was fierce, and to all out members who featured in the line-up of prize winners, a very Well Done! Suffolk Horse Society trustee is Cheryl Grover is the 2024 Woodbridge Horse Show President and presented trophies at the end of the Show. The highlight of the day must surely have been Class 15, the ridden heavy horse class, which was a qualifying class for Horse of the Year Show at the NEC, Birmingham in October 2024. Eleven members took part in this memorable class and riders and horses were a credit to the Suffolk Horse Society. A full set of results is available on the Woodbridge Show website, but a summary of the winners is included below: Class 1 – Yearling: Colt, Filly or Gelding – Eyke Athena 28874 (Mr & Mrs J Fleming) Class 2 – Gelding: 2 or 3 years old – Tas Valley Lincoln 9269 (Mr Andrew Wager)…

Suffolk Punch Mare Takes the 2023 Search for A star Supreme Champion at Your Horse Live

Exciting and very proud day for Mrs Andrea Hoskins and Stud Manager Brad Auker, when Holbeache Scarlet one of 5 broodmares owned by Andrea took the Search for a star Supreme Championship at Your Horse Live. Read Article

Heavy Horse Village at your Horse Live

From the 10th to the 12th November, Your Horse Live welcomed it’s very first Heavy Horse Village on centre stage right at one of the entrances to the showground. Over 20,000 visitors attended the show across the three days who stopped and chatted to the owners of the horses and volunteers. The village welcomed 2 year old shire filly Batley Dianna Gray, 3 year old Percheron filly Kolga du Cretil, 4 year old Suffolk Punch mare Holbeche Scarlett and 8 year old Clydesdale Gelding Dourra Harvey. The amateur owners of the visiting horses and breed society volunteers inspired other amateurs through daily demonstrations varying from plaiting a heavy horse to feather care and the theory of basic harness. The village also welcomed Hook Norton Brewery’s Balmoral and Brigadier 4 year old shire geldings who took to the main entrance each morning at the shows main entrance to meet and greet visitors. As part of the remembrance weekend, two horses were plaited in their poppy sets and took part in a very busy 2 minute silence described by Shire Horse Society Council Member, Denise Badger as “very moving and emotional, the horses stood there quiet and patient representing the fallen soldiers…

The Suffolk Horse Spectacular was – quite simply – spectacular!

The Suffolk Horse Spectacular – September 3rd 2023 The Suffolk Horse Spectacular was – quite simply – spectacular! The event took place at the Food Museum in Stowmarket, Suffolk, and approximately 40 horses were present. The highlight of the day, as with every Spectacular, was the Supreme Suffolk Championship. The competition is open to any registered Suffolk horse which is eligible to enter any of the affiliated shows throughout the season. Twelve horses competed for the Supreme Championship Trophy, judged by a panel of three judges: Mrs R Baker, Amy Nichols and Peter Bundock, with a commentary by Peter Crockford. The 2023 Supreme Champion is Colony Eli (pictured below), bred and owned by the Suffolk Punch Trust. The 2023 Champion Female is Eyke Elizabeth, bred and owned by John and Fiona Fleming. The Champion Gelding is Samford Billy, owned by John Latham & Hazel Chapman. Visitors to the Spectacular were entertained throughout the day with a busy ring programme which included in hand harness classes, young handlers’ competition, horse drawn vehicles, ridden, logging and agility demonstrations, an in hand parade, and a parade of other heavy horse breeds. One of the highlights of the day must be the Fancy Dress Parade.…

Cherry’s “Life with Horses”

Cherry Grover and I have both followed Ray Hubbard in giving talks to local Village Hall groups and Women’s Institutes to let them know about the work of the Suffolk Horse Society (SHS) in promoting and preserving the breed. These talks have also encouraged new members and brought some funds for the Society. In the Autumn of 2022, the Covid restrictions on meeting were finally being lifted. We decided that it was time to reinstate the social evenings that have always given members of the Society a chance to meet in a relaxed and non-competitive setting (unlike the show ring!) Cherry has always been a well organised lady, and this is reflected in the way that she carefully collected photographs of her horsey activities from childhood onwards. She went further than this and filed them in albums with brief notes about the setting. They did not include 35mm slides. Having been part of the PowerPoint presentation that I gave to celebrate the end of the National Lottery funded Oral History project, Cherry knew that I could get photographs on to a computer as ‘slides’. I then had the privilege of scanning all her photographs, making ‘slides’, and then deciding with…

Meet the new Suffolk Horse Society President Mary Ryder-Davies

In the Suffolk Horse Society’s Centenary year, 1977, I became a volunteer to help with the Centenary Dinner under the Presidency and Chairmanship of Col Sir Robert Gooch of Benacre who was President from 1953, until he died in 1978. Mr Wilf Woods was the Secretary in 1977, but after 60 years of service and at a great age, he decided to retire due to ill health and in 1979 my husband Philip was appointed Secretary and Roger Clark became Chairman. The family, Joanna, William and Benjamin, who were then very young, and I, found ourselves roped in to join other volunteers for all the tasks, events and fundraising which began in the early 80’s, especially the first Suffolk Punch Spectacular at Easton Farm Park near Woodbridge in 1981. We all went to shows and events in different parts of the country and met members of all heavy horse breeds who became friends. In those earlier days, as with today, it was a case of ‘all hands to the plough’. The merchandise for the Society’s ‘stand’ was taken to shows in my or another volunteer’s car, with larger metal stand items taken with the Hollesley Bay horses in the lorry…