It has been almost five years since we bought our farm. While many of our plans and dreams have been realized, more plans and dreams are continuously being developed, with the goal of creating as sustainable a system as possible. Those dreams include raising a rare breed of cattle, the American Milking Devon, and developing an excellent herd known for its genetics and the taste and quality of the beef. Another dream is to raise a team of Suffolk Punch draft horses, also a rare breed, and train them to do essential work on the farm. In just a few short days, we'll take another step toward that goal when we bring home a young Suffolk colt named Charlie.
After raising and training two young horses on my own, one with great success and the other with mixed results, I now have a better idea of what I'm getting myself into in making the decision to train my own horses. Bringing Charlie home and beginning the process once again is both exciting and daunting. The first step in making that decision is the most basic— choosing the colt—but this step is also arguably the most critical.
This article describes my personal process in deciding to bring a new colt to our farm. While I discuss some of the important conformational traits in general terms, my goal is to describe the more intangible characteristics, such as temperament and spirit, which I look for in a horse. These characteristics helped me decide that Charlie was the right colt for our farm. There are a great number of other factors involved in choosing a colt—including whether to choose a colt or a filly, which breed, the amount and type of expected work, etc.— and these are personal to every individual's decision. When choosing a foal, it is important to pay close attention to very specific aspects of conformation and the health of the animal. There are many excellent references that discuss these points with clarity and focus beyond the scope of this article.
My first experience with working horses was with a team of gray Percherons, Mike and Prince. They were used for logging small woodlots, and were heavy, tall horses standing about 17 hands and weighing about 1700 pounds. Soon after that, I worked on an educational/public farm with a Belgian named Billy who was a little smaller than Mike and Prince, but still pretty big at 16.2 hands and over 1600 pounds. Billy was a particular challenge because though he was an exceptionally sweet-tempered and personable horse, he was a handful when working and needed constant vigilance to keep him slow and calm. I remember thinking often that after Billy a quiet horse would seem a piece of cake to drive.
At the same time I was working on the farm with Billy, I had the good fortune to spend a bit of time with a team of Suffolk Punch horses on a nearby farm. Lady Di had been imported directly from England and was a dream to work with—big, strong, calm, and willing. Roman was a lot like Billy. He needed close attention and a watchful eye to keep him steady and quiet. Thus, within the space of six months, I had worked with three different breeds of draft horses and had a chance to get an idea of the differences between them and to develop my own preference for a particular breed. While I worked most closely with the Belgian, Billy, and developed an extremely close emotional bond with him and admired his willingness and stamina, I also remembered the Suffolk Punch as an exceptional working horse.
Shortly after we bought our farm, we began the difficult process of looking for a team of horses to work on the farm. My first thought had been to look for Belgians, but finding Belgian horses sized to work on a farm, rather than sized for the parade show ring has become increasingly difficult in the U.S. I realized that Billy had been an unusual Belgian in these days of breeding Belgians to be very tall and showy. These tall, leggy horses create difficult challenges to work with on a daily basis—their feet are often enormous, creating problems both in trimming their feet and keeping those large feet from trampling the young plants when cultivating vegetables, for instance; their height means getting the harness on and off is more difficult, particularly for a smaller person; their height also creates conformational problems leading to increased hip, leg and feet problems for these tall horses, often significantly shortening their productive work lives.
At about the same time we realized it was going to be very difficult to find Belgian horses appropriately sized for the work on our farm, a friend told us of a Suffolk mare and her colt that were for sale. We went to see these horses and I was reminded again of the advantages of the Suffolk breed. The mare stood just over 15 hands and weighed about 1500 pounds. Suffolk horses are known for their excellent hard feet, sized to fit neatly between rows of vegetables without trampling them. This is a breed that is very well suited to all the jobs on a farm, from spreading manure to cultivating to haying to logging. I was taken again with the calm, willing temperament and their size and feet. The Suffolk mare and her colt came to our farm almost four years ago. Shortly after that, I traded the mare for a two-year-old Suffolk gelding that was completely untrained, and kept her nine month old colt, Jake, who was also completely untrained. Thus began my journey of learning to train workhorses – which I will write about in later articles. I would like to say here that my experience with Jake has been profoundly satisfying and enjoyable, teaching me a great deal about the language of horses and about myself.
Jake was a very well socialized foal, confident and comfortable around people and other animals. His conformation is excellent, showing all of the good Suffolk traits. The gelding, Ned that I got in trade for the mare also has excellent conformation, though he is a hand taller than Jake and at least 100 pounds heavier. Ned has proven to have very serious trust issues and while he is much changed for the better in the several years he has been here, his early lack of good socialization has proven to be a severe handicap. I now believe this is one of the most critical factors to consider when choosing a young horse. No matter the physical advantages a foal may have, if there has been a lack of good socialization to give the young horse confidence and trust in people, this lack can seriously impair the horse's later ability to learn and develop as a calm and trusted work partner for his horse teammate and the farmer.
We made a decision to find another young Suffolk colt to raise and train. Partly because of my early experiences with workhorses, I have chosen to work with geldings rather than mares. This is partly because we have chosen not to get involved in breeding horses and, because I have settled on the Suffolk breed, I prefer not to take a mare out of breeding when there are so few of this breed alive today. We live in Vermont and many of the Suffolk breeders are outside the New England area, making it very difficult to see the foals except through photographs. I looked at the list of breeders from the American Suffolk Horse Association website and found a breeder in a state adjacent to ours who advertised having several foals available. I wrote to this breeder and explained quite specifically what I was looking for, emphasizing that temperament, socialization and good conformation were the most important factors in my choice. This breeder sent a number of photos via email and gave some descriptions of the colts. The most striking thing that we noticed in each of the photos was the slope and length of the pastern on the two foals, as well as an older gelding that was also for sale. It was an obvious defect that would clearly affect the ability of the horses to work and could lead to leg and foot problems later in life, affecting their productive working lives. Though one of the colts was described as having a temperament very much in keeping with what I was looking for, the defect in their pasterns ended our interest in these horses.
The Baileys of Fair Winds Farm in Brattleboro, Vermont, have been raising, working and training Suffolk horses for decades. They have an excellent reputation for the quality of their horses, and after discovering they had two foals for sale I called the farm. I knew I could trust the Fair Winds Farm horses to have excellent conformation, temperament, and socialization. We went to see the two foals. We met Jay Bailey at the farm and he introduced us to Charlie, who I was immediately impressed by. He's a rugged, well-grown colt, tall and heavy boned for his age.
Because of my very good experience with Jake, I was specifically looking for a colt that would remind me as much as possible of Jake at a young age -- his sturdy, rugged build, straight legs, clear, confident eye, and quiet demeanor. Charlie has all of these qualities. He tolerated and accepted my handling with calm. I was able to pick up his feet out in the pasture. Though he still needs some training, he stood still and allowed us to inspect his feet, which were clean and sound and showed the typical Suffolk hard, flat, small hoof. He stands straight on his legs with his feet facing forward with a straight spine and his head held at a comfortable level. I was struck by his size and ruggedness and his stocky build.
When being led, Charlie was somewhat willful, as might be expected at his age, but he was basically calm, willing, and attentive. My personal preference is for a spunky but friendly and respectful spirit in a young horse. Jake has this spirit and has proven to be highly intelligent and a very fast learner. I admire Jake’s independent but willing nature and find him a much more enjoyable work partner than an extremely docile horse. This can be a fine line, however, and I paid close attention to Charlie's ability to pay attention to my requests. Fortunately, Charlie's sire, dam, and granddame are right on the farm, and we were able to spend time with them and discuss their merits.
We also discussed Jay's impressions of Charlie up to that time. I had spent a weekend at Jay's farm a couple years earlier and had seen Charlie's sire, dam, and grandam at that time as well and remembered them as particularly impressive horses, both in looks and temperament. Knowing and being able to see Charlie's parents was another critical factor in helping us to decide to buy Charlie. They are both horses with excellent breeding and track records as strong, steady working horses. We are taking a gamble in bringing Charlie to our farm because other than our one visit to Fair Winds Farm to see him, he is an unknown. But Charlie comes from a long line of solid breeding and, at least as important, Charlie has had a solid start in life with excellent socialization and early training in manners to give him a good foundation. We will do all we can to continue that excellent early training and to enjoy a long life with Charlie as a productive and happy working partner on our farm.