The Colony Suffolks
reprinted from the BOPAR newsletter

One of the oldest and most respected studs of Suffolk horses in the world is that found at HM Hollesley Bay Colony in Suffolk. The Colony began in the 19th century as a college for young men who aimed to emigrate to British colonies such as Canada and Australia and follow and agricultural lifestyle. Earlier this century it changed to become a corrective institution, and this has gradually developed into its present role as a Young Offenders Centre. It still owns a large acreage of land which is farmed by Suffolk horses, and many of the inmates gain much in the way of personal development and self-worth by learning to work with the horses.

Since 1914 all horses bred at Hollesley have carried the "Colony" prefix. Around the middle of this century an alphabetical system was started, each horse's name starting with the initial letter chosen for that year. I am not quite sure how this worked to begin with, although there was definitely a sequence of I-N which ran 1952-1957. By the early 1970s the system was running annually in a sequence starting at A which is now up to L in 1999. I know that no letters have been missed out since around 1973. Some names have been used twice, but as there will be an age gap of 26 years between the horses in question, and as they will bear different registration numbers, it is not thought that this will cause too much confusion.

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