The Sugarbush Hitch Company

The Sugarbush Hitch Company The Official Sugarbush Hitch Company Page. The Sugarbush Hitch Company was founded by Everett and Shirley Smith, creating the Sugarbush Harlequin Draft.

Swann is a Harley Quinne descendant!
04/22/2025

Swann is a Harley Quinne descendant!

We are continuing our spotlight of our Nationals winners!

Today is Sugarbush Classic Star, owned by Five Oaks Sweet Spot Drafts !

"Swann" won:

Res Champion Yearling
National Champion 2023 Fillies Conformation

Congratulations to Swann and her owners! She is one of the four daughters of ASHDA Hall of Fame mare, Stonewall Virginia, to bring home a National title during our show!

The Everett Smith and Shirley Smith Award winners from the first ASHDA Nationals. Highest pointed Stallion and Mare desc...
04/19/2025

The Everett Smith and Shirley Smith Award winners from the first ASHDA Nationals. Highest pointed Stallion and Mare descended from the original Sugarbush Hitch Company Program.

Pardon My French, 2021 bay blanket stallion owned by Red Earth Farmstead and Sugarbush Smokeshow, owned and bred by Trinity Appaloosa Farm.

Both are great grandchildren of Sugarbush Harley Quinne, sired by two different grandsons of his.

Solo is a Harley Quinn descendant!
04/14/2025

Solo is a Harley Quinn descendant!

Pardon My French didn’t just bring home ribbons—he brought home something much deeper.

He’s the first-ever recipient of the Everett Smith Award, given to the highest pointed stallion descended from the original The Sugarbush Hitch Company program.

To have his name tied to Everett Smith—the founder of the breed and the heart behind so many Hall of Fame horses—is a moment we will never take lightly.

Our goal has always been to carry ourselves in a way that would make Everett proud, while helping move the breed forward with purpose, respect, and passion.

This isn’t just a win—it’s a legacy in motion.

📸 Trinity Appaloosa Farm

Puff is a Harley Quinne descendant!
04/14/2025

Puff is a Harley Quinne descendant!

Beast is a Harley Quinne descendant with five other ASHDA Hall of Fame lines!
04/11/2025

Beast is a Harley Quinne descendant with five other ASHDA Hall of Fame lines!

A new Harley Quinne descendant!
04/10/2025

A new Harley Quinne descendant!

I’m so happy to announce that Diamond gave us this beautiful c**t sires by Hexenbiest yesterday! We don’t have a name yet, but will keep you updated.

Huge thanks to Trinity Appaloosa Farm for this impressive breeding and for taking such good care of Diamond. Her pregnancy was a high risk one and they were amazing!!

Solo is a descendant of Harley Quinne, as well as five other ASHDA Hall of Famers! A wonderful win!
04/09/2025

Solo is a descendant of Harley Quinne, as well as five other ASHDA Hall of Famers! A wonderful win!

A new Rose descendant!
04/06/2025

A new Rose descendant!

Get those youngsters papered if you've missed out!
04/04/2025

Get those youngsters papered if you've missed out!

Until May 31st, you can save up to $230 on individual registrations of qualified E-designation, Main Book, and Heritage horses all at the year foaled rate! If you are behind on your registrations or have qualified foals for our Heritage program that you haven't gotten dual registration on, now is your chance to save big!

And, if you haven't gotten around to completing your ASHDA transfers, you can enjoy our previous rate of $15 per transfer for active ASHDA members for the same span of time!

Swann is a Harley Quinne descendant
03/19/2025

Swann is a Harley Quinne descendant

I was seriously considering not doing this. Swann was a pro!

Solo is a Harley Quinne descendant
03/19/2025

Solo is a Harley Quinne descendant

Slaw is a descendant of Rosamunde!
03/19/2025

Slaw is a descendant of Rosamunde!

Bloodline of Influence - The Colorado Ranger Horse, Patches.

The Sugarbush Harlequin Draft is a breed with an amazing history, and it is built on the dreams made reality of our founder, Mr. Everett Smith. However, Mr. Smith was not the only man to see the benefits of combining Appaloosa and Draft traits. Another of those legendary horseman is Mike Ruby, the founder of the oldest LP breed in America, predating even the Appaloosa Horse Club, the Colorado Rangerbred Horse.

Mr. Ruby used several descendants of drafts in his new breed program, but one of the horses that founded it all was Patches, CRHA #1. The breed registry, The Colorado Ranger Horse Association, was started in 1935, beating out the Appaloosa Horse Club by several months. Today, it's thought that as many as one in eight ApHC Appaloosas is CRHA qualified by having the required lineage to Patches, or CRHA #2 stallion, Max.

Patches was the result of quite a lot of careful crossbreeding. Born in 1918 and described as 'cream, black, and white', his sire, Tony, was a double bred grandson of the grey Arabian stallion 'Leopard', who had been gifted to general Ulysses S Grant alongside another stallion, Linden Tree. Patches' dam was an LP draft cross mare, Judy. Her sire, Spot, was sired by a half Shire, half Percheron stallion named 'Chancelor', and her dam, Mollie III, was at least 3/4 Percheron. This made Patches himself roughly thirty percent draft at minimum, and possibly even more than that as Mollie, his great-granddam of unknown breeding, was noted by Mr. Ruby to have pulled a milk wagon.

But, the draft influence didn't stop at Patches! Quite a few founding CRHA mares had draft influence of their own. Several were sired by the Shire stallion, Albert Lee. One of the foals resulting in a cross of Patches to a daughter of Albert Lee was Black Mane, described by a CRHA Booklet as "One of the greatest mares the Plains ever knew." Black Mane was a prolific dam, producing several CRHA foals all at minimum 20% draft by different stallions. The blood of Patches is found in a majority of modern CRHA registered and qualified horses today, carrying his Percheron and Shire influence through time. It is easy to pick out those good traits in many of the Colorado Ranger Horses we know and love - hardy builds, good bone, and excellent temperaments.

Today, ASHDA benefits from the influence of these bloodlines by using dual registered Appaloosas which also carry the Colorado Ranger Horse breeding in their pedigrees. Patches can be found in the bloodlines of several ASHDA Hall of Fame horses including Rorschach's Hextatic, Stonewall Virginia, and Hexenhammer and their descendants, as well as in the pedigrees of multiple notable ASHDA horses across all books of the registry such as Twisted Heiress, Rip, Wisconsin's Charity, Rockin Mighty Belle and more!

It's great to see so much in common with a great breed founded almost a century ago and our horses of today, and to benefit from that influence in so many of the foals born for ASHDA. If you own a registered ApHC Appaloosa, there's a one in eight chance your horse is also a Colorado Rangerbred, and if you own a registered Main Book or Heritage American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft, the chances are even higher for having a horse carrying those historical bloodlines! A special thank you to CRHA breed historian, Sherry Byrd for her tireless work to record the accurate history behind the breeds that help make ours!

📸 RTD's Sugarbush YouNeedIt, an E-Designation ASHDA filly bred by Rockin the Dots and owned by ASHDA Lifetime Member, Randall Napier, and a descendant of CRHA #1, Patches.

03/19/2025

There seems to be a lot of misconceptions, incorrect information and just flat out untruths floating around the internet regarding the Sugarbush Harlequin Draft Horse breed and its history. So let's revisit some facts. We know that there was false information put out regarding the breed many years ago. This was done by individuals looking to paint this fairy tale story about the breed to draw attention to their private business. Mr. Everett Smith, who is alive and well, is the only founder of the breed. He and he alone, has the honor and prestige to be titled as its founder. He and Mr. Muir did have a similar idea of a heavier breed with Lp (appaloosa) pattern, but Mr. Smith desired a heavier horse with draft traits, the American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft. Mr. Muir was seeking to produce a horse (the Stonewall Sporthorse) with less bone and of warmblood type, yet still heavy enough to pull, fitting in with his goals of a breed to use in his program allowing people to drive wheelchair accessible carriages. Both men worked together with a common goal, yet focusing on their own unique breeds.

At age 2, Mr. Muir’s stallion, Stonewall Rascal, was bred via shipped semen to Mr. Smith’s Percheron mare, Sugarbush Felina Del Noche in 1998. That breeding produced a striking black leopard, 7/8 draft c**t, the iconic ASHDA HOF stallion, # E-00002, Sugarbush Harley Quinne, in 1999. Stonewall Rascal is registered with the American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft Horse Association as # E-00001, holding the very first registration number in ASHDA and is the sire behind Mr. Smith's iconic bloodline. This information debunks the story that Mr. Smith had been breeding Sugarbush Harlequin Drafts for over 50 years. In fact, the American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft Horse is a fairly young breed in comparison to many other popular breeds, but by no means does this mean they are not a legitimate breed.

Many individuals assume they can breed any draft horse to any other Lp patterned breed and the resulting offspring are automatically an American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft. This is absolutely untrue. In order for a horse to carry the Sugarbush Harlequin Draft name, they must be registered with ASHDA. We are the only registry for the breed and the name is protected by copyright and registered to Mr. Smith and is a continuance of his original registry, Sugarbush Harlequin Draft and Stonewall Sport Horse Registry (SHDHR).
ASHDA works with the complete and total approval and guidance of Mr. Smith. Although retired, he plays a role in the registry, and carries the title “Director Emeritus”, and is listed on the registry website as such. In order to be called a Sugarbush Harlequin Draft, horses must also have at least one ASHDA registered parent and the other parent an approved cross, or both parents ASHDA approved and registered. Horses meeting the qualifications for Hardship registry may be submitted, but are still held to the same standards as all other ASHDA horses, no exceptions are made. You just can’t label any Lp spotted horse with draft traits as a Sugarbush, they just aren’t unless they meet the above criteria. We understand that as the breed gains popularity, more and more people are going to try and profit off our name and calling their Lp spotted draft crosses Sugarbush Harlequin Drafts, but they are not. It’s not a catch all name, it is reserved for horses who are registered with ASHDA and have earned the right to be called such.

We welcome any questions regarding the registry or breed. Please don’t hesitate to message us directly here on the official page, or email at [email protected] or [email protected].

Pictured as a young stallion is the late Hall of Famer, Stonewall Rascal, registered with the Stonewall Studbook o
ASHDA E/Designation. He was bred by Mr. Muir and lived out his senior years at Trinity Appaloosa Farm.

Solo is a Harley Quinne descendant!
02/23/2025

Solo is a Harley Quinne descendant!

Solo is loving this snowy weather! ❄️

It’s been a while since we’ve shared updates, but we’re still here, and so is this handsome ASHDA stallion. Excited to get back to sharing more of life on the farmstead with y'all!

📸 Trinity Appaloosa Farm

Beast is a Harley Quinne descendant
02/23/2025

Beast is a Harley Quinne descendant

Handsome Beast is getting more frosty every year! Even with his minimal coat expression, he is LPLP, the only LPLP stallion in the ASHDA Main Book at present!

02/23/2025

Hexenbiest, the foal, is a descendant of Harley Quinne. His dam, Hexenhammer, was inducted into the ASHDA Hall of Fame.

02/15/2025

Solo is a Harley Quinne descendant!

Address

Willow Wood, OH

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