01/27/2025
While the American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft's draft roots were established using the registered Percheron, even during the founding days of the program, the positive traits of other draft breeds were admired and considered as prospective influences on the development of the breed. Mr. Smith even came very close to adding a pair of registered shire mares to his broodmare band!
When ASHDA was founded as a continuance of Mr. Smith's original registry, much discussion went into what breeds might be allowed to continue to influence the Sugarbush. The conformational type of draft horses as a whole has changed a great deal in the last few decades, and as a result, the majority of the modern Percheron didn't show a reflection of the horses used to found ours. It was decided that a Sugarbush ought to look like a Sugarbush, and that was more important than forcing the breed to change to mimic the trends in other breeds. Today, breeders can cast their nets a little wider in order to find horses that fit our breed standard in terms of conformation, while still adhering to our requirements in genetic testing, correct color, and breed studbooks that stand behind their horses' DNA. The Percheron, Belgian Draft, Suffolk Punch, Shire, and Clydesdale can all be selected from to try and best match our breed standard and other requirements, allowing breeders to produce foals of type without limiting their outside resources to a single rapidly shrinking supply.
Today, the heavy draft breed that has the next highest amount of influence on our breed is the Clydesdale, with several purebred mares in our Improvement and Approved Dam categories, and their descendants breeding forward into the next generation. Horses like It's Going Down, Rockin Mighty Belle, Rorschach's Hextatic, Sky Ridge Matrix's Scarlett, and more have contributed their Clydesdale lineage to our breed's future. As our breed continues to grow, we look forward to seeing how our breeders make their Sugarbush Harlequin Drafts of the future!
📸 Clydesdale Stallion, Holyrood painted 1906
The Official Sugarbush Hitch Company Page. The Sugarbush Hitch Company was founded by Everett and Shirley Smith, creating the Sugarbush Harlequin Draft.
