American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft
Template:Infobox horse The American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft, or just Sugarbush Harlequin Draft, is an American horse breed of draft horse type founded in the 1990s, using Percheron and Appaloosa horses for its foundation stock. It was started as a draft cross with succeeding generations breeding toward higher draft percentages. It is not a subtype of any other breed, as it has its own history, standard and future goals.
While the Sugarbush Harlequin Draft is a developing breed it has allowed infusions of Percheron and also Clydesdale, Shire, Suffolk Punch as acceptable drafts. Through the Appaloosa lines used to acquire the LP spotting gene there are also infusions of American Quarter Horse, Thoroughbred, and Arabian horse breeds.
Characteristics[edit]
The American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft horse was created by crossing Percheron draft horses with Appaloosa horses to create a spotted draft horse with the leopard complex gene, with percentages of Percheron and Appaloosa blood varying among foundation stock. The most common outcrosses are to purebred Percherons or Appaloosas, though the Sugarbush Harlequin Draft Association (ASHDA) also allows outcrossing to Clydesdale, Shire, and Suffolk Punch horses. The Stonewall Sport Horse was used for its foundation stock but not all currently registered Stonewall Sporthorses are acceptable crosses.
While the ASHDA allows outcrossing to Appaloosa horses, any horse that has white markings designated by Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC) rules as "an undesirable trait and uncharacteristic of the breed" is also ineligible to be outcrossed to a Sugarbush Harlequin Draft. All Appaloosa horses used in outcrossing must have at least one parent registered with the Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC), with the other parent allowed to be registered as a "non-colored" Appaloosa; an American Quarter Horse registered with the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA); a Thoroughbred registered with the Jockey Club (JC); or an Arabian horse registered with the Arabian Horse Association (AHA).
The typical Sugarbush Harlequin Draft horse has an average height range of 15.2 hands (62 inches, 157 cm) to 17 hands (68 inches, 173 cm), "but height should not disqualify an otherwise good example of type". According to the ASHDA, "Any base color is acceptable, with leopard complex pattern or characteristics being preferred, but not required if the horse meets all the other bloodline or conformation requirements. Solids are acceptable. Pinto-type or excessive white markings; tobiano, frame overo, splash, as well as dominant white are prohibited. If two horses are equal in all ways, then a judge should grade the horse with leopard complex expression higher, as it is closer to the ideal."
Sugarbush Harlequin Drafts are used in dressage, carriage driving, eventing, trail riding, as well as serve as lesson or therapy horses, and are known for their "willing attitude, a strong work ethic, and loyal personality". Their conformation is closest to that of the Percheron due to the heavy use of Percheron horses as foundation stock.[1]
History[edit]
The American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft was first envisioned as a horse breed by Everett Smith of the Sugarbush Hitch Company in Ohio, United States, in the 1990s. Smith considered that a "more eye-catching team of horses would draw notice to his business", but also wanted "an eye-catching animal...one with a stellar disposition that could work long hours, and was trustworthy and capable", so he began to look at crossing his Percheron horses with Appaloosas. In the 1980s, Smith purchased two Percheron mares, and began breeding Percherons for his pulling and horse carriage business.[2]
However, Smith's breeding goals changed when he saw the work of Mike Hanna Muir, an American who bred the "Stonewall Sport Horse", an Appaloosa cross. Muir specifically sought to breed a heavy warmblood Appaloosa sport horse type. In 1989, Muir purchased a black Percheron stallion, Charlie Degas, and started crossing him with "race-bred Appaloosa mares", which produced "an exceptional harness horse with a loud leopard coat". Charlie Degas was, in turn, a male-line descendant of Jean le Blanc (b. 1823), an Arabian cross from France who is found in all Percheron bloodlines today. At the time, Charlie Degas was also the foundation sire for the Stonewall Sport Horse.[3]
Charlie Degas was the sire of Stonewall Baby Jane, a Percheron/Appaloosa cross, out of the Appaloosa mare Stonewall Dottie West, who was linebred 4x5 to the Appaloosa/Thoroughbred stallion Apache (b. 1942) of the Darley Arabian sire line, but also had Thoroughbred and American Quarter Horse ancestry;[4] Stonewall Baby Jane, in turn, foaled Stonewall Rascal, a 75% Percheron cross who would serve as the foundation sire of the American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft. In 1998, Smith bred one of his Percheron mares, Sugarbush Felina del Noche, to Stonewall Rascal, which produced the 7/8 Percheron stallion Sugarbush Harley Quinne, who inherited the leopard complex gene.[5]
Smith also bred his Percheron mare to Stonewall Domino (b. 1997) – one of Muir's other stallions that was 50% Thoroughbred, 25% Percheron, and 25% Appaloosa[6] – to produce the mare Sugarbush O Rosamunde.[7] Stonewall Domino was out of the Thoroughbred mare Dona Francesca, by Que Bravo (b. 1969) – a male-line descendant of the British racehorse Hyperion (1930–1960), of the Darley Arabian sire line – out of Royal Attire (b. 1967), who was also 4x4 linebred to Hyperion.[8]
Over time, Everett Smith's program expanded as he purchased more Percherons and Appaloosas for his foundation stock, "making crosses that would retain the loud color, [but] show the required draft horse conformation". Other draft horse breeders became interested in Smith's horses, and also began breeding similar horses, resulting in the formation of the Sugarbush Draft Horse Registry and the Stonewall Sport Horse Registry. Smith announced his retirement in 2008, but in 2014, Sugarbush Draft Horse breeders reincorporated the registry as – The American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft Association .[9]
See also[edit]
- Percheron
- Appaloosa
- Draft horse
References[edit]
- ↑ "Breed Standard". American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft Association. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
- ↑ "American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft". Horse Canada.
- ↑ "Taproot of the Family Tree". The Stonewall Sport Horse. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
- ↑ "Stonewall Dottie West Pedigree". All Breed Database. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
- ↑ "Sugarbush Harley Quinne Pedigree". All Breed Database. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
- ↑ "Stonewall Domino". The Stonewall Sporthorse. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
- ↑ "Sugarbush O Rosamunde Pedigree". All Breed Database. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
- ↑ "Stonewall Domino Pedigree". All Breed Database. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
- ↑ "History of the Breed". American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft Association. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
Bibliography[edit]
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