08/19/2025
ASHDA is a new organization, built to honor a man's vision for a beautifully colored, conformationally correct draft horse. However, our newness does not affect our breed's past. The horses used to create an American Sugarbush Harlequin Draft are centuries old.
From the Percheron Horse Association Website:
The Percheron Horse originated in the province of Le Perche, near Normandy, France. The ancestors of the modern day Percheron served as war horses carrying knights into battle instead as draft animals in the field. Those horses were light, sure-footed and spirited. As agricultural pursuits began to take precedence over battles, these horses were bred more for size, weight and strength.
The French, however, kept very few
records regarding breeding which allows for speculation on the breeds true origins.
It is widely believed that the Arabian horse played an important role in the development of the Percheron. By the time of the crusades, the Percheron breed was widely recognized as outstanding for it’s substance and soundness, as well as for it’s characteristic beauty and style.
By the 17th century, horses produced in Le Perche had attained widespread notoriety and were in demand for many different uses. The Percheron of this time showed less scale and easily adapted to pulling the heavy mail coaches of France. They stood from 15 to 16 hands high at this time.
In the early 19th century the French government established a stud at Le Pin for the development of army mounts. In 1823, a horse named Jean La Blanc was foaled in Le Perche and all of today's Percheron bloodlines trace directly to this horse.
Edward Harris of Moorestown, New Jersey, first imported Percherons to the United States in 1839. Although in his two attempts to import eight Percheron horses to America, only two survived the journey, a mare named Joan and a stallion called Diligence. These two horses helped establish the Percheron breed in America. Diligence reportedly sired over 400 foals with three of his being recorded among the foundation stock in the first American Percheron stud book in 1876.
No other Percheron importations were recorded until 1851. The stallions, Normandy, Gray Bill and Louis Napoleon, were imported in that year. Louis Napoleon had a profound effect on the Percheron breed in America and his owners were instrumental in the forming of the Percheron Association in 1876.
Thousands of Percherons were imported to Americans in the last half of the 19th century, and importations continued up until World War II. The Percheron quickly became the favorite of both the American farmer and the teamster who would move freight on the nation's city streets.
The Percheron was so popular that by 1930, the government census showed that they were three times as many registered Percherons as the other four draft breeds combined. Following World War II, the invention of the modern farm tractor made the breed nearly extinct. As America modernized and mechanized, the Percheron was all but forgotten. However, a handful of farmers including many Amish, dedicated to the preservation of the breed, kept it alive through the next twenty years of the draft horse depression which lasted through the 1950s and 1960s.
The late 1960s saw a renaissance in the draft horse business as Americans rediscovered the usefulness of the draft horse. Today, Percherons are back on small farms and working in the fields and thousands of are used for recreation such as hay rides, sleigh rides and parades.
Percherons are shown in competition hitching, halter and riding classes at many state and local fairs across the country. They are also used in advertising and the promotion of other businesses. The Percheron is also a common sight on many city streets as the carriage business flourishes.
The America Sugarbush Harlequin Draft Association is proud of the heritage of our breed and we honor the breeders that had the foresight to cross correctly conformed horse with great pedigrees together.
