Home of Iowa Draft Pony Hitch Association

Dedicated to the Promotion and Preservation of Draft Ponies<

NOTE: This website has been moved to another host and is no longer updated.

Welcome to the Iowa Draft Pony Hitch Association website. We promote and enjoy draft ponies in and around the state of Iowa. Members of our club organize many draft pony related events throughout the year. Some of the events include draft pony exhibitions, clinics, fun drives, and participation in many local parades.

The Iowa Draft Pony Hitch Association is an organization promoting the safe and correct use and enjoyment of draft ponies. If you have an interest in these draft ponies - even if you don't own any - we encourage you to join us for learning and fun.

Membership in the Iowa Draft Pony Hitch Association brings you our monthly newsletter detailing club activities and events around the area.

Our fore-fathers used Draft Horses to Plow, Disc, Plant, and Harvest crops. They also used them for transportation of their goods or family. While our interest lies in the smaller version of those work horses, we still inspire a love for the Draft Pony breed who are the smaller version of the work horse. Or the old Shetland pony that was on the farm that we grew up on.

Our club exists because we all share this for the love of these animals.

What a Draft Pony Is

A Draft Pony, as defined by the American Draft Pony Hitch Association, is a miniature of one of the established Draft Horse breeds (Belgian, Percheron, Clydesdale, Shire, Suffolk, American Cream, Spotted Draft) and MUST show the conformation character of a draft horse. It is the goal of this association to promote a Draft Pony that resembles one of these breeds, COLOR NOT TO BE DISCRIMINATED

AGAINST.

The main difference between a Draft Pony and Draft Horse is size. A Draft Pony should be an exact replica, on a smaller scale, and should NOT exceed 58" in height (14.2 hands) or under, when measured on a flat surface, behind the front leg, from the ground to the point of the withers.

Our club mandates that the ponies to be exhibited competitively should not exceed 48" in height and may be of any draft breed (Shetland, Welsh, and so on).

Show Quality

Draft Ponies that are selected for show do not differ from the best quality commercial drafters. Indeed,

the very object of the show ring is to develop a common understanding of the merits that specifically concern the usefulness for which the different types of equine are produced.

The general appearance of the Draft Pony must be representative in every detail of the maximum efficiency of those characteristics which experience has designated as desirable in commercial service. It is upon these characteristics that the judge places his greatest emphasis in making awards.

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