The North American Spotted Draft Horse Association
17594 U.S. Highway 20
Goshen, Indiana 46528
www.nasdha.net
The North American Spotted Draft is an impressive, full bodied horse, not only with massive draft features, but with outstanding color. As the name implies, it is a draft horse that is Paint or Pinto spotted. Those observing the Spotted Draft are caught up in the fascination of such a splendid animal. It moves with the directness and presence that only a draft can have and catches the eye with its beautiful color.
Spotted draft horses can be found throughout history. They were used as warhorses in medieval times, and there was a brown and white draft horse in Queen Elizabeth’s Court, believed to be a Drum Horse (parade horse carrying large drums). Spotted draft horses also share a long history in the United States; one breeder in Iowa had over twenty spotted draft horses in the mid 1960s.
Breeding Basics
The simplest way of producing a North American Spotted Draft is to cross a full draft horse breed, such as a Belgian or Clydesdale, with a Paint Horse. The resulting foal will hopefully exhibit the tobiano or overo color pattern with a somewhat drafty build. (The possibility of creating a solid colored colt can also occur.) From here, the newly formed spotted half draft is bred back to a full draft, producing a three-quarter draft. Breeding a three-quarter draft horse to a full draft again produces a seven-eighths draft horse, now considered a full draft. The goal is to have the spotting pattern remain all the way to this last cross.
Spotted Draft Horses have pleasant heads with active ears. Daniel Johnson
Spotting Pattern Inheritance
Color genetics play a key role in producing Spotted Draft Horses. The desire is to produce a well marked, colored draft type horse. The most recognized Pinto spotting pattern is tobiano, whose major feature is having white appear somewhere along the spine and descend vertically. Other characteristics include spots similar to ink spots or paw prints, four white legs with irregular edged spotting, dark hooves, and patches of color around the chestnuts. Face markings are the same as on normal horses.
Horses that possess different alleles in any gene pair are referred to as heterozygous, and those that have the same alleles are called homozygous. Breeders try to select individuals that are known tobiano producers based on a high percentage of tobiano offspring (though they may be heterozygous for tobiano), or those that are homozygous. Since the homozygous horse has two copies of the tobiano gene, it will produce 100 percent tobiano progeny to a mate of any color. This is due to simple genetic rules; it only takes one copy of the tobiano gene to exhibit characteristics of the tobiano pattern. Since mating results in each parent contributing one half of the genetic make-up of the resulting foal, a homozygous individual will always pass one copy of the tobiano gene to that foal. The modifying genes, which control the extent of the white markings in the tobiano, are probably present in all horses, but they rely on the presence of the tobiano gene to express themselves.
No color pattern has been the subject of as much confusion over its identification and inheritance as the overo spotting pattern. In many respects, the overo is the opposite (or negative) of the tobiano. Overo displays as a dominant pattern of white patches that appears to spread horizontally along the ribs, neck, and body, leaving the topline and legs colored. Usually the face has a large, asymmetric white area, often referred to as a bald face. Oftentimes, an overo individual will have blue, or wall, eyes. An overo must have one overo parent, even if that individual is not completely marked.
A homozygous overo foal is born white and dies soon after birth from lethal defects, most commonly a defective bowel formation. This is known as lethal white syndrome. By never breeding an overo to an overo, and always overo to a solid colored horse, a good percentage of overo foals can occur without producing a lethal white individual.
The tovero spotting pattern looks like a combination of tobiano and overo, but does not exactly fit either one.
Opinions vary, but the overall preferred percentage of color on a Spotted Draft seems to be the tobiano pattern, with 60:40 black to white combination. Homozygous testing for tobiano can be performed through a simple genetic test using pulled mane hairs. The test utilizes the DNA located in the root bulb. Testing can be done at certain equine laboratories across the country.
Registry
The North American Spotted Draft Horse Association (NASDHA) was formed in 1995 to register and preserve these beautiful and rare horses. Since then, it has grown by leaps and bounds throughout the United States and Canada. To date, there are over 2,500 Spotted Drafts registered. It is the first and foremost registry for Spotted Drafts. This is not a color-only horse registry, but signifies a new draft breed.
Horses accepted into the association can be of any draft breed mixture, including Percheron, Belgian, Clydesdale, Shire, Suffolk Punch, and the American Cream. Percheron crosses seem to be the most popular because of the black and white color, though other crosses are also common.
The association holds no official position on tail docking, but as there is an escalation of more Spotted Draft horses being ridden, the general populous prefers a non-docked tail.
Registration
There are four registration divisions: Premium Draft, Regular Draft, Breeding Stock, and Indexing.
• Premium: seven-eighths to full draft
• Regular: one-half to three-quarters draft
• Breeding: solid colored breeding stock
• Indexing: allows registration of horses that are obviously at least one-half draft, yet whose parentage is unknown
Horses eligible for registration must be at least one-half draft of any breed. Horses must have obvious tobiano or overo pinto markings in order to be eligible for registration in the Premium and Regular divisions.
Standards
Spotted Drafts should have conformation that closely reflects the draft type they most resemble, such as Percheron or Belgian, Suffolk, Shire or Clydesdale, or other draft types.
Generally, the frame should be large and supported by clean, dense bone. It should have short, strong, muscled forearms and thighs. Legs should be placed well under the body. They have intelligent heads with active ears and powerful, arching necks, which are clean-cut at the throat. Shoulders tend to be upright, suitable for power rather than action. The back is short and strong, and ribs spring high from the backbone. The hindquarters are long and smooth to the root of the tail, which springs higher up than other breeds. The hip bones are wide apart and smoothly covered, and the croup is usually level. Depth and thickness from the withers to the legs are essential, as they should be as deep in the flank as over the heart.
Height: The average height of the Spotted Draft is 16 to 17 hands, but some are sometimes larger.
Color: Spotted Draft horses are most often tobianos, but overos and toveros do exist. Any base color is acceptable, though most popular colors are black, bay, and sorrel. Blue eyes are uncommon, but acceptable.
Disposition and use: The Spotted Draft has a splendid disposition and an easy temperament. It exhibits a ready willingness to work, great endurance, and a desired quality known as heart, which means they do not easily give up on a task. They are most often used for agricultural work, pleasure driving, parades, commercial carriages, showing, logging, western and English riding and games.
Interest in Spotted Draft horses has risen strongly in the past few years. As their popularity increases, they are seen more often at various expositions around the country, such as the Massachusetts Equine Affaire, Horse and Mule Progress Days, and the Texas Expo, to name a few. Due to their good nature, they are being used as trail horses for older folks who want a calm, relaxed trail buddy, or a “husband’s” horse because of their stocky frame.
More riders are enjoying Spotted Drafts because of their calm attitudes. Daniel Johnson
The versatility of the Spotted Draft continues to be apparent. Currently a member of the North American Spotted Draft Horse Association rides her Spotted Draft sidesaddle at demonstrations and events across the United States.
Credit: The North American Spotted Draft Horse Association