American Shetland Pony

The first Scottish Shetland ponies arrived in America in 1885, when 75 of them were imported by Eli Elliot. These ponies formed the basis for the development of the American Shetland Pony, which now bears little resemblance to the original Shetland pony. Breeding of the American Shetland centers on the state of Indiana, although the ponies quickly grew in popularity and can now be widely found all over the United States.

By crossbreeding the Shetland pony with Hackney ponies, and later with small Arabians and small Throughbreds, a new and distinct type began to emerge. In 1888, the American Shetland Pony Club was formed and the club now keeps two studbooks - Division A and Division B. Division A is maintained to register pure Shetlands, while Division B is open to ponies with one parent being either a Hackney pony, Welsh pony or a Harness show pony. Typically these small ponies are full of quality and character, resembling the Hackney pony in build and stance while maintaining the Shetland pony's endurance and toughness as well as their luxurious mane and tail. They are extremely versatile ponies and, although they are ideally suited to harness work, they also make excellent children's ponies.

The American Shetland Pony can be seen competing in any manner of competitive fields, including show classes under both English and Western saddle, jumping, dressage, gymkhana, harness racing and various driving competitions. The breed is now extremely popular in the United States and top class ponies with sell for phenomenal amounts of money.

In appearance, the American Shetland pony has an intelligent and fine head, which is often long and not of typical pony character. They have muscular arched necks that are set and carried in a similar way to the Hackney pony. They tend to be quite long and narrow through the back, with broad muscular hindquarters, and unusually high withers for a pony breed. The shoulders have a good slope, which allows for their extravagant action of a similar nature to the Hackney pony. Often they are long and fine in the leg, with long cannon bones, and retain the Hackney pony stance with the hind legs stretched out behind the body. Any solid color is acceptable with the breed and they stand at anything up to 11.2 hh.