- American Shetland -

The American Shetland stands up to 11.2 hands high and can be any solid color. Its origin is from the United States. The first Scottish Shetland ponies arrived in America in 1885, when Eli Elliot imported 75 of them. The ponies were the basis for the development of the American Shetland, which now bears very little resemblance to the original Shetland Pony. Indiana is the breeding center for these ponies, although they can now be widely found in the United States because of their growing popularity.

Through crossbreeding the Shetland Pony with Hackney ponies and later small Arabians and small Thoroughbreds, an new and distinct image began to emerge. In 1888, the American Shetland Pony Club was formed and now keeps two studbooks- Division A and Division B. Division A is maintained to register the original pure Shetland ponies, while Division B is open to ponies with one parent from Division A and the other parent being a Hackney Pony, Welsh Pony, or a Harness show pony.

Typically these ponies are full of both 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 make wonderful children's riding ponies. They can be seen competing in almost any field, including English and Western saddle, jumping, dressage, gymkhana, harness racing and other various driving competitions. The breed is now very popular in the United States and top class ponies will sell for phenomenal amounts of money.

The American Shetland has an intelligent and finely shaped head, which is often long and not typical of pony character. They sport muscular arched necks that are set and have to be carried in a similar way to the Hackney pony. American Shetlands tend to have long, narrow backs, with broad, muscular hindquarters and unusually high withers. The shoulders have a good slope, which allows for their showy action quite similar to that of the Hackney pony. Usually they have long, fine legs with long cannon bones, and copy the Hackney stance with the hind legs stretched out behind the body.

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