Type & Character:
The Irish Draught Horse is an active, short-shinned, powerful horse with substance and quality. It is proud of bearing, deep of girth and strong of back and quarters. Standing over a lot of ground, it has exceptionally strong and sound constitution. It has an intelligent and gentle nature and is noted for its docility and sense.

Height:
Stallions: 15.3hh to 16.3hh approx.
Mares:     15.1hh to 16.1hh approx.

Bone:
Good, strong, clean bone.

Head:
Good, bold eyes, set well apart, long, well-set ears, wide of forehead. Head should be generous and pleasant, not coarse or hatchet-headed, though a slight roman nose is permissible. The jaw bones should have enough room to take the gullet and allow ease of breathing. 

Shoulders, Neck and Front:
Shoulders should be clean-cut and not loaded, withers well-defined, not coarse; the neck set in high and carried proudly. The chest should not be too broad and beefy, the forearms should be long and muscular, not caught in at the elbows, the knee large and generous, set near the ground; the cannon bone straight and short, with plenty of flat, clean bone, never back of the knee (calf kneed) i.e. not sloping forward from knee to fetlock. The bone must not be round and coarse. The legs should be clean and hard, with a little hair permissible at the back of the fetlock, as a necessary protection; the pasterns strong and in proportion, not short and upright nor too long and weak. The hoof should be generous and sound, not boxy or contracted and there should be plenty of room at the heel.

Back, Hindquarters, Body and Hind Legs:
The back to be powerful, the girth very deep, the loins must not be weak but the mares must have enough room to carry a foal. The croup to buttocks to be long and sloping, not short and rounded or flat-topped; hips not wide and plain; thighs strong and powerful and at least as wide from the back view as the hips; the second thighs long and well developed; the hocks near the ground and generous, points not too close together or wide apart but straight, they should not be out behind the horse but should be in line from the back of the quarters to the heel to the ground, they should not be overbent or in any way weak. The cannon bone etc. as for the foreleg, short and strong.

Action:
Smooth and free but without exaggeration and not heavy nor ponderous. Walk and trot to be straight and true with good flexion of the hocks and freedom of the shoulders.

Colour:
Any strong whole colour, including greys. White legs, above the knees or hocks, not desirable.

The late, great, Ben Purple. Registered Irish Draught stallion. Taken when he was 19 years old.
Ben was a top sire of broodmares.

Harkaway mare by Ben Purple. '91