Other names | Chickasaw Pony, Seminole Pony, Prairie Pony, Florida Horse, Florida Cow Pony, Grass Gut |
---|---|
Country of origin | United States |
Traits | |
Distinguishing features | Spanish-style gaited horse found in many colors |
Breed standards | |
The Florida Cracker Horse is a critically endangered horse breed [1] from the state of Florida in the United States. It is genetically and physically similar to many other Spanish-style horses, especially those from the Spanish Colonial horse group, including the Banker horse of North Carolina, and the Carolina Marsh Tacky of South Carolina. [2]
The Florida Cracker Horse is a gaited breed known for its agility and speed. The Spanish first brought horses to Florida with their expeditions in the early 16th century; as colonial settlement progressed, they used the horses for herding cattle. These horses developed into the Florida Cracker type seen today, and continued to be used by Florida cattlemen (known as "crackers" or "cowhunters") until the 1930s.
By this point, Florida Cracker Horses were superseded by American Quarter Horses, the latter of which were needed to work the larger cattle breeds brought to Florida during the Dust Bowl. As a result, the population numbers of the Florida Cracker Horse declined precipitously. Through the efforts of several private families and the Florida government, the breed was saved from extinction, but there is still concern about its low numbers. Both The Livestock Conservancy and the Equus Survival Trust consider breed endangered.
On July 1, 2008, the Florida House of Representatives declared the Florida Cracker Horse the official state horse. [3] The Florida Cracker is also associated with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, a prominent group of Native Americans in the state, [4] as well as the Chickasaw Nation, a Native American tribe that originally lived in Alabama and Mississippi in the Southern United States.
The Florida Cracker Horse is also known by a variety of other names and descriptions, including "Chickasaw pony", "Seminole pony", "Prairie pony", "Florida horse", "Florida cow pony", and "grass-gut". [5] [6] The modern breed retains the size of its Spanish ancestors, standing 13.2 to 15 hands (54 to 60 inches, 137 to 152 cm) high and weighing 750 to 1,000 pounds (340 to 450 kg). They are found mainly in bay, black, and gray, although grullo, dun, and chestnut are also seen. [5] Roan and pinto colors are occasionally found. [7]
Florida Crackers have straight or slightly concave profiles, strong backs and sloping croups. They are known for their speed and agility and excel at trail and endurance riding, and are also used extensively as stock horses. They are sometimes seen in Western riding sports such as working cow horse, team roping, and team penning. The Florida Cracker is a gaited horse, with the breed association recognizing two gaits, the running walk and amble, in addition to the regular walk, trot, canter and gallop. [5] The single-footed ambling gait is known as the "coon rack" by some breed enthusiasts. [8]
The foundation genetics of the horse breed are the same as many others developed from Spanish stock in North America and South America, including the Paso Fino, the Peruvian Paso, and the Criollo. [6] The Cracker horse is very similar in type and genetics to the Carolina Marsh Tacky of South Carolina and the Banker horse of North Carolina, both Spanish-style breeds from the eastern United States, but DNA testing has proven that these are separate breeds. [9]
Horses first arrived on the southeast North American mainland in 1521, brought by Ponce de León on his second trip to the region, where they were used by officers, scouts, and livestock herders. Later expeditions brought more horses and cattle to Spanish Florida. By the late 16th century, horses were used extensively in the local cattle business, and by the late 17th century the industry was flourishing, especially in what is now northern Florida and southern Georgia. The horses brought to North America by the Spanish and subsequently bred there included Barbs, Garranos, Spanish Jennets, Sorraias, Andalusians, and other Iberian breeds. Overall, they were relatively small and had physical traits distinctive of Spanish breeds, including short backs, sloping shoulders, low set tails, and wide foreheads. [5]
The early cattle drivers, nicknamed Florida crackers and Georgia crackers, used these Spanish-ancestry horses to drive cattle (eventually known as Florida Cracker cattle). [5] The cattlemen were said to have received their nickname from the distinctive cracking of their whips, though modern etymology actually traces the term to a mostly obsolete word for 'braggart' or 'loudmouth'. The name was transferred to both the horses they rode and the cattle they herded. [7] Through their primary use as stock horses, the type developed into the Florida Cracker horse, known for its speed, endurance and agility. From the mid-16th century to the 1930s, this type was the predominant horse in the southeastern United States. [5]
During the American Civil War (1861–1865), both belligerents purchased large amounts of beef from Florida, and the Spanish horses bred there were highly desired as riding horses. [10] During this time, there was also a continual introduction of new Spanish blood from Cuba, as horses were traded between the two areas. [11] During the Dust Bowl (1930–1940), large western cattle were moved into Florida, bringing with them the parasitic screwworm. Cattle with this parasite needed to be treated frequently, being roped and held while the rider was on horseback. The cowboys found that the Florida Cracker horses, bred for working smaller cattle, were not able to hold the western cattle. [12] They replaced the smaller horses with American Quarter Horses. This resulted in the Florida breed almost becoming extinct. [5]
The breed's survival during the 20th century is owed to a few families who continued to breed the Cracker horse and kept distinct bloodlines alive. [11] John Law Ayers was one such breeder; in 1984, he donated his herd of pure-bred Cracker horses to the state of Florida. With them, the state started three small herds in Tallahassee, Withlacoochee State Forest, and Paynes Prairie State Preserve. By 1989, however, these three herds and around 100 other horses owned by private families were all that remained of the breed. In 1989 the Florida Cracker Horse Association was founded and in 1991 a registry was established. After the registry was created, 75 horses designated as "foundation horses" and 14 of their offspring were immediately registered. These horses came mainly from four lines of Cracker bloodstock and were designated as purebreds by breed experts – partbred horses were denied entry to the registry. As of 2009, around 900 horses had been registered since the foundation of the registry. [6]
Effective July 1, 2008, the Florida House of Representatives declared the Florida Cracker Horse the official state horse. [13] As of 2009 there are three main bloodlines of Cracker stock, as well as a few smaller lines. The state of Florida still maintains two groups of Ayers-line horses in Tallahassee and Withlacoochee for breeding purposes and a display group in the Paynes Prairie Preserve. The state annually sells excess horses from all three herds, and individual breeders also send horses to the sale. [6] The Livestock Conservancy considers the breed to be at "critical" status, meaning that the estimated global population of the breed is fewer than 2,000 and there are fewer than 200 registrations annually in the United States. [14] The Equus Survival Trust also considers the population to be "critical," meaning that there are between 100 and 300 active breeding mares in existence today. [15] However, breed numbers are slowly on the rise. [6]
The original Chickasaw horse, bred by the Chickasaw Nation using horses captured from Hernando de Soto's expedition, became extinct after being used to create the Florida Cracker Horse, and having some influence on the American Quarter Horse. [16] Some sources still use the Chickasaw name to describe the Florida Crackers of today. [5] [6]
The Chickasaw horse was originally bred for speed over short distances, traits found in its Florida Cracker Horse and American Quarter Horse descendants. The typical Chickasaw horse stood at about 13 hands high, described as "short and chunky, quick to action, but not distance runners...the best utility and all-rounder horses of their time". [17]
They influenced the Banker horse of North Carolina; Carolina Marsh Tacky of South Carolina; and the Chincoteague Pony of Virginia.
In the 1970s, there was interest in re-creating the Chickasaw horse, using horses bearing strong resemblances to the original breed, [16] but the breed association no longer exists. The Chickasaw Horse Association Inc. listed the conformation of the Chickasaw horse as "a short head, short fine ears, wide between the eyes, short back, square blocky hips, dock set low, short neck, wide chest, high deep shoulders, strong short pasterns, and a slight bend in the hock". [17]
The Suffolk Horse, also historically known as the Suffolk Punch or Suffolk Sorrel, is an English breed of draught horse. The first part of the name is from the county of Suffolk in East Anglia, and the word "punch" is an old English word for a short stout person. It is a heavy draught horse which is always chestnut in colour. Suffolk Punches are known as good doers, and tend to have energetic gaits.
Florida crackers were colonial-era British American pioneer settlers in what is now the U.S. state of Florida; the term is also applied to their descendants, to the present day, and their subculture among white Southerners. The first crackers arrived in 1763 after Spain traded Florida to Great Britain following the latter's victory over France in the Seven Years' War, though much of traditional Florida cracker folk culture dates to the 19th century.
Colonial Spanish horse is a term for a group of horse breed and feral populations descended from the original Iberian horse stock brought from Spain to the Americas. The ancestral type from which these horses descend was a product of the horse populations that blended between the Iberian horse and the North African Barb. The term encompasses many strains or breeds now found primarily in North America. The status of the Colonial Spanish horse is considered threatened overall with seven individual strains specifically identified. The horses are registered by several entities.
The Narragansett Pacer was one of the first recorded horse breeds developed in the United States. It emerged in the 18th century (1700s), and was theorized to have been bred from a mix of English and Spanish breeds, although the exact cross is unknown. The Pacer was associated with, and bred in, the state of Rhode Island and the area of New England; as horse breeding shifted to Kentucky and Tennessee in the late 1700s, it became extinct by the 20th century.
The Galiceno is a horse breed developed in Mexico, bred from horses brought from Spain by Hernán Cortés and other conquistadors. Although small in stature, they are generally considered a horse, rather than a pony, and are always solid-colored. In Mexico, they are an all-around horse, used for riding, packing and light draft. In the United States they are often used as mounts for younger competitors, although they are also found competing in Western events. The breed descends from horses brought from Spain to Mexico during the 16th century. Many of these horses escaped or were released and formed feral bands in the interior of Mexico, which were then captured by local inhabitants. They were also often used by Spanish missionaries to the American West, where they became some of the ancestors of the American Indian Horse. In 1958, these horses were first imported to the United States, and in 1959 a breed registry was formed. Many of the horses are also registered with the American Indian Horse Registry.
The Nokota horse is a feral and semi-feral horse breed located in the badlands of southwestern North Dakota in the United States. The breed developed in the 19th century from foundation bloodstock consisting of ranch-bred horses produced from the horses of local Native Americans mixed with Spanish horses, Thoroughbreds, harness horses and related breeds. The Nokota was almost wiped out during the early 20th century when ranchers, in cooperation with state and federal agencies, worked together to reduce competition for livestock grazing. However, when Theodore Roosevelt National Park was created in the 1940s, a few bands were inadvertently trapped inside, and thus were preserved.
The American Bashkir Curly or North American Curly Horse is a North American breed of horse, characterized by an unusual curly coat of hair. It derives from American horses of Iberian origin, in which curly-coated individuals occasionally occur; it is unrelated to Asian horses such as the Bashkir and Lokai, which may also be curly-coated. The American Bashkir Curly has been extensively cross-bred with horses of other breeds, and varies widely in size and conformation; it may be of any color.
The Black Mouth Cur, also known as the Southern Cur, Southern Black Mouth Cur and the Yellow Black Mouth Cur, is a medium to large sized breed of cur-type dog from the United States. Originating in the south of the country, the breed is a popular hunting companion used to hunt a large variety of game.
The Banker horse is a breed of semi-feral or feral horse living on barrier islands in North Carolina's Outer Banks. It is small, hardy, and has a docile temperament, and is genetically related to the Carolina Marsh Tacky of South Carolina and Florida Cracker Horse breeds through their shared Colonial Spanish horse and Iberian horse descent. The current population of wild Banker horses is estimated to be about 400.
The American Cream Draft is an American breed of draft horse, characterized by the cream or "gold champagne" color of its coat. It was developed in Iowa during the early twentieth century from a cream-colored mare named Old Granny. A breed registry was formed in 1944 but became inactive for several decades when breed numbers dropped due to the mechanization of farming. It was reactivated in 1982 and population numbers have slowly grown since then. It is a rare breed: its conservation status is considered critical by The Livestock Conservancy and the Equus Survival Trust.
The Livestock Conservancy, formerly known as the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) and prior to that, the American Minor Breeds Conservancy, is a nonprofit organization focused on preserving and promoting rare breeds, also known as "heritage breeds" of livestock. Founded in 1977, through the efforts of livestock breed enthusiasts concerned about the disappearance of many of the US's heritage livestock breeds, The Livestock Conservancy was the pioneer livestock preservation organization in the United States, and remains a leading organization in that field. It has initiated programs that have saved multiple breeds from extinction, and works closely with similar organizations in other countries, including Rare Breeds Canada. With 3,000 members, a staff of eleven and a 19-member board of directors, the organization has an operating budget of over a million dollars.
The Carolina Marsh Tacky or Marsh Tacky is a critically endangered breed of horse, native to South Carolina. It is a member of the Colonial Spanish group of horse breeds, which also include the Florida Cracker Horse and the Banker horse of North Carolina. It is a small horse, well-adapted for use in the lowland swamps of its native South Carolina. The Marsh Tacky developed from Spanish horses brought to the South Carolina coast by Spanish explorers, settlers and traders as early as the 16th century. The horses were used by the colonists during the American Revolution, and by settlers for farm work, herding cattle and hunting throughout the breed's history.
A stock horse is a horse of a type that is well suited for working with livestock, particularly cattle. The related cow pony or cow horse is a historic phrase, still used colloquially today, referring to a particularly small agile cattle-herding horse; the term dates to 1874. The word "pony" in this context has little to do with the animal's size, though the traditional cow pony could be as small as 700 to 900 pounds and less than 14 hands high.
The Equus Survival Trust is a United States nonprofit organisation dedicated to helping conservation efforts for over 25 horse breeds considered "endangered" by the organization due to their rarity and danger of dying out. It is dedicated to protecting the genetic diversity and traditional traits of historical horse, pony and donkey breeds that are currently nearly extinct. They are doing this through conservation efforts, public education and support of associations for rare breeds. The organization places an emphasis on North American breeds and breeders. The Trust is the only conservation organization in the world that specializes in equines.
The Pineywoods is an endangered American breed of triple-purpose cattle. It derives from cattle of Iberian origin brought to Americas by the conquistadores in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. It is one of three such criollo breeds and is found mainly in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, between the ranges of the other two breeds, the Florida Cracker to the east and the Texas Longhorn to the west.
The Heck horse is a horse breed that is claimed to resemble the tarpan, an extinct wild equine. The breed was created by the German zoologist brothers Heinz Heck and Lutz Heck in an attempt to breed back the tarpan. Although unsuccessful at creating a genetic copy of the extinct species, they developed a breed with grullo coloration and primitive markings. Heck horses were subsequently exported to the United States, where a breed association was created in the 1960s.
The Florida Cracker or Florida Scrub is an American breed of cattle. It originated in Spanish Florida and later in the American state of Florida, and is named for the Florida cracker culture in which it was kept. It is one of the Criollo breeds that descend from the Spanish cattle originally brought to the Americas by the Spanish Conquistadors; among the other North American breeds in this group are the Pineywoods, the Corriente and Texas Longhorn. Unlike the Pineywoods – to which it is closely related – the Florida Cracker has not been inter-bred with breeds of North European origin.
Horses have been an important component of American life and culture since before the founding of the nation. In 2023, there were an estimated 6.65 million horses in the United States, with 1.5 million horse owners, 25 million citizens that participate in horse related activities, 12 million citizens that spectate at horse events, and 4.6 million citizens involved in businesses related to horses. There are an estimated 82,000 feral horses that roam freely in the wild in certain parts of the country, mostly in the Western United States.
Florida cracker or Florida Cracker may refer to: