Florida Cracker Horses
A
500-year survival story
By
Georgia Brown
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Some
still live wild and free, tucked into the scarce, secluded areas
of rural Florida. Others have adapted to domestication, mingling
into nearly every Floridian lifestyle with typical flexibility.
These smooth riding, tough horses helped early settlers build
a life in Old Florida, yet they almost became extinct 15 years
ago. Although still rare, Florida Cracker Horses have a bright
future thanks to a few folks with long memories and deep affection
for the heritage they represent.
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Origin and Early History
Cracker Horses can trace their ancestry to Spanish stock brought
by explorers Ponce De Leon and Hernando De Soto in the 1500s.
They carry the blood of the North African Barb, Spanish Sorraia
and Spanish Jennet, a gaited breed. (These breeds also became
the foundation for the Caribbean Paso Finos, Peruvian Pasos
and Spanish mustangs of the West.)
Soon after St. Augustine was founded in 1565, other domesticated
animals were sent to supply the garrison, and in time some
cattle and horses escaped or were left to roam free in the
wilderness. For the next 200 years several flags flew over
the territory called Florida, and feral cattle and horses
multiplied in the wilderness through natural selection. The
strongest survived. Cracker Horses became hardy and developed
the ability to live on native grasses in the wetlands, grassy
prairies and scrub forests of Central and North Florida.
Their hooves handled the marshy areas well, which may be origin
of their other name (in the Carolinas), Marsh Tackys. They
were also called Chickasaw Pony, Seminole Pony, Prairie Pony
and Florida Cow Pony. Over time they were traded by Native
American tribes and spread up the Eastern Seaboard.
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Cracker
Horses can trace their ancestry to Spanish stock brought by
explorers Ponce De Leon and Hernando De Soto in the 1500s.
Photo By Cookie Originals |
Survival in a New Land
The story of the Cracker Horse’s survival is intertwined
with Florida’s cattle ranchers and America’s first
cowboys. Florida’s first cattle ranching business was
started by Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries who came to
North and North Central Florida to convert the Indians. In
addition to farming, they also taught them to tend livestock.
In fact, Florida was home to America’s first cattle
ranches long before Jamestown was founded in 1606.
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Early
ranchers were coined as “Crackers” from the cracking
sound of the long whips they used to drive cattle. Hence, the
horses they rode were named Cracker Horses.
Photo by Andrea Arnow |
The
native horses were essential to Florida’s thriving cattle
business with Cuba by 1700. The tough little horses had endurance,
cow sense and easy rhythmic gaits the cattlemen preferred on
the long cattle drives to the trade ports on Florida’s
west coast at Punta Rassa (Ft. Myers), Manatee and Tampa. They
required little care besides turning them out to graze on the
open range.
African Americans, free Blacks or ex-slaves, and Seminoles were
also part of the cattle industry. Seminoles had large herds
of horses and cattle, and reports show that one cattleman, Cowkeeper,
grazed thousands of cattle near Paynes Prairie, selling stock
to buyers up the coast to the Carolinas in the mid 1700s. |
When
the United States gained control of Florida from Spain in
1821, settlers started moving to North and North Central Florida
from neighboring slave-holding states: Georgia, North and
South Carolina. They were lured by the vast open range, pine
scrub and lush grasslands where cattle roamed free along meandering
rivers.
These pioneer ranchers became known as “Crackers”
for the sharp sound of their 12-foot long whips cracking in
the air as they drove their cattle. These early cowboys thought
of themselves as “cow hunters” because they gathered
up their cows from wooded thickets and pine forests with cow
dogs, stopping only when the sun set on the misty horizon.
The Cracker Horse made possible the open range lifestyle of
the cattlemen for 350 years. Florida was the last state in
the Union to enact a fence law in 1949, which shows the influence
the cattlemen possessed before a new wave of settlers began
moving to the state turning ranches into developments for
homes.
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Descent to Extinction
After parasitic diseases spread to Florida’s cattle and
horses from cattle shipped from out West during the Dust Bowl
era, the federal government required cattlemen to dip their
horses and cattle every two weeks. This required roping and
penning the animals, a task the small Cracker horse was not
well suited to. Slowly, as larger breeds of cattle were introduced,
the Spanish horses were replaced by the bulkier, more muscular
Quarter Horses who could handle the arduous task.
The tick fever of the 1930s caused severe depletion of both
wild horses and feral cattle, and wild horses were ordered shot
to prevent the spread of the disease. Brooksville rancher, John
Law Ayers, one of the prominent figures in the breed’s
survival story, paid men to round up his Cracker Horses, which
roamed his extensive grazing lands near what is now the Withlacoochee
State Forest. They were dipped and survived.
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Cracker
Horses are known for their herding instinct, endurance and
comfortable walking gaits.
Photo by Andrea Arnow |
By
mid-century only a few families had continued to keep herds
of Cracker Horses for their own enjoyment. Gradually those
family names became associated with the different types. Ayers
resemble Spanish Barbs and are usually gaited. The Harvey
horses from Okeechobee are larger and not as often gaited.
Bronson horses from St. Cloud are somewhere in between. Other
strains came from herds kept by Kevin Whaley and Doug Parton
in Kenansville.
Faces in Cracker Horse History
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Bobby Hall, age 71, served as President of the Cracker Horse
Association for many years and maintains a herd of about 40
horses near Dade City. He grew up riding Cracker Horses on his
family’s farm in Bushnell when Sumter County was known
for producing fine horses. He remembers many people came up
from South Florida in the 1940s to buy them.
“I always respected and loved those Cracker Horses. They’re
the horse that settled Florida. They didn’t require much.
The early farmers relied on them for their very existence. They
were used to plow fields, cow hunt all week and pull the family’s
buggy or wagon to town on Sunday,” he said.
In the 1980s, a friend asked Bobby to find a Cracker mare for
him and when he looked around, “I realized just how few
were left.” The word quickly spread that the Cracker horse
might become extinct, and in 1989 a meeting of a dozen concerned
cattlemen was held in Kissimmee.
Sam Getson of Newberry, age 83, remembers the early meetings
well. “At the second meeting I was asked if I would take
the notes. Before I knew it, I was the Registrar and Executive
Director,” he said with a chuckle. He served for 17 years. |
Cracker
Horses in the Wild
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Wild Cracker Horses at Paynes
Prairie. Photo by Dominick Martino. |
| Today,
Cracker Horses can still be spotted in the wild. A small
herd is sometimes visible from the hiking trails at Paynes
Prairie State Preserve, south of Gainesville, FL. Additionally,
there is a semi tame, state-owned herd in the Withlacoochee
State Forest near Brooksville; They can be visited by
calling the Withlacoochee Forestry Center, 352-754-6777. |
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Sam visited farms across Florida to identify Cracker Horses.
“The bulk of the horses came from ranching families that
had not switched to Quarter Horses. A total of 141 foundation
horses were blood tested and registered. We don’t expect
to find more,” he said.
To date 824 Cracker Horses have been registered, according to
the current executive director, James Levy. "Our second
annual sale will offer horses ready to ride and youngsters just
starting out. They've made a name for themselves as cow horses,
trail horses and indications are they do well in endurance riding." |
Payne
Midyette Jr. on his Florida Cracker Horse gelding.
Photo by Georgia Brown |
Payne
Midyette Jr., age 79, regularly rides a sorrel Cracker gelding
to check his cattle on his1600-acre Running M Ranch in Madison
County near Tallahassee. He rode his first Cracker Horse while
working one summer on Erlo Bronson’s cattle ranch in 1942.
Although his herd of horses is relatively small—under
16—his breeding plan is focused on maintaining the breed’s
original strengths: stamina, good traveling gates and disposition.
The young horses are first tested by working them around the
cows. “I’m raising them as cattle horses,”
he said. “If they show the ability to stay collected and
are quick most of the time, then I know they are going to be
good cow horses. And if they don’t have a head for cows,
they make good riding horses,” he added. He prefers to
have the horses trained and worked around the ranch before selling
them as riding horses. |
In December, Payne, his son and son-in-law completed the
Great Florida Cattle Drive of ’06 across four ranches
in Kissimmee on Cracker Horses, easily covering 50 miles
in four days. “The horses did very well, stayed calm
(512 riders and 500 head of cattle participated in the drive)
and gave us a smooth ride,” he said. “All my
horses have a fast walk and a few have a gait we call a
‘coon rack’ here in North Florida. I believe
the future of the breed is in trail riding and endurance.”
A
Bright Future
The current breed standard is focused on producing characteristics
that are consistent with the Spanish horses from which they
are descended. “Although today’s Cracker Horses
may not be exact replicas, any differences are almost entirely
due to improved nutrition and modern horse husbandry,”
says Sam Getson.
Today they are bred to be good cow horses as well as competitive
cutting, barrel racing, trail and endurance horses. Avoiding
the pitfalls seen in recent type changes in many well-known
horse breeds of America (mostly the result of fads and narrow
purpose breeding), is a goal of conscientious breeders.
Cracker Horses may be small in stature, but make up for
it with easy gaits and hardiness that allows them to go
all day without tiring, just as they have for more than
four centuries. As the old timers will tell you, “The
older you get, the better that smooth, singlefoot walk feels.”
These timeless qualities have ensured a vital spot for these
hardy horses – not only in Florida’s past but
in her future.
Cracker
Characteristics |
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“The
reason I love them so much is that they are so versatile.
You can ride them in the pen, work cattle, or take them
on the trail and nothing bothers them. They have a good
walk and a gentle nature. You don’t have to doctor
them much. They are easy keepers. They are perfect for
the Florida climate and so strong— I’ve
seen them carry a big man all day without looking tired.”
—Iris Wall, Indiantown,
2006 Florida Agriculture Woman of the Year |
Neck:
The neck is well-defined but fairly narrow without
an excessive crest. The throat latch is prominent.
The distance between the neck, withers and croup is
about the same length. Mane and forelock are medium
heavy and may be very long.
Chest:
The chest is medium to narrow with a good inverted
“V.” Broad, flat chests are not characteristic
of the breed.
Back:
The back is short, narrow and strong with well-sprung
ribs. The croup is sloping and short, and the tail
carriage is generally medium to low.
Shoulders:
The shoulders are long and sloping with a 40 to 50
degree angle. A well-laid back shoulder with smooth
muscling is a breeding preference.
Legs:
Front legs have light muscling with round, medium-short
canon bones, and the pasterns are medium and springy.
Back legs are strong with moderate angulation and
well-defined hocks that when viewed from the rear
are straight. The hooves are round with a hard, dense
texture.
Colors:
Colors are all those common to the horse; however,
solid colors, roans and grays predominate.
Gait
or Action: A variety of gaits are found,
including the flatfoot walk, running walk, trot and
ambling or Paso type gaits.
Disposition:
Disposition is that of a willing worker who shows
spirit not laziness. |
Learn
More about Cracker Horses |
Florida Cracker Horse
Association Auction and Gathering
An auction sponsored by the
Cracker Horse Association will offer young stock and
horses that are ready to ride. The auction will take
place on April 14, 2007 at 1 p.m. at the High Horse
Ranch in Indiantown. Guests are also invited to attend
the association’s meeting at 11 a.m. For more
information call Jack Gillen at 352-466-0744 or visit
www.floridacrackerhorse.com.
Florida
Cracker Cattle Association Annual Gathering and Auction
Each November, Cracker horse and cattle enthusiasts
can purchase animals from private herds and state-owned
stock located at Paynes Prairie, Tallahassee and the
Withlacoochee State Forest. The annual auction is
held at the PK Ranch in the Withlacoochee Forest.
For more information contact Stephen Monroe at 850-410-0944
or email monroes@doacs.state.fl.us
Florida
Cracker Horse Association, Inc.
President James Levy Jr.
2992 Lake Bradford Road South
Tallahassee, FL 32310
Telephone: 850-575-6522
Email: jlevyjr@comcast.com
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Georgia
Brown is a freelance travel writer who frequently writes
about horses. She raised horses for several years and
learned many life lessons while competing in dressage
and distance trail riding with a gentlemanly Arbian
Stallion that live to the ripe old age of 33. She currently
lives in Sarasota, Florida.. |
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