This Florida Cracker is calm and trusting as it strolls in a parade. Note the light build. James Levy
Florida Cracker Horse Association, Inc.
2992 Lake Bradford Road South
Tallahassee, Florida 32310
www.floridacrackerhorses.com
Most people, even in Florida, do not have a good idea what a Cracker Horse is, yet it has played a huge part in Florida’s long historic past, particularly in connection with the cattle industry. Owners like to call it a heritage horse. It has displayed consistent Spanish traits for nearly five hundred years through various circumstances.
Florida Cracker Horses are descendents of the first horses to set foot in North America that were originally brought to Florida by the Spanish during the colonial period, when the active cattle industry was founded. Florida cowboys who managed the cows were known locally as cow hunters and nicknamed “crackers,” because of the sound made by cracking the air with their cow whips. This name was also given to the small, agile Spanish horses they rode extensively to work the cattle.
Florida Cracker Horses are wonderful little riding horses that have endurance, strength, and an easy ride, traits that have been lost in some other breeds. They have a lot of heart, giving their utmost beyond normal limitations, and do not tire as quickly as others. They are still going at the end of a long work day, when other horses have been resting from the morning’s work. Their forte is their tough resilience, durability, easy ride, and strong herding instinct.
Their genetic heritage is derived from the Iberian horse of early Spain, tracing their ancestry to stock brought in the 1500s when Florida was discovered by the Spaniards. The horses’ genetic base is generally the same as that of the Spanish Mustang, Paso Fino, Peruivian Paso, Criollo, and other breeds developed from horses originally introduced by the Spanish into the Caribbean Islands, Cuba, and the continents of North and South America.
From the early 1500s and continuing well into the twentieth century, the Cracker Horse served many Florida residents, including Spanish conquistadors, settlers, Christian missionaries, and at least seven Native American tribes. It also served those who were drawn there to settle under the flags of Spain, France, England, the Confederate States of America, and the United States. Today, there is a dedicated group of owners who still use the rare Cracker Horse.
History
As early as Columbus’s second voyage to the Caribbean in 1493, Spanish horses were brought to the island of Hispaniola (now part of Haiti). Here, they formed the basis of the first of the famed Caribbean Islands breeding herds. The first horses to set foot on Florida soil were acquired from a variety of these island herds.
In 1521, Ponce de León brought some of them on his second Florida trip. He used them as mounts for ranking members of his party, the expedition’s scouts, and those riders who were responsible for herding the livestock that was their food supply. Other conquistadors also brought horses to Florida. Pánfilo de Narváez came in 1528 and is said to have lost many horses by either accidental or deliberate release. He is also credited with setting 213 horses ashore at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor from ships that were drawing too much water. In 1539, Hernando De Soto brought many horses to southeastern Florida to support his search for gold. In 1540, Diego Maldonado brought many cattle for De Soto and presumably a sufficient number of horses for herding them to the area of what is now Santa Rosa County. Unable to rendezvous with De Soto, much of his stock was lost or abandoned.
It is presumed that up until this point, all of the horses landing in Florida had come from the Caribbean Islands. In 1559, though, Tristan de Luna brought a great number of horses from Mexico for the purpose of founding a colony in an area that is now Pensacola. His project failed, and once again livestock was lost or abandoned.
Still, the primary sources were the Caribbean Islands breeding farms that supplied the horses needed by conquistadors for their exploits in the New World. Most of the horses that were brought to the Caribbean Islands for breed stock came from the Spanish province of Cordova. They were the result of a mixture, over a long period of time, of the North African Barb, the Spanish Gararo Pony, the Sorraia, and other horses of the Iberian Peninsula. Some people refer to these horses as Spanish Jennets, while others call them Spanish Barbs.
These Spanish horses ranged in size from 13.2 to 15 hands. Their general description included a short back, sloping rump, low tailset, good limbs and hooves, wide forehead, beautiful eyes, delicately formed nostrils, and sloping shoulders. (More could be said about their physical characteristics, as the writers of that period used lengthy and glowing descriptive phrases.) Based on that description, Cracker Horses of today obviously share many of the same characteristics as those brought to the Caribbean Islands, and then to Florida, well over four hundred years ago.
There is much speculation that the strays and escapees of the animals brought by the conquistadors to sustain their explorations were the start of large numbers of feral horses and cattle found in Florida. It is likely that it was not until the early 1600s when there were sufficient numbers to have served as the base for the populations of Spanish livestock when Florida became part of the United States in 1821.
The free-roaming Cracker Horses evolved over a long period of time by natural selection. They were molded and tempered by nature and a challenging environment into the horse that ultimately had a large part in the emergence of Florida as a ranching and agriculture state. They were well adapted to the environment and were useful in working the local Spanish-derived Cracker cattle. The horses also played a major role in the Seminole tribe’s culture.
Ever the cowhorse, this Florida Cracker demonstrates what the breed does naturally. James Levy
During the early 1600s, the Spaniards made a modest start of cattle ranching in north Florida, and by the midpoint of that century, cattle and horse numbers had increased significantly. By the end of the seventeeth century, the Florida cattle industry was enjoying some success, as there were thirty-four ranchos across northern Florida. An example would be the rancho De La Chua in the area of what is now Alachua County, which is reported to have had as many as one thousand cows and horses. Historical data like this demonstrates that the Cracker Horse is undoubtedly a remnant of Spanish horses.
Recent History
Until the early part of the twentieth century, Cracker Horses were numerous in Florida. Many of them were roaming free on open ranges, while others were used by frontier cattlemen and settlers. Over the years, they were known by a variety of names: Chickasaw pony, Seminole pony, Marsh Tacky, Prairie pony, Florida horse, Florida cow pony, Grass Gut, Woods pony, and others.
Florida was considered an open-range state until about 1949. There was a lot of resistance to fencing, and any cow that was run over by an automobile or train had to be paid for by the driver. Up until this time, cattle, horses, and swine could run most anywhere that was not fenced. Horses that lived in the wild were pretty much like deer and just as quick, because their lives depended on their instincts.
The Cracker breed suffered a reversal of fortune in the 1930s, when a serious decline in their numbers began. The Great Depression led to the creation of a number of relief programs, one of which encouraged the movement of cattle from the Dust Bowl states into Florida. Cattle from the western Dust Bowl regions were moved in, and with them came the screwworm. This, in turn, led to changes in cattle ranching.
Before the screwworm, cowmen used Cracker Horses to herd and drive the free-roaming scrub cows and Cracker cattle. With the arrival of the screwworm came fencing, dipping vats, and a need to rope cattle and hold them for treatment. This radically changed the sort of horse needed to work cattle out on the range. As a result, ranchers turned to the larger, stronger horses, like the Quarter Horse. The Florida Cracker Horse lost its demand and became quite rare. Therefore, the influx of western cattle was a threat to both the Cracker Horse and Cracker cattle, and although both persist to the present day, they are only remnants of once-numerous types.
The Cracker Horse’s survival over the next fifty years resulted from the work of a few families, which continued to breed it for their own use. It was these ranching families and individuals whose perseverance and preservation of distinct bloodlines kept the horses from disappearing entirely. They include the Ayers, Harvey, Bronson, Matchett, Partin, and Whaley families.
In 1984, John Law Ayers of Brooksville, Florida, donated a group of his Cracker Horses to the state. Ayers had maintained a herd of pure Cracker Horse stock, resisting temptations to cross them with other breeds. This group started the state-owned herds in Tallahassee and in the Withlacoochee State Forest. In the Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, where free-roaming Spanish horses were once quite numerous, a herd was started in 1985, also with the Ayers line of horses donated to the preserve by a citizen’s support organization.
By 1989, however, Cracker Horses appeared to be near extinction. The state had three small herds. The rest of them, about one hundred head, were owned by several cattle and ranching families that continued to breed them. These pioneering families and their unique horses spanned many generations and kept the Cracker Horse from becoming extinct. They appreciated the Cracker Horse’s stamina, intelligence, quickness, endurance, and easy ride. They preserved many excellent examples of classic, old-style Spanish type in their horses.
Registry
Fearing that Cracker Horses might become extinct, Florida cattlemen contacted others in the 1980s who owned or shared an interest in the breed. The Florida Cracker Horse Association (FCHA) was founded in 1989 and the registry in 1991. Immediately, seventy-five Foundation horses and fourteen of their offspring were registered. The Foundation registry was only for animals that were considered by expert evaluation teams to be pure. These horses had to have a verifiable and direct line back to known herds. There was no provision for breeding up; percentage horses were not allowed to be registered. Foundation horses came primarily from four different Cracker lines that had been bred continuously for more than seventy years by different ranches. Since that time, there have been nine hundred horses registered as Florida Cracker Horses.
The FCHA is succeeding in preserving the Cracker Horse as a distinct and unique Colonial Spanish breed. The Cracker Horse is promoted as a vital part of Florida’s heritage and is gaining in popularity, though it is still quite rare. In 2008, it was made the official horse of the state of Florida, which has brought this little heritage horse the honor it deserves and more public interest in its future.
There are three main family lines of Crackers today with a few smaller groups. The state’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services oversees two small Ayers-line Cracker herds—one in Tallahassee inside the city limits and one on the Withlacoochee State Forest near Brooksville. (The Paynes Prairie Preserve horses are for display only in a historical and natural savannah grassland on the prairie.) Buck Mitchell in Trenton raises Bronson-line Crackers. The Harvey-line Crackers are in Okeechobee with Jim Harvey on the Harvey Ranch. There are small groups of Partin, Whaley, Matchett, and Thrasher lines.
Both state-owned horse herds live at locations that are managed like fenced farm areas, and the horses exist most of the time on natural grass pastures. State-owned horses are transferred between the herds to keep the genetic base broad while maintaining the pure lines. Stallions of the Ayers bloodline have been added from other herds to broaden the genetic base.
Although Crackers are believed to be parasite and disease resistant, the state has them vaccinated and dewormed regularly because they are in relatively small areas of around sixty-five acres. The horses have some interaction with people, but are not consistently trained like most other horses; they are only imprinted at birth and some halter training is done. They are not considered wild like western Bureau of Land Management horses, but as one owner remarked, “When you purchase horses from these herds, they are about as wild as a June hare!”
Once a year at public auction, the state sells surplus stock from its herds of Cracker cattle and Cracker Horses, and individual breeders are invited to consign theirs to the sale also. Those wishing to own a living, tangible link to Florida’s past can purchase Cracker Horses or cattle there.
Characteristics
During the frontier years and on into the mid twentieth century, the Cracker Horse was used for just about anything for which horses were used: pulling wagons, buggies, sleds, plows, and cane mills or taking kids to school. Most of all, they were appreciated as cow ponies.
Today, although still used primarily as cow ponies, they are finding a place in other activities for which horses in Florida are being used, such as team penning, team roping, trail riding, endurance riding, and as mounts for historical reenactments.
Like their ancestors, Cracker Horses range in size from 13.2 to 15 hands, with short backs, sloping rumps, and other Spanish characteristics. Their weight ranges from 750 to 1,000 pounds.
They are known for their unusual strength, endurance, strong herding instinct, quickness, and fast walking gait. Though not considered to be a gaited breed, many Crackers do have a single-foot or running walk gait.
Cracker Horses can be any color that is common to the horse; however, solid colors and grays are dominant in the Crackers of today. Being gaited and having black-based colors are common traits in Spanish horses of other regions, too.
Although the Cracker Horse is considered to be small in comparison to other breeds, its endurance, strength, toughness, easy ride, and versatility make it just as much a horse for today as it was during the years of the conquest. The Cracker has never been subjected to a single purpose or fad breeding. It demonstrates a gene pool that could be an asset to restore qualities that might be lost or weakened in other breeds.
Perhaps the most enduring quality of Cracker Horses seems to be their tendency to bond with one person. They may do whatever any rider asks, but for that special person, they respond with a willingness that can be noticed in their eyes and body. It is not reluctance to work for another person; they just seem less enthusiastic. They also seem to have a sense of humor and keen interest in their owner when interacting with them.
This Florida Cracker stallion has an exquisite head and intelligent expression. The breed is a nice size for easy mounting. James Levy
Their common sense is extraordinary. One owner remarked how his Cracker Horse would not do anything to hurt him. If something startled her, she would always move away from her owner, even if the cause of the start was on the off side. One month after this mare was first ridden, she and her rider got hung up in barbwire in the scrub forest. The mare went down, and her rider got the wind knocked out of him. While he lay on the ground, she got up and, rather than running away, she came over to him and checked to make sure he was okay.
Standards
Head: The head is refined and intelligent in appearance. The profile is straight or slightly concave. A Roman nose is not characteristic of Cracker Horses. The throatlatch is deeper than other breeds, such as the Quarter Horse, for more proficient air intake. The jaw is short and well defined. The eyes are keen with an alert expression, and there is a reasonable width between them. The protruding bone above the eye is not pronounced. The eye colors are dark, dark with a white rim (sclera), gray, or blue.
The muzzle is small or tapering. The mouth is shallow and may be fairly narrow. The nostrils are crescent shaped, and the horse may frequently exhibit a peculiar snort, or “rollers in the nose.” The ears are short to medium, alert in appearance, and do not show excessive width between them.
Neck: The neck is well defined, fairly narrow, without excessive crest, and is about the same length as the distance from the withers to the croup.
Mane and Tail: The mane and forelock are medium heavy and may be long, although a sparse mane and tail may be seen on some Cracker Horses.
Chest: The chest is medium to narrow in width with a good inverted “V” shape. Broad, flat chests are not characteristic of Cracker Horses.
Shoulders: The shoulders are long and sloping with a 40- to 50-degree angle. A well-laid-back shoulder with smooth muscling is preferred. The withers are pronounced, but not prominent.
Back: The back is short, narrow, and strong with well-sprung ribs. The point of the withers and the point of the croup are equal in height. The underline is longer than the topline. The belly is trim with a fairly straight belly line.
Hindquarters: The croup is sloping and short. The hips are round and usually not wide between the hip bones. The tail is set medium low, is medium thick, and on some horses may be quite long.
Legs: The forearms have light, long muscling. The cannon bones are round and medium short. The pasterns are medium and springy. The gaskins have light, smooth muscling. Feathering is none to light. Chestnuts are small or nonexistent. Front legs are straight with a fairly large knee. Back legs are strong, have moderate angulation, well-defined hock without excess flesh, and are straight when viewed from the rear. They are not sickle hocked, post legged, or cow hocked.
Hoof: The hoof is round and of a hard, dense texture. Hoof colors may be black, striped, or white.
Size: Small to medium in size, from 13 to 15.2 hands in height and generally weighing less than 1,000 pounds.
Color: The Cracker Horse includes all colors known to the horse, however, solid colors, roans, and grays are most common.
Gait or Action: A variety of gaits are found in Cracker Horses. They include the flatfoot walk, running walk, ambling, single-foot, pacing, four-beat gait, and Paso-type gaits, as well as regular gaits.
While the Cracker’s external type is distinctive, breed proponents insist that the best way to tell a Cracker Horse is to ride one. The gaits found in these horses are easy and ground covering.
Cracker Horses are willing workers whose action shows spirit, not laziness, and they have amazing stamina and endurance. Crackers have been used for trail and pleasure riding, reining, team roping, team penning, pulling wagons, and always as working cow horses.
Preservation of the Cracker Horse is succeeding. Some new breeding herds have been started, and the numbers are slowly increasing. Demand for the Cracker Horse is continuing to rise, and once again it is gaining usage for activities other than cow-pony work. It is demonstrating its diverse capabilities for the twenty-first century, just as it did for Florida’s Spanish and frontier eras.
An important factor that engenders hope for the breed is that the Cracker Horse can be used by any family member. At a recent FCHA fall weekend ride, the age span of attendees ranged from one year to more than eighty years old. Several families in attendance represented three generations. The youngest rider was a seven-year-old girl who completed the twelve-mile ride on her Cracker mare.
Credits: Florida Cracker Horse Association; and Stephen Monroe, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Animal Industry