Florida Cracker Horse

The Florida Cracker Horse

The Florida Cracker Horse, like many other breeds, is a horse breed with Spanish descendents that were first brought to the Americas in the 1500s. It was in 1521 that a Spaniard by the name of Ponce de Leon brought horses and other forms of livestock to what is now Florida. The continuation of this trend over the next century is a big part of how the breed started. They share a distinction with the Spanish Barb horses and the Spanish Mustang. The Florida Cracker Horse is the result of years of trading with Cuba, so Spanish genetics were constantly being introduced into the Florida population. The Cracker Horse became an important part of the cattle industry that developed in Florida over 500 years ago.

The Cracker actually got their name because the cowboys were often called "crackers" because of the sound their whips would make in the air. The Florida Cracker Horse went by a variation of different names, such as the Chickasaw Pony, Seminole Pony, March Tackie, Prairie Pony, Florida Horse, Florida Cow Pony, Grass gut, as well as many others known locally.

Florida Cowboy & Cracker Horse

During the 1930s, the time of The Great Depression, many horses were moved from the dust bowl to Florida. The horse herds carried a parasite known as the screwworm parasite along with them. Once the parasite spread from the horse to the cattle herds, many of the cowboys were forced to change from the Cracker Horse to the stronger Quarter Horse in order to herd the infected cattle. The Florida Cracker Horse became quite rare because of this.

The numbers of this horse had suffered and over the next fifty years, many efforts were combined to save them. A number of particular bloodlines were being kept alive in order to save the breed; the bloodlines were the Ayers, Harvey, Bronson, and Whaley. 

The Florida Cracker Horse Association was formed in 1989; their first order of business was to track down herds of these horses. Today their around 300 horses registered with the association, and it has been established that the Cracker Horse is a very important part of Florida's history.

Florida Cracker Horse

Besides just being used for herding cattle, the Cracker horse was also used for pulling buggies, work stock, and for many families was the only source of work force on many family farms well into the 20th century.

The Florida Cracker Horse has a gait that is hard to find in other breeds, it's known as a ground-covering gait. It has a few other gaits that are rather preferred by horse riders as well, they are the flatfoot walk, the running walk, the trot, and ambling, or as it is also known as the Paso-type gait.

Designated as Florida’s official state horse in 2008, today the breed is used mainly for trail riding, endurance riding and reining and roping competitions