Florida Cracker | Gaited Horse Breeds | www.AllHorses.us

The Florida Cracker Horse, like the cattle breed of the same name, traces its ancestry to Spanish stock brought to Florida in the 1500's when discovered by Spain. The genetic heritage of the Cracker Horse is derived from the Iberian Horse of early sixteenth century Spain and includes blood of the North African Barb, Spanish Sorraia and Spanish Jennet (gaited).

The free roaming Cracker Horses were molded and tempered by nature and a challenging environment into horses that ultimately had a large part in the emergence of Florida as a ranching and general agriculture state. The horses also played an important role in the life of the Seminole Indians.

Florida cowmen were nicknamed "Crackers" because of the sound made by their cow whip cracking the air. This name was also given to the small agile Spanish Horse essential for working Spanish cattle.

The Cracker Horse suffered a reversal of fortune in the 1930's. 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 into Florida. With the arrival of screwworm came the need to rope cattle and hold them for treatment. Ranchers turned to the larger, stronger Quarter Horse, and the Florida Cracker Horse lost its demand and became quite rare.

The breed's survival over the last fifty years resulted from the work of a few families who continued to breed Cracker Horses for their own use.

Florida Cracker Horses are small saddle horses, standing from 13-2 hands to 15-2 at the withers, and weighing 700-1000 pounds.

The head is refined and intelligent in appearance. The profile is straight or slightly concave. The throat latch is prominent and the jaw is short and well defined. The eyes are keen with an alert expression and have reasonable width between them. The eye colors are dark, with a white sclera, gray or blue. 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. The withers are pronounced but not prominent.

The chest is medium to narrow in width with an inverted "V" formed between the two front legs. The shoulders are long and sloping with a 40 to 50 degree angle. A well laid back shoulder with smooth muscling is preferred. 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 under line is longer than the top line. The croup is sloping and short and the tail is set medium low.

Colors are any of those known to the horse; however, solid colors and grays are most common.

The ground covering gaits found in these horses include the flatfoot walk, running walk, trot and ambling gaits. Cracker Horses are willing workers whose actions show spirit, amazing stamina and endurance. Crackers have been used for trail, pleasure, reining, team roping, team penning, pulling wagons and always as working cow horses.

The Florida Cracker Horse Association (FCHA) was chartered in 1989 as a non-profit Florida Corporation. Its purpose is the preservation and perpetuation of the Cracker Horse as a distinct and unique Colonial Spanish breed of horse.

A registry was established and 31 foundation horses were registered and blood typed, based on their history and external type. A stringent application of the rules has resulted in a very consistent breed.

Today, the Florida Cracker Horse is promoted as a valuable and vital part of Florida's heritage and is still quite rare. Over 800 horses have been registered.