The Florida Cracker Horse is a small agile Spanish Horse with a natural herding instinct that was considered essential for working the Spanish cattle breed by the same name. Both the Cracker Horse and the Cracker Cattle trace their ancestry back to the various Spanish stock that was brought to Florida in the 1500’s during the Spanish explorations, starting with Ponce de Leon. Breeds such as North African Barb, Andalusian, Spanish Sorraia, Spanish Jennet and other Iberian breeds have contributed to the Cracker Horse gene pool as the Spaniards left their horses behind on their return voyages to make room for the treasures that they wanted to transport from the New World. So, in the territory that eventually became Florida, Cracker Horses evolved over a long period of time by natural selection as the horses roamed freely, adapting to the extremes of the area for their survival.

This breed also played an important role in the life of the Seminole Indians. In the 1700’s, the Seminoles rounded up some of these wild Florida horses and soon they were making trouble in Florida, Georgia, and southern Alabama. Andrew Jackson attacked them in 1817 and took over Florida in 1819. In 1821 Florida became a Territory and then a state in 1845. In the third Seminole Indian war in 1855, most of the Indians were forced out of Florida and resettled in Oklahoma, but their horses were left to run wild and they multiplied into many thousands. These wild Cracker horses ran free in Florida as late as the 1940’s in the Kissimmee River Valley.

Florida Cracker Horses have been known by many names: Chickasaw Pony, Seminole Pony, Marsh Tackie or Tacky, Prairie Pony, Florida Horse, Florida Cow Pony, Grass Gut, Woods pony, and others. But the official breed name pays tribute to the people who used them and depended on them — the Florida cattlemen who were nicknamed “Crackers” because of the sound made by the long whip they cracked in the air to herd their Spanish cattle of the same name.

In the 1930’s, the relief programs during the Great Depression encouraged the movement of cattle from the drought-ridden Dust Bowl into the lush grasslands of Florida. Unfortunately, the Midwestern cattle brought a parasite called screwworm into the state where it thrived in the humidity, and this meant that cattle-raising had to follow new practices. Before the screwworm arrived, cattlemen used Cracker Horses to herd their free roaming cattle, but the screwworm’s arrival created a need for fencing, dipping vats and the need to rope cattle to hold them for treatment. As a result, ranchers preferred the larger, stronger Quarter Horse, and the little now-obsolete Florida Cracker Horse started to disappear from lack of demand in the very industry they were previously thriving in.

The breed’s survival over the last 60 years has come from the work of a handful of families who continued to breed Cracker Horses for their own use and it was their perseverance and distinct family bloodlines that kept the Cracker Horses from dying out. These names include the Ayers, Harvey, Bronson, Matchett, Partin and Whaley lines.

Through efforts of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), the Florida Cracker Horse Association (FCHA) was formed in 1989. The FCHA is supported by volunteers to preserve this distinct and unique Colonial Spanish breed of horse and the job of searching for the remnant herds of Cracker Horses began. A breed registry was established and horses were registered based on their history and phenotype. At that time, 31 Cracker Horses were registered and blood typed to be used for the foundation stock. Strict adherence to the breed standard has resulted in a very consistent horse.

John Law Ayers maintained a herd of pure Cracker Horse stock and fortunately did not cross them with other breeds so in 1984 the Ayers family donated a small herd of his Cracker Horses to the FDACS. It was from these horses that herds were established in Tallahassee at the Agricultural Complex and near Brooksville on the Withlacoochee State Forest. The Ayers family and others such as the Bronson’s, Boal’s, Partin’s, and Sasser’s continue to maintain small herds of Cracker Horses.

The FDACS has maintained the purity of the Ayers line and as part of the FDACS breed management, horses have been transferred between the herds to avoid inbreeding and stallions of the Ayers line have been added from other herds to widen the gene pool. Since 1990, the Florida Cracker Cattle Association Annual Gatherin’ and Sale has been held annually on the first Friday and Saturday of November at the Withlacoochee State Forest. The FDACS coordinates and hosts this event which includes the sale of surplus Cracker Horses from private and state herds.

So far, the Cracker Horse preservation effort is succeeding and their numbers are steadily increasing, albeit slowly with new breeding herds being started and more to begin as breeding stock becomes available. Today, the Florida Cracker Horse is being promoted as a valuable and vital part of Florida’s heritage as a ranching and general agriculture state but it is still quite rare. Over 800 horses have been registered with an estimated worldwide population of 2,000 but there are less than 100 new registrations annually. .

A Florida Cracker Horse is a small gaited saddle horse that stands from 13.5 to 15.2 hands and weighs between 700 and 1000 pounds. The head is refined with a profile that is straight or slightly concave, and it has an intelligent in appearance. The eye colors are dark, with a white sclera, gray or blue, and have an alert expression. The neck is fairly narrow, without an excessive crest and is approximately the same length as the distance from the withers to the croup which gives the horse balance. The back is short and narrow with well sprung ribs. The under line is longer than the top line and the tail is set medium low. All colors can be found within the breed, but solid colors and grays are most common.

While the breed’s phenotype is distinctive, many people insist that the best way to tell if a horse is a Cracker Horse is to ride one. Since the ancestry of the Florida Cracker is similar to other gaited breeds it should be no surprise that many individuals within the breed have the natural ability to gait. Of the several gaits found within the Florida Cracker Horse breed, the flatfoot walk, running walk, trot and ambling gaits are possible. However, not all Crackers are considered gaited although most of them will perform an even square gait that the old-time Crackers called the Coon Rack. This is a four-beat single-foot gait of slow to medium speed where the lateral phase is exactly as long as the diagonal phase in one stride. It is a very sure-footed gait.

Florida Cracker Horses are versatile horses that are willing workers whose actions show spirit, amazing stamina and endurance. They have been used for trail, pleasure, reining, team roping, team penning, pulling wagons and plows, and as working cow horses over the years. The Florida Cracker Horses enjoy widespread popularity because they can be trained for all equine disciplines but so far, the supply does not yet meet the demand.