l.h.Cracker

[Cajun]

What do you or any other floriadians know about these horses?

- The Florida Cracker Horse -
The Florida Cracker Horse is a valuable and vital part of Florida’s heritage. While still rare, there are now over 1,000 registered horses, and the number continues to grow each year. These horses are sometimes referred to as the Florida Horse, the Florida Cow Pony, the Chicksaw Pony, the Marsh Tackie, and the Seminole Pony. However, they inherited their name from the “crack” of the whip that Florida riders used when working cows. When the horses were left to roam freely, they evolved due to natural selection. They were tempered and molded by a challenging environment.
 The Florida Cracker Horse traces its ancestry to Spanish stock brought to Florida in the 1500s. The Florida Cracker horse exhibits great endurance in an unfavorable environment. This horse exemplifies great patience and strength. The Cracker horse can work all day and night, traveling without any additional care requirements. In addition to playing an important role in the lives of Seminole Indians, they eventually helped Florida become a state of agriculture and ranching.
The Cracker Horse is a small equine that only reaches 13.2 to 15.2 hands high and weighs just 700 to 1,000 pounds. Some of these horses qualify as ponies in terms of their size. They feed on fresh grass, hay, rolled oats, and other grains, such as barley and bran. 
Through the efforts of several private families and the Florida government, the breed was saved from extinction, but there is still concern about its low numbers. The breed’s low numbers are at a critical point since there are only between 100 and 300 active adult breeding mares in existence today. By 1989, these three herds and around 100 other horses owned by private families were all that remained of the breed. The state has three small herds in Tallahassee, Withlacoochee State Forest, and Paynes Prairie State Preserve. Additionally, the Florida government maintains two lines for breeding purposes and a line that roams freely at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park.  In 2008, the Florida Cracker Horse was declared the official state horse.

[l.h.cracker]

Cajun I only know what I have read and heard stories about them.My family has always had stock bred quarter horses but I have heard that the Marsh Tackie were second to none.I have a Indian Buddy in South Florida who would definitely be the Man to find out about them if there's any around he'd know.I'll call him and pick his brain.I rode through paynes prairie just the other day that's a really cool place.My Buddy has a house right on the edge of it.

[Cajun]

Thanks Cracker. I was half way raised in Jacksonville and have family thru out the panhandle down to Ocala. My Dad was transferred to La. when I was 13 and I became a adopted  cajun. lol We always had QH's too but I had never heard of a Cracker horse and any spotted dog was just referred to as a leopard dog. This was way before Catahoulas were registered.

[cajunl]

There was guy that had a line of good cur dogs in central Fl. Some of the older members not really active now, knew him and some old dog lines still go back to his dogs. He was a breeder and really knew about them horses. He was a real good guy and knew cur dogs and horses. Unfortunately he not around any more.

[l.h.cracker]

Yessir Cracker Horses ,Cracker Cows and Cracker dogs.Most  dogmen I know still call a spotted dog leopard lol Hell Your a Cracker Cajun.

[Cajun]

LOL Cracker, I am in worse shape then that. haha. I was born in Dallas.

[WayOutWest]

Dang, a Texan Cracker Cajun!

[Goose87]

Cajun Cauley man of many places, you might could give the dos equis man a run for his money, there’s actually a cracker horse registry, myself being a man of many interest decided to do a little digging on these horses after reading this post and in turn it lead to a 3-4 hour google and Wikipedia binge on the history of horses, thankfully there’s still a few dedicated individuals in the world who have kept the cracker horses alive and going....

[l.h.cracker]

Cajun I finally talked to my buddy and he said all his horses now are 1/2 Cracker horse and 1/2 quarter.He said his good Buddy had a Stud Cracker that they bred everything to he was small like 14 hands but said he was a bulldozer and everything he threw was the same .Point and go horses he said he can point his into overhead palmettos lay down let go of the reigns and he will go blind right through.Cypress knees water and mudd they'll push through it.He has friends who still have and breed pure Cracker Horses and can get ahold of them.They"re small stout work all day types super heat tolerant and tons of heart.

[Cajun]

Thanks Cracker. I had run across that article I had posted and was just curious about them. If it relates to dogs or horses am normally interested. They sound tough. Traveling around the country I have ran across a few horses here and there that I considered very tough.
   I made a hunt in Col. when I was in my early 20's on a horseback pack in hunt. What they put those horses over and thru really impressed me. I have shod a few mustangs over the years and their hooves are way better then any other breed of horse I have shod. Selection of the fittest where only the strong survive over generations has really produced a durable horse.
  Where we hoghunt down in the marsh they round up cattle every year or so and what they put those horses thru is something to see. Thick brush, marshy ground where those horses just bog down and keep going. Those are some tough horses. I asked one cowboy if their dogs ever got on any hogs and he told me they were strictly cow dogs,
  I would think that some of those cowboys in the southern part of Fla.on those  round up cows on similar ground on those big ranches and those Cracker horses would fit the bill.

[The Old Man]

Sounds to me like a Cracker mare and a Mammoth Jack would raise a really durable mule.       Seems that the Cracker horses have the same background as the Mustang just on the other side of the nation.       I've never had a Mustang but have been around a few and they were small tough rascals, a friend of mine used to keep one or two that hog hunted on and he would buy your breakfast if you would get him out of the stall, halter and saddle him, haha once saddled and you on his back he was a good dude. He'd ran outside until older, had rarely if ever saw a man. I rode him around one time at a roping, I thought it was a trap my buddy set for me as a joke, the horse was tied solid to something solid, with something solid and hobbled as well, but surprisingly I was able to bridle, unhobble and ride him without incident haha. His Mustangs were actually out of the herd that the Hidalgo movie was based on that wound up down here on the Oklahoma Arkansas line. The more modern way of breaking horses has made the "adopted" Mustangs more useable mounts. I would venture a guess that the long ago Cracker horses that raised themselves in the swamps before being managed and selectively bred had much the same disposition as the Mustangs. Actually they aren't bad tempered horses but are back nearer to being a truly wild animal and being a prey animal they just have stronger predator defense instincts than modern horses, if that isn't understood and properly managed they can be rank and seemingly bad tempered.   

[WayOutWest]

I  know nothing of the Cracker horses but I do know the mustangs out west here have a ton of variation due to the differences in area and how they developed. But most folks out west here value the Kiger mustang above all. They go back to the Spanish horses brought to the continent early. They are in eastern Oregon and quite isolated from any other feral horses. They are smaller with a high percentage of duns and when rounded up and auctioned they bring a higher price than most. The forest services out here really like them in the mountains as they are surefooted and have very good feet.

[Goose87]

I have a book on Louisiana cowhands and particularly the Grey Ranch and it’s history here in Louisiana, in the book they mentioned having a native type of horse much similar to the cracker horse, mustang, marsh tackies, I want to say they called them pessle tail ponies, the ranch hands eventually bought good blooded quarter horse and thoroughbred studs to turn out with the wild herds to breed up durable working horses but with a little more leg underneath them, I know it’s off topic but there was some pictures in the book of these big wild soggy marsh cows walking for miles across the marsh on 2x12 planks on post about 3-5’ off the ground to make driving them easier on the hands and the animals and mounts, they would lead a few old cows up to the planks first that knew the routine and the rest of the herd would follow, it mentioned that some of those old cows lived into their 20’s and got to where they knew what time of year it was getting to be and started making the drives all on their own, I forgot what diseases came through but most all of the original grey ranch herd was killed off