About the FCHA
and the History of the Florida Cracker Horse
The Organization
The FCHA was organized and chartered in 1989 as a non-profit Florida corporation , with the purpose of searching for the remnant herds of Florida Cracker Horses. Its purpose is the preservation and perpetuation of the Florida Cracker Horse as a distinct and unique Colonial Spanish breed of horse.
Since then, a registry and blood type have been established, and the stringent application process has resulted in a very consistant breed. Today, the Florida Cracker Horse is promoted as 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.
The Horse
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. Preparing to return to Spain, the Spanish left some of their cattle, horses and hogs to make room for their collected treasures.
The genetic heritage of the Florida 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). Its genetic base is generally the same as that of the Spanish Mustang, Paso Fino, Peruvian Paso, Criolla and other breeds developed from the horses originally introduced by the Spanish into the Caribbean Islands, Cuba and North, Central, and South America.
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. Over the years, Cracker Horses have been known by a variety of names: Chicksaw Pony, Seminole Pony, Marsh Tackie, Prairie Pony, Florida Horse, Florida Cow Pony, Grass Gut and others.
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 cattle came the screwworm, which, in turn, led to changes in the practices followed in raising cattle.
Before the screwworm, cowmen used these horses to herd and drive the free roaming Scrub cows and Cracker cows; with the arrival of the screwworm came fencing and dipping vats and the need to rope cattle and hold them for treatment. As a result, 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. It was these ranching families and individuals whose perseverance and distinct bloodlines that kept the Cracker Horses from becoming extinct. The family names include the Ayers, Harvey, Bronson, Matchett, Partin and Whaley names.
Breed Characteristics
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.