Many Colonial Spanish horses, as far south as the state ofJalisco in Mexico, have American Cream Draft popping up in their horse ancestry reports. The Juras lab equine phylogenetic tree includes the American Cream Draft because they have a genetic profile distinct from other draft breeds. Although the Iowa-based registry traces their founding stock back to a Cream mare first noticed in 1911 at an auction, the registry was not formalized until 1944.
American Cream Draft horses in Iowa were bred and registered according to type and color. Color breeds tend to be of mixed backgrounds, and the American Cream Draft is no exception. When I went to look at the history of horses in Iowa I found that by 1850 white settlers were bringing in harness and heavy draft stallions to cross on the CS mares already in the area.
According to the chapter ‘Horses Pull Iowa in Prominence’ by A.B. Caine, published by the Iowa State University Digital Press:
‘The first white settlers found some horses already in the state, probably descendants of animals brought to America by Cortez and other early Spanish explorers. Early pioneers had few horses because they were too expensive. Oxen were used for pulling the prairie schooners and the few crude agricultural implements.
Pioneers recognized the value of horses. They acquired them from east of the Mississippi River and they were soon extensively bred by Iowa’s pioneers. By 1850, the census indicated 38,536 horses within the state, most of them in the eastern and southern counties. Ten years later, there were 175,088 with the demand steadily increasing.
Most of these horses have been described in early histories and documents as “horses of all work,” suitable for the saddle, driving, and general farm work. One historian states: “Above almost every other form of property the horse had monetary value. Good horses were worth from $100 to $150 a head.”
Rapidly horses and mules replaced oxen. In 1860, there were 3.2 horses and mules for every ox in the state; by 1880, the ratio was 335 horses and mules to each ox. Early fair and agricultural reports indicate a wide range of horse breeds, including Thoroughbred, Morgan, Bashaw, Black Hawk, Ab-dallah, Printer, Hambletonian, Trump, Copper Bottom, Rob Roy, Tuckahoe, Grey Eagle, and Bellfounder.
Many of these were not distinct breeds as recognized today, but were merely strains or families descended from certain sires…Principal source of heavy draft breeds was in northern Europe, especially France, Belgium, England, and Scotland, and it was from these locations that Iowa horse breeders imported draft stallions to mate with the light and medium-weight mares available within the state.’
So when American Cream Draft pops up in your Square Colonial Spanish horse ancestry report, it does NOT mean that your Square Colonial Spanish Horse is descended from American Cream Draft horses!
American Cream Draft in a Square Horse ancestry report is noting the powerful influence Colonial Spanish mares had on horse breeding in the Midwest!
Modern draft breeds that acknowledge Spanish influence include those listed on the Juras lab equine phylogenetic tree. During the Hapsburg era, Spain offered their fine Spanish stallions as political favors. The Baroque and heavy draft breeds that were influenced by those Spanish stallions. Horses that thrived in the lowlands tended more towards the heavy horse type with broad flat feet. They also tended towards Trotter biomechanics as they primarily used in harness.
A final note to ponder is whether the difference between the European Baroque and draft breeds and the American Cream Draft is political or whether it may be gender-related. either Colonial era Spanish stallions on heavy harness mares results in a different genetic profile from heavy harness stallions bred to North American Colonial Spanish mares or the horses that came from Iberia in the 1500’s were not the same genetic profile as the horses of Hapsburg’s royalties .
sara annon 