by Kimberly K. Egan, MHC President (first published in the August 2024 Equiery)

America’s local transportation and agricultural industries were powered by draft horses for centuries, until, as the Maryland Draft Horse & Mule Association (MDHMA) puts it on their website, “the internal combustion engine and cheap liquid fuel nearly wiped them out.” By the 1970s, as more Americans became aware of the risks posed by environmental degradation, “a resurgence of interest in environmentally sound horsepower resulted in numbers of draft horses that had not been seen since the 1930s.” Regional and local draft horse associations formed to address the resurgence.

One such association was Maryland Horse Council member MDHMA, which began in February 1984 at an antique shop in New Market. The association supports draft horse pulling and driving competitions at county fairs and other venues, and once a year it puts on the Maryland State Draft Horse Show and Pull at the Maryland State Fair. This year’s show will take place at the Timonium Fair Grounds from August 29 through September 1. Draft horses will also be featured on August 4 at the Howard County Fair, on August 11 at the 75th Annual Montgomery County Fair, and on September 15 at the Frederick County Fair.

Draft horses come from all around the world and they come in all shapes and sizes. Belgian drafts and Percherons descend from the horses that carried medieval knights into battle. They were still used for war until combat was was fully mechanized after World War II. Clydesdales pulled canal barges along the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland. (The remarkable monumental horse head sculptures “The Kelpies” sit near the Canal and commemorate these hard working horses.) Their wide hooves were ill-suited for plowing narrow agricultural furrows but well-suited for pulling goods in more urban environments. Shire horses were also bred to pull heavy loads, from the docks through city streets to the rural English counties, known as “shires.” Gypsy Vanners pulled gypsy carts through central Europe and the British Isles for centuries.

There are, however, two draft horse breeds unique to the United States – the American Cream Draft and the Spotted Draft.

 

American Cream Draft
The American Cream Draft originated in the early 20th century in Iowa. The foundation mare, Old Granny, was born sometime between 1900 and 1905 in the vicinity of Stork County, Iowa. Her coat was cream colored and her eyes were amber, as were those of a substantial number of her foals. Cream coat, amber eyes, and pink skin are now the breed standard (along with a white mane and tail), and the color is known as “golden champagne.” A formal registry for the golden champagne Cream Drafts began in 1946, and 98% of the horses first listed on the registry were Old Granny progeny.

The golden champagne color is associated with a specific gene, known colloquially as the “champagne gene.” Cream drafts are genetically chestnuts that inherit two “champagne genes,” one from each parent. The progeny of these double champagnes will always carry the champagne gene as well. If only one of the parents carries the champagne gene, then no more than 50% of the progeny of the horse carry it. Somewhat confusingly, the champagne gene is not the same as the “cream gene.” If a chestnut horse inherits the cream gene as opposed to the champagne gene, then that horse will be a palomino.

The champagne gene is found exclusively in American breeds, most commonly in Missouri Foxtrotters, Tennessee Walkers, American Saddlebreds, and, of course American Cream Drafts.

The genetic implications of the champagne gene are fascinatingly complex, and there is a field of scientific study dedicated to analyzing the myriad effects of the gene on a variety of base coat colors. Suffice it to say that in 1982, owners began genotyping their horses and by 1990, scientists could report that American Creams are a distinct genetic group.

Sadly, American Creams are few and far between. The Livestock Conservancy, a non-profit dedicated to preserving heritage breeds, has placed American Cream Drafts on its “critically” endangered list, which means its global population is fewer than 2,000 horses and there are fewer than 200 registrations annually. The Equus Survival Trust also considers the American Cream Draft to be in critical status, which it defines as any species with only 100 and 300 active adult breeding mares in existence.

Maryland breeders are doing their part, however. As of this writing, a full 30% of American Cream Draft breeders listed on the breed association’s website are in Maryland – because there are only three in the whole country and Rose Hill Farm in West River is one of them. Frank Tremel of Rose Hill has been breeding his Rose Hill Creams since at least 1988 – his mare Rose Hill Maude was foaled in 1988, and he has a registered ACD 3-year-old colt on the ground now, Rose Hill Honey Bee Audie, who is by Rose Hill Sandy Linc Quigley and out of Shadow Box Farm Honey Bee.

The Maryland State Draft Horse Show and Pull at the Maryland State Fair will host classes for Belgians, Percherons, and Clydesdales only. But the Draft Horse Show at the Howard County Fair will, on August 4, include in-hand classes specifically for American Cream Drafts. Stop by and meet one of these beautiful horses. Send any pictures you take to editor@equiery.com for inclusion in future pieces about American Cream Drafts.

Spotted Draft
The Spotted Draft is the second, and more recent, American draft breed. The first Spotted Draft horse, Charlie, was bred in Minnesota by Leonard Tostenson. Charlie was sired by a Saddlebred-type horse from New Mexico named Spotted Moroccan, out of one of Tostenson’s Percheron mares.

Tostenson competed Charlie in pulling contests for over 20 years. Charlie, together with another Spotted horse, Prince, broke the Wisconsin state record in 1976 for putting 3,100 pounds on the dynamometer. Tostenso’s respect for his Spotted Drafts – their pleasant natures, their work ethic, and their desire to please – grew to such an extent that in 1995, he and Gail Clark of New Mexico founded the North American Spotted Draft Horse Association. The first Spotted Draft Horse they registered was Gail Clark’s Pecos Chief. Maryland is represented in that association by Wayne Cullen’s Cherry Glen Farm in Boyds.

The Maryland State Draft Horse Show and Pull at the Maryland State Fair will not host any classes specifically for Spotted Drafts, but the Howard County Fair will. As with the American Cream Draft, we encourage you to send your Spotted Draft photos to editor@equiery.com for inclusion in future pieces about the breed.