History:

In the 1930's a man from Hardin County Iowa named C.T. Rierson became interested in the beautiful cream draft horses he noticed cropping up on the Iowa countryside. He bought up all of the good cream colored mares and colts sired by Silver Lace that he could find. He traced all of these cream drafts back to one mare who had been purchased at auction by a Mr. Harry Lakin.

There had been a number of good horse breeders who had been breeding to get the cream coat. Little did they know that they were on the brink of developing a new breed. The mare's name was Old Granny and as best as can be guessed she lived from 1905 to 1925. She is the grandmother of this breed.

Mr Rierson and a handful of other breeders started line breeding and inbreeding to establish the breed. They found that breeding a "palomino" draft, that is one with dark skin , to the creams who had pink skin created an undesirably too white horse, and lost some of the good cream qualities. So they concentrated their breeding to getting the pink skin, cream coat traits. The registry was recognized by the Department of Agriculture in Iowa in 1944.

The breed went on to be recognized by The National Stallion Enrollment Board in 1950. This was a very bad time for a draft breed to be getting its start. With the advent of the tractor in the 40's there was the largest decline of heavy horses in the history of our country. The US census in 1925 showed more than 98,000 registered draft horses, but by 1955 there were less than 2,000 on the roles. Many good farm horses were hauled to auction for dog food. It was a very sad time for our farming heritage.


The reason we still have American Creams is because a handful of dedicated horse farmers hung onto their horses through the tough times. We are forever indebted to them.

Interestingly enough, the University of Kentucky with genetic studies showed us today what these good horsemen knew then, and that is that this breed is as much a unique breed as a Quarter Horse is from a Belgian, or a Morgan is from a Percheron. It is not a color breed any more than a Suffolk is or a Fresian is.

Breed Description:

What does an American Cream Draft Horse look like? The Cream ranges in height form 15-3H to 16-3H. The mares range anywhere from 1500# to 1800# with some stallions tipping the scales at over a ton. They are typified by a rich cream coat, but what sets them apart and makes them somewhat of a genetic anomaly is their pink skin that tans to gray on the muzzle and around the eyes, and their white eyes at birth that turn to varying shades of amber by one year.

These horses have always been in the medium to heavy weight draft category with Silver Lace, one of the foundation stallions of the 30's being 16H and 2000#, and King Baveder weighing in at 2100#, also from the 30's. These horses were never a light horse. They have always been draft in size and conformation. They are complimented with white markings. They have white manes and tails, blazes and white socks or feathers. They have a well muscled shoulder, are somewhat short coupled, with a well rounded hindquarter.

They are not leggy like the clydesdale, but with their big barrel have the appearance of being close to the ground. Making their point of draft perfect for pulling and field work.Their heads are refined, with a flat or somewhat dished profile, wide set expressive eyes, and smaller refined ears. They are very intelligent and easy mannered. The flash of gait they all seem to display make them a very pretty hitch to watch working in harness. Creams are the only breed of draft to be known for keeping the tail long throughout all of their history.

Care & Feeding:

Care and feeding of a draft horse is not a lot different than a saddle horse. Most newcomers to draft horse breeds tend to make the common mistake when designing a feeding program to strive for a lean horse like what is desired in the saddle horses. American Cream Draft Horses, like other breeds of draft horse are intended to be rounded out, not lean like a sporting horse.

Creams are generally easy keepers. On our ranch good quality grass hay that we raise here is an adequate diet and meets their dietary needs most of the year. We raise Timothy and an Orchard Grass/Alfalfa cross in two different fields. It is very light on the Alfalfa. Alfalfa is a hot feed, and although it will give you immediate results in bulk with minimal feed, it is too hot and too high in phosphorous for long term feeding. It can cause kidney and bone problems in horses as they age if they have been kept on a steady diet of straight Alfalfa.



We find ample amounts of good quality grass hay, good clean water, salt (even in the winter when water is lost in body heat production) and minimal grains. We do give a grain mare & foal supplement to the mares in the last three months of their pregnancy, and for the first year of the foals life. Barney is only grained when he is hard at work and breeding, and then we are careful to not over do it. The mares get a mare & foal supplement while nursing. Too much grain pushes the drafts to grow too fast and can cause later bone problems.

They are designed to mature slowly. Creams reach their full height by 4 or 5 years, and their full weight by 6 or 7. Barney grew an inch between 6 and 7. They are slow to mature. As in all horses a good worming program usually every 6 to 8 weeks rotating types of wormer is highly recommended as most horses are kept in confined pastures and can not get away from their manure all the time. Regular innoculations are also recommended.