A stunning creature, the American Cream Draft Horse makes a fine, docile workhorse. The American Cream Draft horse is a medium-heavy draft horse. As such, it is used in harnessing or hitching and the American Cream is known for it’s easy going, docile disposition and readiness to work. The American Cream Draft Horse is a distinct horse breed of draft horse and not just a color breed. The American Cream Draft horse is the ONLY draft horse which originated in the United States. The two main requirements of the American Cream Draft horse are a lovely, rich cream coloring and pink skin.
Almost all of the American Cream Draft Horses have stunning amber eyes. It should be noted that a white coloring is undesirable. Typically, females are about 1500-1800 pounds, while males weigh in at about 1800 pounds to about a ton. The American Cream Draft horse stands at about 16.3 hands (about 65 inches). The very first American Cream Draft Horse was in Iowa in 1911 and named “Old Granny”. Records show that Old Granny was bred to various draft horses of different colors and many times, her foals were found to have the same cream coloring as their dam.
A veterinarian by the name of Eric Christian was so impressed with Old Granny, when he saw her at a farm sale, that he convinced the Nelson Brothers, also of Iowa, to buy a foal, known as Nelsons Buck, and create a new breed of horse, possessing the cream coloring and amber eyes. It is thought that the stallion that has had the greatest influence on the American Cream Draft Horse is Silver Lace, who was the great-great-grandson of Old Granny.
A man named C.T.Rierson became interested in the American Cream and in addition to buying cream-colored colts that were sired by Silver Lace, Reirson help found the American Cream Horse Association of America. It was at the Webster City, Iowa fair that the American Cream horse was shown as a separate class for the first time; and it was also at this time that the breed was officially recognized as a separate breed by the state of Iowa. Currently, the American Cream Draft horse is registered as an endangered species by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.