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The American Cream is a very rare draft horse of consistently cream color and medium to heavy build, and the only heavy horse breed to originate in the United States. The foundation dam of the breed was a cream colored draft mare of unknown breeding, Old Granny, purchased in 1911 in Iowa. Her attractive foals drew much attention in the local farming community. One of her descendants, the stallion Silver Lace No. 9, foaled in 1931 from a Belgian mare, had the biggest early influence on the breed. In the mid-1930's, C.T. Rierson of Iowa purchased a number of creams with the intent of establishing a breed, and for the first time, detailed records were kept. The foundation stock was a mixture of cream horses of unknown background, and Belgians and Percherons. He came up with the name American Cream, and in 1944 established a breed association with other interested horse breeders. The middle of the twentieth century was not the best time to promote a new draft horse breed, and by the 1970's the breed association was defunct and the American Cream was nearly extinct. In response to this danger, a new association was formed by the few remaining breeders in 1982. It is now called the American Cream Draft Horse Association. About 300 horses are in existence, with a distribution across the USA. |
