Living up to their reputation as being not only handsome, but friendly, two American Cream stallions meet Kathy Oliver, of Webster City, during Iowa Barn Federation spring tour, June 2022, above.

Just in time for this year’s Hamilton County Fair, when breeding, keeping and showing livestock is again much on our minds, a new book about draft horses has been published.

The term “draft” seems to come from the old English dragan, “to drag.” Draft horses are taller, more muscular, and have broader backs and larger hindquarters than ordinary horses, allowing them to pull heavier loads.

You probably know some of the familiar draft breeds, all of which originated in Europe or Britain; Percherons [France], Belgians [Belgium], Shires [England] and Clydesdales [Scotland]. Today, the Draft Horse Breeder’s Association recognizes 30 breeds as “draft horses,” including some you may not know; including the Comtois, Fjord, or Haflinger.

An even lesser-known draft horse — the American Cream — originated in central Iowa, and is the only draft horse extant to be developed in the United States. These horses, striking for their deep cream-colored coats, are the subject of Silver King by Barbara Knox Homrighaus.

Born in Fort Dodge, the author grew up on farms and in small towns in central Iowa and northeastern Minnesota. A 1973 graduate of Grinnell College, Knox Homrighaus published several scholarly, nonfiction monographs before taking up the story of the American Cream.

There are many reasons people write books, but for Knox Homrighaus, Silver King was a deep dive into family history and legend, as she says in the introduction:

“In 2019, several family members mentioned to me that my grandfather, Charles Knox (1891-1979),” referred to as ‘Charlie’ in the book, “had been important to the early development of American Cream Draft Horses but never gotten the credit he deserved. I said, ‘I could look into that.'”

Since her grandfather never talked directly to her about breeding American Creams, the story was pieced together by intensely researching and interviewing family, friends and neighbors, and

digging up secondary information in museums, historical societies, and county courthouses.

The resulting story is equal parts family history and horse breeding.

The first documented draft horses in Iowa were Percheron stallions imported from France in 1869. At 1,600 pounds, they were much larger than local horses; well-suited for clearing timber, breaking heavy prairie soils, and hauling boulders; work previously done by oxen. The big horses were bred to Iowa mares; producing solid, medium-weight draft crosses that pulled plows and cultivators, brought in corn and hay, hauled manure, and even took the family to

church.

Today, it’s hard to comprehend what horses meant to Iowa in 1900. In that year, US census data shows the state had 2,231,853 people and 1,268,000 horses. Whether you lived on a farm, or in towns or cities, horses were part of everyday life. The U.S. Army took 182,000

horses to Europe to fight World War I in 1917; many of them, cross-bred drafts. They came home to find the first gasoline-powered tractors sputtering across Iowa fields.

By 1920, 200,000 tractors worked the nation’s farms. Trying to make sense of this, the Webster City Freeman opined on Sept. 14, 1925: “the tractor has come to stay, but the draft horse will be here for a

long time, because tractors cannot wholly replace him.” Translated: tractors were fine for work, but good farmers would surely keep a team of well-groomed draft horses as a matter of pride.

A.B. Caine, professor of Animal Husbandry at Iowa State University, was more objective: “Much of the credit for Iowa’s prominence in agriculture goes to its outstanding draft horses. For more than 75 years they were the power for every farming operation from plowing to harvesting.”

The American Cream bloodline began in 1911 when Harry “Hat” Lakin, described in the book as a “butter maker,” [author’s note — in 1900 Iowa produced 10% of the nation’s butter] farming northeast of Jewell, bought a mare and named her “Old Granny.” Her cream coat and gentle temperament stood out, and it was said she “consistently threw cream-colored foals no matter what color the sire was.”

Old Granny would become American Cream Draft Horse No. 1 on the breed’s official registry.

Charlie Knox first encountered American Creams in 1923, clearly liked what he saw, and was farming with them by 1928. His horse No. 5 sired at least six horses in the breed’s registry, making him a mainstay of the breed’s genetics.

This wasn’t easy to prove, however, as written records were kept by individual breeders, often informally, and, for an undetermined reason, her grandfather didn’t register his horses. Other factors from line breeding, a controversial but often-used way to intensify genetic characteristics, to a lenient judge allowing Knox rights to an

unborn colt, add to the story’s mystery and intrigue.

The author concludes, accurately I think, that Charlie Knox bred horses with intent, knew what he was doing, and was blessed with what she calls “atypical success.”

The book is not a work of family vanity. Knox Homrighaus is clear: The founder of the American Cream breed was C.T. Rierson, who carefully bred Creams on his Hamilton County farm north of Radcliffe. Rierson’s horses set the breed’s signature characteristics: the deep

cream coat, pink skin, amber eyes, and compact profile, and he was the first to use the name American Cream. Hamilton County historian Nancy Kayser, an expert on livestock, also studied the breed. Her research turned up an article from The Ellsworth Herald Ledger of

Nov. 20, 1929, verifying Rierson’s central role in American Cream genetics: “The six years of painstaking labor required to produce this new type of draft horse has not been in vain and Mr. Rierson’s herd now numbers 19 head including ten mares, five fillies, one stallion and four geldings of a breed so unusual in striking beauty yet possessing serviceability that they attracted the attention of horse lovers at the county and district fairs where they were shown. The American Cream

draft horse is the name assigned this new breed, and Mr. Rierson plans on organizing the American Cream Horse Recording Association.”

Rierson’s Creams weren’t bred for the show ring, but for hard work on farms. Veterinarians agree taller horses are more impressive in a parade, but more prone to injury. The American Cream is short-legged, with a heavy chest and hind quarters, a link to the sturdy plow horses of yesterday rather than the parade hitches of today. It is a cruel irony that the work C. T. Rierson, Charles Knox, and others in north central Iowa did from 1925 to 1945 to establish a magnificent, new draft horse, came just after the zenith of draft horse use in America.

Thus, America’s golden horse was born to an era that had no work for it; a key reason there’s never been a robust population of American Creams.

Now, the last thing anyone would expect to see on an Iowa farm is an endangered species, but that’s the official status of the American

Cream today: endangered. In 1957 there were only 200 in the entire country; today, perhaps 400-500. Their numbers seem to be slowly rising, but whether the rate of increase is sufficient to sustain the breed remains an open question.

How books get their titles can be a story in itself. The author’s research confirms that on Saturday, April 10, 1926, the Strand Theatre in Jewell screened “Riding the Wind,” starring silent film idol, Fred Thomson, and “his wonderful horse, Silver King.” Books and films are full of famous horses; Trigger, Buttermilk, Seabiscuit and Secretariat, but if Charlie Knox took his wife Hattie to the pictures that long-ago night, it may have inspired him to give the most glamorous name

of the age to his favorite horse.

More and more books are self-published today, and that’s the route to market taken by Silver King. To provide copies for family, friends, horse breeders, and a few others, the first edition was only 200 copies. The text has been carefully researched and written, and reads as enjoyable, informative local history. The author’s daughter, Ruth Homrighaus, worked as editor.

Moderately short at 148 pages, the book is set in easily-read 16 pt. type on heavy paper, and illustrated with family snapshots, and handsomely-produced county maps.

A second edition is in preparation and expected to be for sale this October. The cost of the book isn’t known at press time, but proceeds will benefit the American Cream Draft Horse Association. The book

is available only from the author on silverkingbook.com or by mail. Write to Barbara Knox Homrighaus, 414 W Seventh St., Madrid IA 50156.