Kathy Oliver, of Webster City, is pictured petting two American Cream Draft Horses during the Iowa Barn Federation’s spring tour, which took place in June 2022.

Each January, the start of a new legislative session in Des Moines sees a number of issues, some old, some new, that could become law.

Twenty twenty-three is the beginning of the 90th General Assembly, which will last two years. Republicans, with a majority in both legislative chambers, control the agenda, determining which bills go to committee, get debated, and finally, go to the floor for a vote.

This session, Republican legislative priorities include a schools voucher bill, (recently passed, and signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds), property tax relief and reform, and addressing the shortage of workers in Iowa, especially in nursing, teaching and manufacturing,

Democrats opposed school vouchers and warn further cuts in taxes put funding for existing programs, and for counties and cities, in jeopardy.

One bill, though, might find bi-partisan support.

The bill, sponsored by Iowa State Senator Annette Sweeney, R-Buckeye, from District 27, would designate the American Cream Draft Horse the official state horse of Iowa.

The bill, Senate Joint Resolution 2005, is co-sponsored in the Iowa House of Representatives by Josh Meggers, R-District 54, and Derek Wulf, R-District 76.

Sweeney first proposed the bill last session, in January 2021, but as it originated in the second year of the 89th General Assembly, it didn’t advance. All legislation proposing official state status must pass in two consecutive sessions: to become law, it must come to the floor and be passed this year, and again, next year.

Regular readers may recall an article in the Daily Freeman Journal concerning the Iowa Barn Foundation’s fall 2022 barn tour, in which barns seminal to the origin of the American Cream Draft Horse, were featured.

This was followed by a review of Silver King by Barbara Knox-Homrighaus, a book published last fall, telling the story of the Iowa origins of the American Cream Draft Horse genetics and the role of Charles Knox, her grandfather, who farmed in North Central Iowa, including in Hamilton County.

Knox was inducted into the American Cream Draft Horse Association Hall of Fame, which took place last October, in recognition of his role as a breeder of American Creams in the late 1920s and early 1930s. By farming with the horses himself, where his neighbors in Franklin, Hamilton, Hardin and Webster Counties could see them, he demonstrated the advantages of the compact, even-tempered and beautiful horses in practical use.

Three further events: the 1944 formation of the American Cream Draft Horse Association, the 1948 recognition of American Creams as a legitimate breed by the National Stallion Enrollment Board, and establishment of the horses as a separate breed by the Iowa Department of Agriculture in 1950.

The 1950 proclamation by the Department of Agriculture confirmed its claim as the only draft breed to originate in the United States.

It’s been said that between 1870 and 1945, Iowa produced more draft horses than any other state. The majority of them were breeds that originated in France [Percherons], Belgium [Belgians], England [Shires], or Scotland [Clydesdales].

Thus, the American Cream, Iowa’s and America’s native draft horse, emerged late in the era of draft horse use, and was never employed in the huge numbers of the popular British and European breeds.

Like all states, Iowa has a state flower [wild rose] state bird [American goldfinch], and state tree [the oak]. Like most states, Iowa also has a state rock [the geode].

In 2015, the Des Moines Register asked if Iowa needed a state butterfly, suggesting the regal fritillary, a striking black and orange butterfly with a wingspan often reaching four inches in width. When evidence the herbicide glyphosate, which is widely used in Iowa to control weeds and reduce tillage, might be killing the butterflies by destroying their habitat and food, it became too controversial for the legislature to proceed.

Others wanted an official state insect, with favorites being the ladybug and honey bee.

At the time, only two states -Michigan and Iowa- had no state insects, which remains the situation today. If legislators do honor the American Cream Draft Horse as our official state horse, Iowa would be only the 13th state with a horse as an official symbol.

Of the bill itself, Senator Sweeney notes: “We want to make the American Cream our state horse, always being mindful of our heritage, and those who have come before us to make Iowa a great agricultural state.”