Jul 30, 2005 2:11 pm US/Central
CBS 2 At Brookfield Zoo: Spotted Draft Horses
This Type Of Horse Was Saved By The Amish
by Susan Carlson
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
We're taking a look at some rare horses with an interesting story: the American spotted draft horse.
We took a ride around the zoo in a carriage courtesy of the creatures and I couldn't help but think that they should have more spots, considering that they are called "spotted."
"Actually, they can be speckled, splotched, or spotted and most often the American spotted draft horse is of the Percheron variety – a French horse that you'll find this size and coal black. But the American spotted draft horse can be any draft horse with spots," Andre Copeland from the Brookfield Zoo said.
They are just beautiful and I understand that they first became really prevalent in the 1920's.
"That's right, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution people started to use the draft horse to plow their field as well as to draw their carriages, but with the introduction of automobiles, people no longer needed them for transportation and people started to use tractors to plow their fields, so the American draft horse almost fell off the face of the continent," Andre said.
So then what happened? Where do they stand now in terms of their popularity?
"Believe it or not, we have to thank the Amish community, because the Amish community does not use tractors to plow their fields, so they were the main users of the American spotted draft horse. But then in the '60s in Iowa there was a breeder that had about 20 of the spotted variety and their numbers really started to increase. And you can see them widely used here in the Pacific Northwest in logging expeditions," said Andre.
At Brookfield Zoo they are used for parades at and they will be incorporated into the Animal Idol presentation with the help of our driver today, Mike Knitter.
(© MMV, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
