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Highlands Today

Trotting Out History

Jasmina Meyer/Highlands Today

Over 100 riders rode east along State Road 66 and then U.S. 98 into the Ashton Ranch near Lorida as part of the annual horseback cross-state ride to commemorate Florida's horse and cattle heritage. Karen Perry from Myakka City, FL cracks her whip at the front of the pack while riding on U.S. 98 Wednesday afternoon in Sebring.

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: February 26, 2009

Updated:

SEBRING - For the 22nd straight year, more than 100 people on horseback crossed Highlands County on Wednesday, mid way through their six-day, cross-state ride to commemorate a colorful part of Florida's early history.

Julie Hinote, a state agriculture inspector from Lorida, held two distinctions on this year's Cracker Trail Ride. The 120-mile trek was launched at dawn Sunday in Bradenton and will wind up with a parade into the oldest section of Fort Pierce on Saturday morning.

As the 100-plus riders, escorted front and back by sheriff's deputies, rode east along State Road 66 and then U.S. 98 into the Ashton Ranch near Lorida, Hinote was the only rider atop a mule, her beloved Monroe.

"I raised him from a baby, and this is his 14th year on this ride," she said.

And Hinote is one of only two members of the Cracker Trail Ride Association who've made the 120-mile ride every year.

"That first ride was planned as a one-time event," she recalled. "It was a promotion for people who wanted to see a major thoroughfare built across this part of the state."

The hoped-for highway to spur development was never built. But, Hinote recalled, a core group of about 15 riders had so much fun that they launched the Cracker Trail Ride Association and made the cross-state ride an annual event. It draws more than 200 riders every year, about half of whom make the entire trip.

The focus now is commemorating the "crackers," not only Florida's but also the country's first cowboys. They became known as crackers for their trademark whip cracking as they rounded up and drove cattle across the state for sale at deep-water ports on the west coast.

"A lot of people think Texas was the first cow state, but actually it was Florida," said Stephanie Lloyd, a second-grade teacher from Bradenton, making her 15th Cracker Trail Ride with her 6-year-old daughter, Cassie, and 11-year-old niece, Mattie Iereulli.

Like other riders, Lloyd said the big attractions are the adventure and challenge of a cross-state ride and the many friendships formed along the trail.

"You meet people and make friends from all around the state and from other states, too," she said.

This year's ride included not only Floridians but also people from New Jersey, Iowa, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

David Reed, Cracker Trail Ride Association president and this year's trail boss, said the original Florida cowboys were actually cow hunters and made a living under tough circumstances.

"It was wilder than the 'Wild West,'" he said.

The cross-state trail drives "started in the 1840s and went on strong all through the 19th century," Reed said. "And they continued to do cattle drives into the early 1930s, when they started closing the range land and fencing it into ranches."

All through that 90-year era, he said, ranchers let their branded cattle run loose.

"They were called cow hunters because they had to go and hunt them out of the woods, and it was a hard, hard job," Reed said. "Then they'd gather them and drive them across the state and sell them. The biggest market was for Cuba."

The original Cracker Trail was up to 100 miles wide, he said.

"There wasn't 'a' trail," Reed explained. "They just went from west to east, pushing their cattle toward the deep-water ports on the Gulf. It took them three or four months because they grazed them slowly as the crossed so they'd be nice and fat when they got to port.

"They might range (north and south on the journey) 50 to 70 miles," he added. "It all depended on what kind of grass they needed, what the weather conditions were, what the Indians were doing, and where the outlaws were known to be."

The crackers were paid in gold, and the current trail ride commemorates their east-to-west communal rides home.

"They banded together to ride back because their saddle bags and pockets were full of gold," he said. "And when they got home, a lot of them put it under their mattress or buried it in a hole on their property."

With little opportunity to spend their accumulating gold in a frontier area of a then sparsely populated state, he said, cracker families built up sizeable fortunes over several generations.

"When the land started getting parceled off and sold, these old cracker ranchers took their big old pots of gold, ready to buy tens and hundreds of thousands of acres," he said. "That's how they came to be some of the big major landowners."

Beyond the camaraderie and friendships made on the trips, Reed said he most enjoys seeing children making the 120-mile ride with their parents.

"It's a real good group of people," he said. "The core group is very closely bonded, and we've watched a lot of kids grow up here through the years."

As the 100-plus riders mounted up after a mid-morning water break on Wednesday, Reed added, "I love the way this ride teaches kids self sufficiency and responsibility. They're all responsible for their horses and their care."

Kathy Hunt, making her fifth Cracker Trail ride, said she enjoys the event because "there's no better place to be in the world. My theory is, everything looks better when you're on a horse."

Beyond the adventure and friendship, she said, this annual ride has given her great appreciation for the pioneering crackers.

"To be able to do this, and drive cattle, back in their day, with none of the comforts we have, they had to be tough," she said. "They had to be really tough people."

Highlands Today reporter Jim Konkoly can be reached at 863-386-5855 or jkonkoly@highlandstoday.com

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