Long ride to getting a state horse

By: David Leonard

Ruskin, Florida - Along the back roads, traveling past picturesque scenes and trailer communities, a posse on horse back is riding some of the same terrain Hernando De Soto traveled in 1539.

"They were the first vehicles run on bio fuel, were going back to that," said rider Billy Ray Hunter.

For Florida cracker horses like 3-year-old Buddy, this is more than a ride, it's a pilgrimage that follows in the hoof steps of his ancestors brought over from Spain by De Soto himself.

"He is in kindergarten right now, but he is in a crash course. I suspect he will be in at least the ninth grade by the time we get to Tallahassee," said Hunter, who started the ride with Buddy from Hillsborough County's Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve on February 25th.

Hunter and Buddy will cover more than 300 miles before they end up in the state capital. Along the way they will camp, educate the public about the history of the cracker horse and lobby the legislature into making the breed Florida's state horse.

"These horses played a major roll in gathering food, farming, for basically every culture that is in Florida today part of this bill is to preserve that heritage," he said.

Part of preserving is also increasing the population. The cracker horse nearly disappeared in the late 80's when the Florida Cracker Horse Association bred more than 800 from 141 horses in 1989.

The ride will end in Tallahassee on March 6^th.