Central Florida Thoroughbreds

Book excerpt: Back in the 1940s, when Florida was the Wild West of the East, a few hearty souls dared to think they might compete with the finest, blue-blooded racehorses and their breeders with their own stock raised among palm trees, sand and alligators. Florida was the cracker cowboy state, and cowponies were expected. But the scoffers failed to realize what the wealth of limestone, the power of warm sunshine year round and the cold, crystalline freshwater springs that are the gems of central Florida would mean to the raising of healthy, competitive animals. When the first Thoroughbreds produced in Florida, admittedly small and scrappy, began to "outrun their pedigrees," the nation of Thoroughbred breeders had to take notice. Join author Charlene R. Johnson as she details the fascinating equine history of central Florida.