A century ago, Florida was the nation's top cattle producer.
In 2022, The Great Florida Cattle Drive honored the state's vanishing industry.
The reenactment was the fourth time in almost 30 years that the Florida Cow Culture Preservation Committee staged the event to remind people of the state's history.
WUSF's Cathy Carter recently spoke with a drive participant, journalist Isaac Eger. He's out with a new book about the 80-mile journey through what's left of Florida's ranchlands.
Isaac, cow country, which once took up most of the state, has been whittled down to just a handful of pockets of pasture land. So where did the cattle drive start?
In the Kissimmee area, and what was kind of funny was we drove our vehicles to the Silver Spurs Rodeo, and it's about a 30-minute car drive, but it would take us seven days and seven nights on horseback to get there, so it wasn't a straight line. I described it as a child's crayon drawing, just kind of like looping around all over the place, because there isn't a straight line to go through in Florida anymore. There are just too many fences and too many roads.
You grew up in Sarasota, but you say you didn't always appreciate being a Floridian. Why is that?
Because there wasn't a sense of self as a kid growing up in public school here. They taught us, you know, about the Calusa and a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but there wasn't, like, a strong sense of Florida identity growing up. Because everyone who's from here isn't really from here. You know, my folks are from up North. And it wasn't until I left Florida for more than a decade and I came back that I realized just how fascinating this place is and how much I missed out on.
You don't exactly have cowboy credentials. So how did you end up doing on this almost seven-day journey on horseback?
They ended up upgrading me. The first horse they gave me was a trail horse named Penny, and it was a little small for me. I'm kind of a big guy, and they were all teasing me because they said I could probably like, smack my heels together underneath the horse. It was so small. But then I proved myself to be a capable rider, and they upgraded me to this painted gaited horse, and a lot of the younger girls on the ride convinced me to go on a gallop when we got to a prairie. I didn't fall off the horse — another little bit of pride, but I was pretty scared. It's pretty intense.
And what are some things about this journey that still stay with you?
I think, when you see Florida, how it's meant to be, these massive horizons and these long plateaus of just land, wild, green land, everywhere, just to see what Florida was supposed to look like, and could and should still look like… when you're on horseback you know, you really see God's creation that way.
So, with suburban sprawl gobbling up pasture lands, what is the goal of the cattle drive?
The drive is to remember. I think I say in the book, to not remember something is to have something die twice. And so, these people who are on this ride, many of them are generations deep Florida Crackers, and they're very proud of that. And that culture is being erased. When people from the North come, they bring their memories of their home with them, and that pushes out the memories of this place. So, for the people on the drive, it is about remembering. It's about respecting and trying to preserve what remains of Florida's history.
And each night, after a long day on horseback, you and the other participants would camp at night. What was that experience like?
The Cattle Association that put this drive on was unbelievably organized because they had breakfast and dinner for us at every camping spot. And this is 350 riders and 500 heads of cattle. That is a lot. It's an absolute feat that they managed to do this. And it's just for the love of it. I mean, they're not really looking to turn a profit. These aren't people who are motivated by money. They love the land.
There will be more cattle drives. It sounds like something that you would recommend somebody do.
If you got a horse, you should probably go do it. But it is rough. I will tell you, your butt's going to hurt, although I will say I felt so much better being sore on a horse than sitting behind a computer at an office all day. That felt much more natural to me.
