[4] The ideal coat color for the breed is a medium cream with pink skin, amber eyes and a white mane and tail.

[11] Anecdotal reports also note mild differences, including lighter freckling, skin and hair coat, though eye color remains the same.

[12] Dark-skinned American Cream Draft horses are actually chestnuts, as the breed is not homozygous for the champagne gene; only one allele is needed to produce the proper color.

[1] The autosomal recessive genetic disease junctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB) has been found in some American Cream Drafts.

[14] This is a lethal genetic disorder that causes newborn foals to lose large areas of skin and have other abnormalities, normally leading to euthanasia of the animal.

She was probably foaled between 1900 and 1905, and was first noticed at an auction in Story County, Iowa, in 1911 and purchased by Harry Lakin, a well-known stock dealer.

[4] Her cream-colored coat, pink skin and amber eyes are defining standards for the breed,[17] and the color is now known as gold champagne.

His dam was a Belgian mare with light chestnut coloring, and she is credited with Silver Lace's size – at 2,230 pounds (1,010 kg) he weighed considerably more than most of his bloodline.

However, his main breeding career coincided with the economic struggles of the Great Depression, and Silver Lace was at one point hidden in a neighbor's barn to prevent his sale at auction.

Rierson began buying cream-colored mares sired by Silver Lace and developing the American Cream breed in earnest.

[4][17] In 1950, the breed was finally recognized by the Iowa Department of Agriculture, based on a 1948 recommendation by the National Stallion Enrollment Board.

These tracking horses are allowed by certain regulations to be used as breeding stock, with the resulting foals able to be registered as purebred American Creams.

[18] The Equus Survival Trust also considers the population to be "critical", meaning that there are between 100 and 300 active adult breeding mares in existence today.

[19] To help replenish numbers, the ACDHA has developed regulations to permit foals to be registered when produced via methods such as artificial insemination and embryo transfer.

Colonial Williamsburg acquired its first American Cream Draft horses in 1989[20] as part of its Rare Breeds program, which began in 1986.