GA HB466

Designates the marsh tacky horse as the official Georgia heritage horse breed by adding Code section 50-3-94 to state symbols law

Marsh tacky horses have been present in Georgia since the 1500s and were used by Indigenous nations (Seminole, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee), European settlers, and Maroon and Gullah communities

General Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion used marsh tacky horses during Revolutionary War guerilla campaigns against the British in swampy terrain

Fewer than 2,000 marsh tacky horses exist today; the breed is listed as "critical" by the Livestock Conservancy after declining when larger Western cattle and horses were introduced during the Great Depression

The breed was the predominant stock horse in the southeastern United States until the 1930s and is still used for hunting wild game and herding cattle