Appaloosa

The Appaloosa is a horse breed, one of the color breeds, in which the breed has one of several distinct patterns of spots.

History

Historians aren't exactly sure of the origin of the Appaloosa, some believe the Spaniards brought them on their quest for the god, glory, and gold, and others believe that the Russian fur-traders brought them. Both are plausible.

The early Appaloosas were short, stout, and fast. The Nez Perce tribe had strict selection policies to encourage traits that can be found in the modern Appaloosa. These traits include temperament, endurance, intelligence, along with a distinctive look.

When the breed was brought to the Americas the Nez Perce fell in love with the breed for its many characteristics. This horse became associated with the Nez Perce, which later caused problems for the breed.

The word Appaloosa originated from the name Palouse River, which runs through the orignal Nez Perce country, evolved a few times until the name Appaloosa was officially adopted by the Appaloosa Horse Club.

Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition wrote of the horses of the Nez Perce in a February 15, 1806 journal entry. "Their horses appear to be of an excellent race: they are lofty, elegantly formed, active and durable: in short many of them look like fine English horses and would make a figure in any country".

When the calvary captured Chief Joseph and the remaining Nez Perce on October 5th 1877, they immediately took all of the horses and sold all they could, and exterminated the rest. The Nez Perce tribe began a breeding program in 1995 based on crossbreeding the appaloosa and a Central Asian breed called Akhal-Teke. This is a program the Nez Perce Indians hope will resurrect their horse culture, a proud tradition of selective breeding and horsemanship that was destroyed by a 19th century war. The breeding program was financed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Nez Percé tribe and a nonprofit group called the First Nations Development Institute, which promotes such businesses.

In 1877 the Appaloosa breed was nearly extinct, but by 1937 the Appaloosa had caught the eye of the public and in 1938 the Appaloosa Horse Club was founded. Today the breed is one of America's most prized breeds and there are over a million registered horses.

Physical Characteristics

Because the coloring of the Appaloosa is its primary qualification, there are several body styles found in the breed. There are stock-types, sporthorses, pleasure horses and some that are very nearly ponies. Because of this wide variety, Appaloosas can happily be used for just about anything.

The physical conformation of the stock-type Appaloosa is generally similar to that seen in the American Quarter Horse, partly because the Quarter Horse was used to "improve" the conformation of the Appaloosa when the breed was being established. Both breeds are powerfully muscled with broad bodies and thick bones. Their build is meant more for short bursts of speed and rapid stops and starts. They are therefore ideally suited to western sports: cattle working, rodeo and playday sports such as barrel racing and reining and short-length racing (generally one quarter-mile.)

The stock-type Appaloosa is not the only body type found in the breed, however. There are some Appaloosas that display a more elegant body style, known as a sport-horse conformation. They have longer legs, cleaner joints and more grace than sheer power. These horses have been bred to be used in English sports, in particular dressage and English showing.

Appaloosas will all have striped hooves, mottles skin (most visible around their eyes and on their muzzle) and white sclera (on most horses this will be black). They typically have sparse manes and tails.

The markings of an Appaloosa are distinct from the dapples seen in grays and some other horse colors. The base color of the horse can be any color, including bay, black, chestnut, palomino, buckskin, dun, grulla, and grey.

• Patterns
  • Blanket - white over the hip that may extrend from the tail to the base of the neck. The spots inside the blanket (if present) are the same color as the horse's base coat.
  • Leopard - dark spots of varying sizes over a white body.
  • Few Spot Leopard - only a very sparse pattern or dark spots over a white body. Some may have as few as only one or two spots.
  • Snowflake - white spots on a dark body. Typically the white spots increase in number and size as the horse ages.
  • Varnish - dark points (legs and head) and some spots or roaning over a light body. May occur in conjunction with another spotting style and change with age.
  • Frost - similar to varnish but the white hairs are limited to the back, loins, and neck. May occur in conjunction with another spotting style and change with age.

There are also solid-colored Appaloosas that display only the striped hooves and mottled skin to indicate their breed, but these are typically less desirable, though by no means less capable animals simply because they are not spotted.

Registration

The Appaloosa registries are fairly recent, and the breed was established from unregistered horses with certain color patterns. In addition to the spotting patterns above, certain other characteristics were used to determine whether a horse could be registered:

• Mottling skin, which is apparent around the lips, eye lids, and genitalia
• White sclera (a white ring around the eyes)
• Striped hooves

At the present time, a horse without the color pattern on his coat can be registered with the Appaloosa Horse Club. The registry is based upon the pedigree of the horse reflecting a recognized Appaloosa bloodline. The horse must be the offspring of two registered Appaloosa parents or an Appaloosa and a horse from an approved breed registry. Appaloosas are commonly crossbred with Arabian horses, Quarter Horses, and Thoroughbreds, and these offspring are eligible for registration. When registering a solid-colored horse, it must be blood typed and there must be a DNA link established to both parents. The owner of the horse then must pay to have the horse inspected and must transport the horse to the inspector. The registration papers then indicate that the horse is not colored, but is registered. The registration can be upgraded at any time if the horse begins to show a color pattern.

There is much debate about this rule, as the Appaloosa is a color breed, and the front page of the