Appaloosa

The Appaloosa is the spotted horse of the Nez Perce, who bred horses systematically in the Palouse country of Idaho, Oregon and Washington and were among the few Native peoples to do so with deliberate selection. The name is a corruption of Palouse.

The herds were largely destroyed after the Nez Perce War of 1877, and the breed was rebuilt from remnants beginning in 1938.

The coat comes from the leopard complex gene and appears in several patterns, alongside mottled skin, striped hooves and a white sclera around the eye.

They are versatile, hardy and used across western and trail disciplines.

The trade is tied to the same gene that makes them spotted. Horses homozygous for leopard complex are affected by congenital stationary night blindness, present from birth, and the complex is also associated with a higher rate of equine recurrent uveitis, a leading cause of blindness in horses.