of
France on a spotted horse|alt=Painting of a man holding a sword while riding a rearing horse Recent research has suggested that Eurasian prehistoric cave paintings depicting leopard-spotted horses may have accurately reflected a
phenotype of ancient wild horse. Domesticated horses with leopard complex spotting patterns have been depicted in art dating as far back as Ancient Greece,
Ancient Persia, and the Han Dynasty in China; later depictions appeared in 11th-century France and 12th-century England. French paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries show horses with spotted coats being used as riding horses, and other records indicate they were also used as coach horses at the court of
Louis XIV of France. In mid-18th-century Europe, there was a great demand for horses with the leopard complex spotting pattern among the nobility and royalty. These horses were used in the schools of horsemanship, for parade use, and other forms of display. Modern horse breeds in Europe today that have leopard complex spotting include the
Knabstrupper and the Pinzgau, or
Noriker horse. They took advantage of the fact that they lived in excellent horse-breeding country, relatively safe from the raids of other tribes, and developed strict breeding selection practices for their animals, establishing breeding herds by 1750. They were one of the few tribes that actively used the practice of
gelding inferior male horses and trading away poorer stock to remove unsuitable animals from the gene pool, Early Nez Perce horses were considered to be of high quality.
Meriwether Lewis of the
Lewis and Clark Expedition wrote in his February 15, 1806, journal entry: "Their horses appear to be of an excellent race; they are lofty, eligantly formed, active and durable: in short many of them look like fine English coarsers and would make a figure in any country." Lewis did note spotting patterns, saying, "... some of these horses are pided [pied] with large spots of white irregularly scattered and intermixed with the black brown bey or some other dark colour". By "pied", Lewis may have been referring to leopard-spotted patterns seen in the modern Appaloosa, though Lewis also noted that "much the larger portion are of a uniform colour". The
Appaloosa Horse Club estimates that only about ten percent of the horses owned by the Nez Perce at the time were spotted. and by June 14, 1877, had gathered about 600 people at a site near present-day
Grangeville, Idaho. But on that day a small group of warriors staged an attack on nearby white settlers, which led to the Nez Perce War. After several small battles in Idaho, more than 800 Nez Perce, mostly non-warriors, took 2000 head of various livestock including horses and fled into
Montana, then traveled southeast, dipping into
Yellowstone National Park. A small number of Nez Perce fighters, probably fewer than 200, Other early variations of the name included "Appalucy", "Apalousey" and "Appaloosie". In one 1948 book, the breed was called the "Opelousa horse", described as a "hardy tough breed of Indian and Spanish horse" used by backwoodsmen of the late 18th century to transport goods to New Orleans for sale. By the 1950s, "Appaloosa" was regarded as the correct spelling.
Revitalization featuring the Appaloosa horse. The Appaloosa came to the attention of the general public in January 1937 in
Western Horseman magazine when Francis D. Haines, a history professor from
Lewiston, Idaho, published an article describing the breed's history and urging its preservation. Haines had performed extensive research, traveling with a friend and Appaloosa aficionado named George Hatley, visiting numerous Nez Perce villages, collecting history, and taking photographs. The article generated strong interest in the horse breed, and led to the founding of the
Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC) by Claude Thompson and a small group of other dedicated breeders in 1938. The registry was originally housed in
Moro, Oregon; but in 1947 the organization moved to
Moscow, Idaho, under the leadership of George Hatley. The
Western Horseman magazine, and particularly its longtime publisher, Dick Spencer, continued to support and promote the breed through many subsequent articles. A significant
crossbreeding influence used to revitalize the Appaloosa was the Arabian horse, as evidenced by early registration lists that show Arabian-Appaloosa crossbreeds as ten of the first fifteen horses registered with the ApHC. For example, one of Claude Thompson's major herd sires was Ferras, an Arabian stallion bred by
W.K. Kellogg from horses imported from the
Crabbet Arabian Stud of England. Ferras sired Red Eagle, a prominent Appaloosa stallion By 1978 the ApHC was the third largest horse registry for light horse breeds. The state of
Idaho adopted the Appaloosa as its official state horse on March 25, 1975, when Idaho Governor
Cecil Andrus signed the enabling legislation. Idaho also offers a custom license plate featuring an Appaloosa, the first state to offer a plate featuring a state horse. == Registration ==