HISTORY OF THE APPALOOSA A type of american saddel horse, the appaloosa breed orginated nearly four~hundred years ago. The name came from the the word "Palouse" witch was the river withen the region of central Idaho, where the breed was originally located. The appaloosa's origin goes back to the horses brought by the spanish conquistadores, around the turn of the 16th century. It was the Nez Perce, a tribe of north american indians that crossed the horse to make what we now know today as the appaloosa. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE APPALOOSA The Appaloosa breed is well~known for its distinctive spoted coat. It may be all~over spoted, loins and quarters spoted or white spots on a dark background. One of the unique features of an appaloosa's spots is that they only appear on a mature horse. When the foals are young, they will have no spots at all and as they get older, spots will start to appear on thier coats. Appaloosa's will have all thier spots by the time they are three years old. An appaloosa's height ranges from 14.2 hands to 15.2 hands (about 4ft 9in to 5ft 1in.) The breed is built with strong shoulders and and big legs with plenty of bone. The average appaloosa weighs about 12~hundred lbs. 
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