The Appaloosa

The Appaloosa is a trademark breed, known for their beautiful spotted coats, long faces, “no tails”, and tremendous dedication to their riders. The Nez Perce were one of the first Native American tribes to begin using a selective breeding system.

Europeans and people along the east coast of the United States had been using a selective breeding system for years in the Thoroughbreds, but the Nez Perce were one of the first Native Americans to utilize it. In this selective breeding system, only Stallions with desirable characteristics-coat patterns, mannerism, and overall personality were kept at stud. On the other hand, Stallions that had a solid coat pattern (no spots) were sometimes gelded in addition to those stallions that may have had rude mannerism or may have had traits that the Natives did not want passed on.

The Nez Perce were superb horsemen. They trained their horses to cross rivers, travel up, down and through mountain sides and valleys. They trained them to care for women, children, and the elderly that were mounted upon their backs. This horse would lead the tribe of 600 forty miles to the Canadian border, where the United States government, in hot pursuit, finally gave the order to shoot this horse down in attempts to capture Chief Joseph and his people. Horses that did survive the mass murder were then captured and kept as Calvary horses. The United States Calvary then ruined the breed, destroying the Nez Perce’s selective breeding system and crossbreeding these incredible animals with any horse that was available.  They were bred with sometimes poorly bred Calvary horses that had unfavorable structure and poor temperaments. 

Nowadays, the Appaloosa Horse Club is based in Moscow, Idaho. The Appaloosa is one of the most popular breeds in the United States, and is represented on the show circuit, the Global Jumping and Combined Training circuit, Extreme Trail Riding challenges, and in back pastures and barns everywhere. Numerous horses’ that have been successful on today’s Equine world pedigree’s can be traced to horses that simply state “Nez Perce Pack Mare”, “Nez Perce Breeding Stallion”, or “Nez Perce Horse”. This is just a sign of the amazing bloodlines that the Nez Perce Tribe established.