One has to search for the beginning of this horse breed in the old world, already then spotted horses existed. In the caves of Lascaux and Perche-Merle in France wall paintings of spotted horses have been found that have been made around 18.000 years before Christ. It is also certain that around 1000 years before Christ, riders from Asia also had spotted horses when they conquered the present Austria. Also when a Persian king attacked Greece around 480 years before Christ, his chariot was pulled by spotted horses.

From the year 1600 on, almost everywhere in Europe spotted horses turned up and in 1685 spotted horses were imported to England, that lead to a breeding that still that still exists nowadays.

Austria also plays an important role with the spotted horses because Spain and Austria also belonged to the empire of Charles V of Germany. Thus came the spotted horses to Kladrub, and later also to Lipiza. On the picture on the frontpage of this brochure, you will see a painting of Johann Georg Hamilton with Lipizzaners that have a clear coat pattern. In Kladrub, heavy horses which did not go to Lipiza, were bred to heavy breeds of horses, from which later resulted in the breed "Pinzgauer".

In Denmark there are spotted horses like the Knabstrupper, of which it is certain that they were already mentioned in 1680. But these spotted horses have little or nothing to do with the Appaloosa.

An Appaloosa is a horse that exclusively is to be traced back to the horse breeding of the Nez Perce Indians.

Now we have come to the development of the breed in the new world. Around 1500 the first Spaniards had established themselves in Mexico to breed sheep and horses there. Also Indians worked with these colonists, but they were not allowed to ride their horses.

However, gradually they stole horses from the Spaniards and learned how to handle them. In 1621 a shipload went from Triest to Vera Cruz, of which it is certain that there were spotted horses on board.

Still, it took years before the horses were found in the north. Thus it is likely that around the year 1700, spotted horses came close to the Nez Perce indians because of the Navajo Indians. Around this time The Nez Perce Indians established themselves in the frontier area of Oregon, Idaho and Washington, where they made a living as fishermen. During the summer they left the valley's and went into the mountains. There they traded with the Shoshones. With these exchanges they first saw an animal as big as a deer, that ate grass and was used as a pack animal.

Of course one exchanged such an animal, and thus one after another followed. When the Nez Perce indians had several horses, they did not exchange any more horses, but started to steal them. After about 15-20 year, all the Nez Perce Indians had horses and knew how to handle them. In less than a hundred years a big change took place within this tribe; from fishermen and farmers to nomadic hunters. This tribe was also the only one that bred horses. This did not mean just increase the amount, but considered breeding one horse to another. The heavier horses were not used for breeding, but were used as pack animals. The powerful, fast and athletic mares and stallions were used for their breeding program with the aim of raising excellent horses that could be used for buffalo hunting and in wars.

The most striking fact was that nobody had taught the Nez Perce how to start a breeding program. In 1806 an article of Lewis was published in which he described how amazed he was about the elegance, quality and endurance of the Nez Perce Horses. He also wrote that less good horses were gelded and breeding was restricted to the best horses only. It is certainly not the credit of the Nez Perce Indians that spotted horses exists, but is certainly the credit of the Nez Perce Indians that there are Appaloosas who excel because of their achievements.

The name APPALOOSA was given to these horses later, around the year 1870. During this time wheat farmers established themselves at the Palouse river. There also lived the Nez Perce Indians, who possessed a large herd of spotted horses. The farmers first started to call these horses "Palouse", then "Palousey horses" from where later the word "A Palousey" arised. In the course of time "A Palousey " was shortened to "Apalousey" and from this word, the name "Appaloosa" arose.

The saddest chapter of the Appaloosa started on May 15, 1877. General Howard gave the order that

Chief Joseph and his people with all their possessions had to move to the Lapwai Reservation within 30 days.

The Indians promised to do this and because time was short, they had to cross the Snake River. This river was about 400 meter wide and in that time carried ice-cold melt water with it in a enormous stream. The Nez Perce went to the other side, pulled by their horses which they tided to their buffaloskin rafts. But the stream was that strong that several horses were driven away. After this crossing, survived by all the people, 900 Appaloosas had drown.

The Nez Perce Indians moved further towards the Lapwai Reservation. However, on the way to it, there were several small incidents between indians and colonists which reached a climax when 3 young warriors killed 4 colonists at the Salmon River. This caused a war and thus a removal changed into a war caravan. In the early morning of June 17 the indians were attacked by captain Perry, but his 112 soldiers had no chance against the 65 Nez Perce warriors. This was the beginning of a round-up that would last 3 months and 1300 miles. At Clearwater, General Howard made an unexpected attack with 580 soldiers against 100 Nez Perce indians, who did know how to stop this attack. The Nez Perce indians flee further over the Lolo Pas with the aim to leave the United States and join Sitting Bull in Canada.

However, because of the telegraphs the army succeeded in cutting off the way the indians went. Thus on September 29, 1877 at sunrise, another attack on the indians took place. 600 Soldiers stood face to face with 120 Nez Perce indians. These were able to once again stop the attack, but were besieged 6 days by the soldiers till General Howard joint in with his troops. On October 5, 1877 the indians surrendered. All the remaining Appaloosas were seized and sold in Fort Keogh. The Nez Perce indians were taken to the reservation.

But there were people who had very strong feelings for the Appaloosa. Some of these people were Mr. Claude Thompson and Dr. Francis Haines. They gathered all the information they could get about this breed and thus it came to a breed standard that mostly still exists today.

They founded the Appaloosa Horse Club U.S.A. on December 30, 1938 in the State Oregon.

In the first years there were 55 members and 113 registered horses.