The Appaloosa horse
Appaloosas classically show a leopard spotted skin, pale sclera (the section of the eye around the cornea) and striped hooves.
The breed background of this well-loved horse is only partly known. There is evidence that spotted horses were present in a good number of geographical regions in Asia, and we know of cave drawings which have been dated back to 18000BC illustrating spotted horses that might be the origins of the modern appaloosa. It is quite likely that the spotted pattern was initially a form of camouflage, similar to the zebra's stripes.
The modern-day Appaloosa descends from horses shipped to The u.s. by early settlers. These got into the hands of the Nez perce people, who proficiently engineered them into the fantastic horses that we know and love at the present time.
The horse was initially called the "Palouse horse", although slowly its name has changed into the contemporary form, "Appaloosa".
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