The Appaloosa horse
Appaloosas commonly display a mottled skin, pale sclera (the part of the eye around the cornea) and striped hooves.
The history of this distinctive horse is not fully understood. There is some evidence that spotted horses were living in quite a few countries in Asia and europe, and historians have found cave drawings which have been dated to 18000BC clearly showing mottled horses that could well be be related to the horse we know today. It is very likely that the spotted coat was initially a form of camouflage, similar to the stripes on a zebra.
The present-day Appaloosa is descended from horses shipped over to America by early settlers. These were somehow acquired by the Nez perce people, who skillfully bred them into the tremendous horses that we know these days.
Appaloosas were by origin referred to as the "Palouse horse", although bit by bit the name has changed into the contemporary alternative, "Appaloosa".
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