The Appaloosa horse
Appaloosas normally have a mottled (or 'spotty') coat, white sclera (the part of the eye close to the cornea) and striped hooves.
The breed history of this attractive horse is not fully known. There is plenty of evidence that mottled horses were established in many countries in Asia and europe, and there are cave pictures which are as old as to 18000BC illustrating spotted horses that may be forefathers of the horse we know today. It is possible that the spotted pattern was originally a type of camouflage, serving a similar purpose to the striped pattern on a zebra.
The modern-day Appaloosa descends from horses carried to Mexico and the u.s. by spanish conquistadors. These were passed to the Indigenous people known as the 'nez perce', who cleverly bred them into the wonderful horses that we so admire at the present time.
Appaloosas were originally referred to as the "Palouse horse", but slowly the name was changed into the contemporary adaptation, "Appaloosa".
The Mustang Horse
The mustang is a very well known horse that is held by many as a symbolic representation of the romantic and cowboy spirit of the American wild west.
But Mustangs are often referred to as 'wild' horses, the more correct term is 'feral' horses as most so-called 'wild' horses in The usa are bred from horses that were first domestic animals shipped over to America by the conquistadors.
The majority of these foreign horses were of Spanish or Arab stock, but also included a wide range of colors and many horse lovers breeds and types.
Clearly, some of these great horses went wild or were stolen by the indigenous inhabitants, and soon spread through the whole of the u.s..
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