The Appaloosa
Appaloosas commonly have a mottled skin, colorless sclera (the bit of the eye next to the cornea) and vertically striped hooves.
The history of this well-loved horse is only partly recognized. There is some evidence that spotted horses were found in very many nation-states in Asia and europe, and historians have found cave drawings dating back to 18000BC clearly showing spotted horses that may be the origins of the modern appaloosa. It seems likely that the mottled coat was originally a type of camouflage, serving a similar purpose to the zebra's stripes.
The contemporary Appaloosa descends from horses shipped over to America by conquistadors. These got into the hands of the Indigenous people known as the 'nez perce', who expertly bred them into the fantastic horses that we know and love these days.
The horse was in the first instance referred to as the "Palouse horse", even though gradually the name was changed into the contemporary variation, "Appaloosa".
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