The Appaloosa horse
Appaloosas ordinarily have a mottled (or 'spotty') skin, pale sclera (the bit of the eye close to the cornea) and striped hooves.
The story of this unusual horse is only partly understood. There is plenty of proof that spotted horses were established in a good number of countries in Asia, and we know of cave paintings dating back to 18000BC showing mottled horses that may be the origins of the horse we know today. It is very likely that the spotted skin was initially a type of camouflage, similar to the striped pattern on a zebra.
The modern-day Appaloosa is descended from horses shipped over to The usa by early settlers. These were passed on to the Nez perce indian tribe, who skillfully engineered them into the first-rate horses that we admire at the present time.
The horse was first called the "Palouse horse", although bit by bit the name transformed into the contemporary adaptation, "Appaloosa".
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