The Appaloosa horse
Appaloosas usually have a mottled (or 'spotty') skin, pale sclera (the section of the eye next to the cornea) and vertically striped hooves.
The history of this distinctive horse is not completely understood. There is evidence that mottled horses were present in quite a few nations in Asia and europe, and historians have found cave drawings dating back to 18000BC clearly showing mottled horses that may be the origins of the horse we know today. It is possible that the spotted pattern was first a type of camouflage, serving a similar purpose to the striped pattern on a zebra.
The modern Appaloosa is descended from horses shipped to Mexico and the u.s. by early colonists. These were somehow acquired by the Nez perce tribe, who expertly turned them into the fantastic horses that we know nowadays.
This fine horse was first referred to as the "Palouse horse", but over the years its name transformed into the contemporary alternative, "Appaloosa".
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