The Mustang Horse
The mustang is a well-known horse and is revered by many americans as a live symbol of the historic and adventurous excitement of the Wild west.
Although Mustangs are often known as 'wild' horses, the more appropriate phrase is 'feral' horses as most so-called 'wild' horses in Mexico and the u.s. are descended from horses that were initially domestic horses shipped to Mexico and the u.s. by the spanish conquistadors.
Most of these imported horses were of European or Arabian stock, but had amongst them a wide variety of colors and many breed types.
A few of these independent and brave horses escaped or were traded by native americans, and rapidly spread throughout the whole of america.
The Appaloosa horse
Appaloosas frequently display a leopard spotted coat, colorless sclera (the section of the eye around the cornea) and vertically striped hooves.
The history of this distinctive horse is not fully known. There is proof that mottled horses were being bred in very many countries in Europe, and we know of cave drawings which have been dated to 18000BC showing spotty horses that may be the origins of the modern appaloosa. It seems likely that the spotted skin was first a form of camouflage, serving a similar purpose to the stripes on a zebra.
The contemporary Appaloosa is descended from horses carried to Mexico and the u.s. by early colonists. These were passed on to the Nez perce tribe, who masterfully turned them into the superb horses that we love at the present time.
This fine horse was first referred to as the "Palouse horse", but gradually the name transformed into the present-day variation, "Appaloosa".
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