History of the
Appaloosa Horse
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Appaloosa Horse History
The Appaloosa has a history as colorful as the breed itself.
Records of these spotted horses date back to prehistoric times.
In central France, caves have been discovered and explored by
archeologists. Their findings showed that the Cro-Magnons used
wild horses as their main meat source. Deeper in the caverns were
chambers where it seems gifted men of the tribes worked their
magic to ensure ample numbers of new foals were born every
spring. Here in these caverns were cave paintings of more than 50
horses, two of which are of particular interest. They were
covered with dark symetrical spots and looked very much like some
of our modern day Appaloosas. It was determined that these cave
paintings were drawn some eighteen thousand years ago.
Persian history tells of their greatest hero, Runstem, who at age
15 was chosen to lead the Persian armies against invading
Tartars. He was much larger in stature than any of the Persian
warriors and asked for weapons suitable to his strength and a
horse capable of carrying him to combat. His father, Zal, was
commander-in-chief of the Persian armies and a man of great
influence. He sent out a call for the best horses in the country,
promising a vast sum of gold to the man whose horse was chosen by
the young warrior. He set the first day of the Festival of Roses
for the great horse show. The great plains around the city were
covered with thousands of notable steeds. Each horse that caught
Runstem's eye was put to the test to see if it could handle his
weight. Horse after horse failed. Finally, a herd of spotted
horses sped by and a young stallion caught his eye. This young
stallion, Rakush, was said to possess such strength, Rumstem's
weight "was not felt". Rakush was described as a spotted bay, his
whole form beautiful and his spots "like roses spread upon a
ground of saffron". In flight, no deer was swifter. The spotted
horse became so precious that at night, they burned wild rue to
the right and left of him for fear of harm. He was reputed to be
the best war horse in the world and responsible, to a huge
extent, for his master's success. His dam was a gray and with the
passing of years, his bay coat faded to white. Then his rose
spots faded too, until he looked like a white horse, but his skin
was still spotted where the roses had been. In addition to his
fame in war, Rakush was famous as the sire of beautiful spotted
colts.
Although it has been determined that Appaloosas spread to many
countries, in each new country, they were given different names
and would have been difficult to trace without some of the
pictures found and some of the terms describing the horses.
Because of the varying names, it has been very difficult to trace
the history of the Appaloosa and there are still several blank
spots. There are records of these spotted horses in France,
England, Austria, Persia, Argentina, China, and Mexico. The
popular theory is that the parent stock of the Appaloosa bred by
the Nez Perce was shipped to Mexico, probably from the Austrian
port of Trieste or from the Spanish Netherlands.
History has told us of the Spanish Conquistadors and their brutal
treatment of the natives. The natives believed they were gods
since they had never seen horses and were awed by the sight of
these Spaniards mounted upon horses. The Spaniards enslaved the
natives and forced them into servitude. Within a century after
the first voyage of Columbus, Spanish rule had been firmly
established in South America. Rich silver mines and vast expanses
of pasture land insured rapid settling of northern Mexico and the
frontier kept moving northward. By 1539, the Spanish had moved
into what is now New Mexico, Oklahoma, southern Kansas, and
western Texas. A great deal of romantic nonsense has been
published about strays from the herds of de Soto and Coronado.
Imaginative people suggested that these few strays multiplied so
rapidly that they filled the Great Plains with their descendants
in the course of a hundred years or so. The wild bands, started
by these strays, were said to have provided the Indians of the
buffalo country with horses by natural increase.
Careful modern research has proven that the horse herds of
Argentina came from the stock ranches along the Andes. Research
also proves that there were no wild horses in the buffalo country
of Texas 90 years after Coronado passed that way. The first
authentic accounts of the Plains Indians using horses is dated in
1659 and the first positive evidence of wild horses on the Great
Plains did not come until 1700. History has proven that primitive
people will not, of their own accord, start riding horses in a
short time, even with an ample supply of wild horses available.
They needed close contact with horse-using people, over many
years, and a plentiful supply of well-broken horses. These
conditions were met by the establishment of a permanent Spanish
settlement in New Mexico. The Spanish grandee, Juan de Onate,
along with a vast group of soldiers, their families,
missionaries, and their many slaves settled in the upper valley
of the Rio Grande. The Indians of the pueblo villiages were
trapped and forced into slavery to farm the fields they'd once
owned and tend the vast herds of stock brought from old Mexico.
Most of the care of the sheep and goats was entrusted to Indian
men who trudged wearily after them all year long. The Spanish
cattle, better known as Texas Longhorns, could not be herded by
men on foot. By Spanish law, Indians were not permitted to ride,
so Spanish vaqueros herded the cattle and horses. Indians were
allowed to care for the vaqueros' horse strings used for herding
stock, so the menial tasks were done by Indian stable boys. It
was inevitable that some of the stable boys would learn to ride
when out of the sight of their masters. Once these boys had
become experienced riders, they were not so docile and were known
to mount some of the best horses in their care and be far across
the desert by the time their flight was discovered. These
runaways became instructors to other Indians in the care and use
of horses. In this way, Spanish horses and Spanish customs spread
in ever widening circles beyond the settlements. The Plains
Indians soon realized the value of the horse in buffalo country.
Since they never became successful horse breeders, many new
animals had to be stolen from the Spanish ranches each year.
Dramatic changes took place with the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Up
until that point, only tribes near the settlement had become
horse users. The Pueblos all arose one day and killed some 400
Spaniards. 2500 more fled to the south, leaving their homes and
herds. To the Pueblos, sheep represented real wealth and cattle
had some value, but the great herds of horses were nothing but a
nuisance. They ate too much grass, were hard to manage, and were
of little use to these sedentary farmers. As a result, most of
the horses were traded to the Plains Indians, giving them more
horses in one year than they'd been able to acquire in 4 decades.
This bountiful supply speeded up the distribution of horses to
the rest of the plains tribes. In spite of this increase in
supply, northward movement of horses was slow. It wasn't until
1690 that horses reached the upper Snake River country of eastern
Idaho. This was a great place for horses and the Shoshoni found
it easy to raise horses there. However, their herds increased
slowly because neighbors from all sides proved willing to help
themselves to this new wealth. Crows, Blackfeet, Flathead,
Cayuse, and Nez Perce all looked to the Shoshoni for their
horses.
The Spanish introduced horses to North America as they explored
the American continents. Eventually, as these horses found their
way into the lives of Indians and were traded to other tribes,
their use spread until most of the Native American populations in
the Northwest were mounted (about 1710).
The Nez Perce (Neemeepoo) of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho became
especially sophisticated horsemen, and their mounts, which
included many spotted individuals, were prized and envied by
other tribes. Historians believe they were the first tribe to
breed selectively for specific traits -- intelligence and speed
-- keeping the best, and trading away those that were less
desirable.
When white settlers came to the Northwest Palouse region, they
called the spotted horses "Palouse horses" or "a Palouse horse."
Over time the name was shortened and slurred to "Appalousey" and
finally "Appaloosa."
During the Nez Perce War of the late 1800's, Appaloosa horses
helped the Nez Perce avoid battles and elude the U.S. Cavalry for
several months. The tribe fled over 1,300 miles of rugged,
punishing terrain under the guidance of the famed Chief Joseph.
When they finally surrendered in Montana, their surviving horses
were relinquished to solders, left behind or dispersed to
settlers. Nothing was done to preserve the Appaloosa until 1939,
when a group of dedicated horsemen formed the Appaloosa Horse
Club for the preservation and improvement of the diminishing
spotted horse.
Now an international breed registry, the ApHC -- along with the
Appaloosa Museum and Heritage Center -- is located in Moscow,
Idaho. More than half a million Appaloosas are on record, with
nearly 11,000 new horses registered and 30,000 members annually.
Moscow also is the source of the official publication of the ApHC
and Appaloosa horse, the "Appaloosa Journal", a monthly,
award-winning magazine.
Did you know that Secretariat's first foal was an Appaloosa?
First Secretary, a 17 hand chestnut with a white blanket, socks
and a blaze, was foaled November 15, 1974.
See Also:Appaloosa Horse
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