The Appaloosa Horse Club, located in Moscow, Idaho, is dedicated to preserving and promoting the Appaloosa breed. The state of Idaho adopted the Appaloosa as its state horse in 1975. More than 630,000 Appaloosas have been registered with the Appaloosa Horse Club since its founding in 1938. The Appaloosa Horse Club is an international breed registry which records and preserves the breeds' heritage and history. The club is one of the top international equine breed registries, and is dedicated to preserving, promoting, and enhancing the Appaloosa breed.
The original ApHC articles of incorporation were signed by founders Claude and Faye Thompson, Dr. Francis Haines, Ernest Kuck and Frank Dick in December 1938. The ApHC operated out of the Thompson's home in Moro, Oregon, through 1947. George Hatley of Moscow, Idaho, who joined the organization in 1942, offered in 1946 to create a newsletter for the ApHC's members. Claude Thompson recruited Hatley as assistant secretary, and Hatley published the first edition of the Appaloosa News, then a single mimeographed page. [1]
Hatley was named executive secretary in 1947, while also a sophomore at the University of Idaho. Shortly after, the ApHC office was moved to the Hatley's Moscow home. For a time, stud fees from Hatley's Appaloosa stallion were used to help finance the ApHC. Hatley and Francis Haines began the process of publishing the ApHC's first stud book. By 1948 the ApHC had 296 registered horses, ranking ninth in annual registrations among light-horse breeds. The first official membership meeting and election of national directors occurred June 19, 1948, before the first National Show. [1]
The ApHC states that the Appaloosa is "a breed defined by ApHC bloodline requirements and preferred characteristics, including coat pattern." [2] In other words, the ApHC considers the Appaloosa as a distinct breed from limited bloodlines with distinct physical traits and a desired color. Thus, Appaloosas are not strictly a "color breed." All ApHC-registered Appaloosas must be the offspring of two registered Appaloosa parents or a registered Appaloosa and a horse from another approved breed registry. The ApHC lists Arabian horses, Quarter Horses, and Thoroughbreds as approved breeds. In all cases, one parent must always be a regular registered Appaloosa. The only exception to the bloodline requirements is in the case of Appaloosa colored geldings or spayed mares with unknown pedigrees; owners may apply for "hardship registration" for these non-breeding horses. [2]
The Appaloosa Horse Club supports a variety of levels for owners to show their Appaloosas, from local open shows to the World Championship Appaloosa Show.
Appaloosa Competitive All-breed Activities Program (ACAAP) allows owners to compete with their Appaloosas in competition outside of ApHC-approved or -sponsored shows by recognizing and awarding Appaloosas for achievements in all-breed competitions in many disciplines, including barrel racing, combined training, driving, trail riding and jumping. [3]
The Appaloosa Breeders' Trust is an investment and incentive program offered to owners of Appaloosa stallions and their foals. For an annual fee, the stallion is enrolled and the offspring of the stallion are then eligible for nomination to the five-year incentive program. All funds (minus a five percent administrative charge) are maintained in a separate account and subsequently distributed back to the horse owners, in direct proportion to ApHC-sanctioned points earned by the foals. Breeders' Trust gives 85 percent of paid monies in 5 equal parts for five age categories: Yearlings, Two-year-olds, Three-year-olds, Four-year-olds and Five-year-olds. [4]
The ApHC holds three nationally recognized horse shows every year: the National Appaloosa Show, the Youth World Championship Appaloosa Show and the World Championship Appaloosa Show. The National Appaloosa Show began in 1948 and was held in Lewiston, Idaho, and was moved across the country until a 15-year stay in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, beginning in 1993. In 2008 the show was moved to Jackson, Mississippi. The National Appaloosa Show and the Youth World Championship Appaloosa Show has been located at the Will Rogers Equestrian Center in Fort Worth, Texas, since 2013. ApHC signed a three-year contract that concluded that the two shows will be moved to Indianapolis starting in 2021.
The Nez Perce raced their Appaloosa horses at distances from a few hundred yards to twelve miles (19 km). Continuing the tradition, the ApHC offered races at the National Show in 1948 and for the first few years of the World Show. Appaloosas are now mid-distance runners, competing at 220 yards (200 m) to eight furlongs (one mile, 1.6 km). [5] The Missouri Appaloosa Association, an early regional club, hosted the breed's first-ever futurity at the Missouri State Fair in 1960, and in December of that year, the ApHC Board of Directors passed a resolution creating the Racing Committee of the ApHC. The first ApHC state racing association was formed in 1961: the Kansas Appaloosa Racing Association. [6] By 1976, the ApHC recognized 24 state and regional racing associations.
The first pari-mutuel race for Appaloosas was held in 1962 at Albuquerque, New Mexico; that same year the Texas Appaloosa Horse Club and Gillespie County Fair Association held its first race meet for Appaloosas in Texas at Fredericksburg. In 1963, the first World Wide Derby was run at Albuquerque; the World Wide Futurity holds the record for the highest Appaloosa purse at $160,593, offered in 1980. The ApHC began its race medallion award system in 1973, awarding 27 medallions to Appaloosa racehorses.
Appaloosa races are now held in ten states, with Oklahoma, California, and Idaho topping the list. In 1994, the National Color Breed Racing Council formed to promote Appaloosa and Paint racing as a joint venture.
Appaloosa racehorses can earn various awards from the ApHC, including a Racing Register of Merit, year-end awards, medallions, and regional awards. [7] The ApHC also records world and track records for Appaloosa racehorses. The Appaloosa Race Hall of Fame was formed in 1988, inducting eight racehorses and eight influential horsemen. Nominations are submitted by ApHC members and voted on by the Executive Race Committee. Horses must be deceased prior to eligibility for induction. [8]
A horse breed is a selectively bred population of domesticated horses, often with pedigrees recorded in a breed registry. However, the term is sometimes used in a broader sense to define landrace animals of a common phenotype located within a limited geographic region, or even feral "breeds" that are naturally selected. Depending on definition, hundreds of "breeds" exist today, developed for many different uses. Horse breeds are loosely divided into three categories based on general temperament: spirited "hot bloods" with speed and endurance; "cold bloods," such as draft horses and some ponies, suitable for slow, heavy work; and "warmbloods," developed from crosses between hot bloods and cold bloods, often focusing on creating breeds for specific riding purposes, particularly in Europe.
Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses. Furthermore, modern breeding management and technologies can increase the rate of conception, a healthy pregnancy, and successful foaling.
The Appaloosa is an American horse breed best known for its colorful spotted coat pattern. There is a wide range of body types within the breed, stemming from the influence of multiple breeds of horses throughout its history. Each horse's color pattern is genetically the result of various spotting patterns overlaid on top of one of several recognized base coat colors. The color pattern of the Appaloosa is of interest to those who study equine coat color genetics, as it and several other physical characteristics are linked to the leopard complex mutation (LP). Appaloosas are prone to develop equine recurrent uveitis and congenital stationary night blindness; the latter has been linked to the leopard complex.
A color breed refers to groupings of horses whose registration is based primarily on their coat color, regardless of the horse's actual breed or breed type.
Impressive was an Appendix Quarter Horse, who earned his full AQHA registration in 1971. He was the 1974 World Champion Open Aged halter stallion, the first such World Champion in his breed, despite carrying only 48 halter points in total. He sired 2,251 foals, of which thirty went on to be World Champions themselves. The horse was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2022.
Breed clubs are associations or clubs with activities centered on a single, specific breed of a particular species of domesticated animal. The purpose of the association will vary with the species of animal and the goals and needs of the members of the association. Breed associations or clubs may vary in their goals, activities and nomenclature from country to country, even for the same breed. Most domesticated animals, whether they are agricultural animals such as cattle, llamas, poultry, sheep and pigs, or companion animals such as pigeons, horses, cats and dogs, have breed clubs associated with the breed.
A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry, the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders while they are young. The terms studbook and register are also used to refer to lists of male animals "standing at stud", that is, those animals actively breeding, as opposed to every known specimen of that breed. Such registries usually issue certificates for each recorded animal, called a pedigree, pedigreed animal documentation, or most commonly, an animal's "papers". Registration papers may consist of a simple certificate or a listing of ancestors in the animal's background, sometimes with a chart showing the lineage.
The Pony of America is a pony breed developed in the state of Iowa in the United States. The foundation stallion was an Arabian/Appaloosa/Shetland pony cross. A breed registry was founded in 1954, and within 15 years had registered 15,000 ponies. Today, the Pony of the Americas Club is one of the largest and most active youth-oriented horse breed registrie in the US. Although called ponies, POAs have the phenotype of a small horse, combining mainly Arabian and American Quarter Horse attributes. The registry is open, allowing blood from many other breeds, but has strict criteria for entry, including Appaloosa coloration, specified height and other physical characteristics. Although mainly bred for Western riding, the breed has been used for many other disciplines, including driving, endurance riding and some English disciplines.
The Jockey Club is the breed registry for Thoroughbred horses in the United States and Canada. It is dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing and fulfills that mandate by serving many segments of the industry through its subsidiary companies and by supporting numerous industry initiatives.
The Colorado Ranger is a horse breed from the Colorado High Plains in the United States. The breed is descended from two stallions imported from Turkey to the US state of Virginia in the late 1800s. These stallions were then bred to ranch horses in Nebraska and Colorado, and in the early 1900s the two stallions who every registered Colorado Ranger traces to, Patches #1 and Max #2, were foaled. The breed was championed by rancher Mike Ruby, who founded the Colorado Ranger Horse Association in 1935. Original registry membership limits resulted in many Colorado Ranger horses being registered instead as Appaloosas, but pedigree research is ongoing to discover additional horses who trace their ancestry back to the original stallions.
The American Bashkir Curly or North American Curly Horse is a North American breed of horse, characterized by an unusual curly coat of hair. It derives from American horses of Iberian origin, in which curly-coated individuals occasionally occur; it is unrelated to Asian horses such as the Bashkir and Lokai, which may also be curly-coated. The American Bashkir Curly has been extensively cross-bred with horses of other breeds, and varies widely in size and conformation; it may be of any color.
A grade horse is a horse whose parentage is unknown, unidentifiable, or of significantly mixed breeding. This differs from purebred animals of known bloodlines and also differs from deliberately crossbred animals that are produced with an intent of either creating a new breed of horse or an animal with characteristics that deliberately combine the strengths of two different breeds. Many grade horses are the result of unintentional or accidental breedings, though in some cases, they are the result of a planned breeding of a stallion and a mare, but animals who themselves are of uncertain bloodlines.
Leo (1940–1967) was one of the most influential Quarter Horse sires in the early years of the American Quarter Horse Association.
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed developed for horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are considered "hot-blooded" horses that are known for agility, speed, and spirit.
The Jersey Act was a regulation introduced to prevent the registration of most American-bred Thoroughbred horses in the British General Stud Book. It had its roots in the desire of British horse breeders to halt the influx of American-bred racehorses of possibly impure bloodlines during the early 20th century. Many American-bred horses were exported to Europe to race and retire to a breeding career after a number of U.S. states banned gambling, which depressed Thoroughbred racing—and thus breeding—in the United States. The loss of breeding records during the American Civil War and the late beginning of the registration of American Thoroughbreds led many in the British racing establishment to doubt that the American-bred horses were purebred.
The Quarter Pony is a breed of pony that is similar to the American Quarter Horse. It stands up to 14.2 hands high and was developed from American Quarter Horse foundation bloodstock. The breed was originally developed from Quarter Horses that did not meet the American Quarter Horse Association's height requirement. It is bred to look like a small Quarter Horse, although the various registries also allow crosses with other breeds, including Paint horse, Appaloosa and Pony of the Americas, all stock types. It is one of the most versatile horse breeds there are. There are three registries for the Quarter Pony, all with slightly different registration requirements. The first registry was begun in 1964, and two more were started in the 1970s. The breed is used today in a variety of Western and English riding disciplines.
A part-Arabian, partbred Arabian or, less precisely, half-Arabian, is a horse with documented amounts of Arabian horse breeding but not a purebred. Because the Arabian is deemed to be a breed of purebred horse dating back many centuries, the modern breed registries recognized by the World Arabian Horse Organization generally have tightly closed stud books which exclude a horse from registration if it is found to contain any outside blood. However, Arabian breeding has also been used for centuries to add useful traits to countless other horse breeds. In the modern era, crossbreeding has been popular to combine the best traits of two different breeds, such as color, size, or ability to specialize in a particular equestrian discipline.
The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), based in Amarillo, Texas, is an international organization dedicated to the preservation, improvement and record-keeping of the American Quarter Horse. The association sanctions many competitive events and maintains the official registry. The organization also houses the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum and sponsors educational programs. The organization was founded in 1940 in Fort Worth, Texas, and now has nearly 234,627 members, over 32,000 of whom are international.
A futurity for horses is a competition, usually limited to younger horses, which offers significant prize money to winners, generated in part from fees paid to nominate, maintain eligibility, and enter the final competition. In most cases, a horse will only compete against other horses of the same age.
Jewel's Leo Bars (1962–1978), commonly known as "Freckles", was a sorrel American Quarter Horse stallion sired by Sugar Bars, out of Leo Pan by Leo. He is considered to be one of the early cutting horse foundation sires, most notable for his influence on the performance horse industry. He was owned by Marion Flynt and stood at stud at Flynt's Square Top 3 Ranch in Midland, Texas, the home of "many legendary horses". In addition to being a notable foundation cutting horse sire, Freckles also competed in three different disciplines—racing, halter, and cutting—earning an AQHA Register of Merit in Cutting, Halter Stallion points, and a National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Certificate of Ability.