The famous explorers Louis and Clark came across this breed in 1805 at which time they were in possession of Nez-Perce, an Indian tribe. The horse itself was located Oregon, Idaho and Washington. It was in 1975 that they were the named the state horse for Idaho.
The Appaloosa Horse Club was established in 1938 by a wheat farmer named Claude Thompson. There are over 600,000 registered with the APHC, but before the horse was officially named the Appaloosa, it was named after a river that flows through Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho, the Paluse. It was also said that they were named after an Indian tribe on the river by the same name.
In 1877, the Nez-Perce Indian Chief Joseph surrendered from a battle in Montana, then many of the Appaloosa horses that were thought to be improperly bred were rounded up and killed and many of the unique traits that existed in them at that time were lost.
The Appaloosa is a popular horse among celebrities such as Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere, who alone has 27 to call his own.
Appaloosa was another horse that took part in early western television shows such as "The Virginian" which started actors James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired from 1962 to 1971. A couple other shows that included the Appaloosa were "Rifleman" and "Little House on the Prairie". One of the stars of the "Rifleman" owned an Appaloosa.
There was a Walt Disney series that ran from 1954 to 1983; it was the longest running television series to ever air. It was called "Run, Appaloosa, Run". It was about the many adventures of an Indian girl and her Appaloosa horse Sky Dance. One of the most famous western stars John Wayne co-stared with an Appaloosa horse in the movie "El Dorado". This particular horse's name was Zip Cochise. There was a stud farm named after that horse.
The Appaloosa breed registry is the third largest registry in the world; this was after they were nearly extinct.
There are cave paintings in France of the Appaloosa that date back nearly 20,000 years. The Appaloosa can change colors, as it gets older.
Many Appaloosa horses have been Kentucky Derby winners. Thunder Gulch was the winner of the 1995 Kentucky Derby, who was owned by Micheal Tabor.
Many Appaloosas have won the Kentucky Derby, one was Bold Adventure in 1936 who then sired Assault who went on to win the Triple Crown in 1946 after sustaining an injury as a colt. He lost the confidence of his owner and audience but surprised them both. The there was Dynamite Day who won Worlds Best Appaloosa more than once which was uncommon, he won four years in a row, 1993 through 1996.
In ancient Asia, the Appaloosa horse was a subject of worship as was shown in many pieces of Asian and Chinese art. The Appaloosa had many different names in ancient times in many different places, some of which were the mystical celestial horse in china and the Tigre in France.
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