1980s-1990s APPALOOSA BREED STANDARD
Appaloosa Type and Conformation
General Appearance: Symmetrical and smooth: head is straight and lean, showing parti-colored skin about the nostrils and lips; forehead is wide; sclera of eyes is white, giving eye prominence and adding distinction to head appearance; ears are pointed and of medium size; neck shows quality with a clean cut throat latch and a large windpipe; chest is deep and blends into well muscled sloping shoulders; withers are prominent and well defined; forearm is well muscled, long wide and tapered down to a broad knee; cannons are short, wide and flat with wide, smooth and strongly supported fetlocks; pastern is medium long and sloping; hooves are striped, rounded, deep, open and wide at the heels; back is short and straight; loin is short and wide; underline is long with the flank well let down; hips are smoothly covered, being long, sloping and muscular; thighs are long, muscular and deep, blending into well rounded quarters; gaskins are long wide and muscular extending to clean clearly defined wide, straight hocks.
Forelegs: Viewed in front, a perpendicular line from the point of shoulder should fall upon the center of the knee, cannon, pastern and foot; from the side, a perpendicular line from the center of the elbow joint should fall upon the center of the knee and pastern joints and back of foot.
Rear Legs: Viewed from behind, a perpendicular line from the point of the quarter should fall upon the center of the hock, cannon, pastern and foot; from the side, a perpendicular line from the hip joint should fall upon the center of the foot and divide the gaskin in the middle and a perpendicular line from the point of the quarter should run parallel with the line of the cannon.
Weight and Height: Weight usually ranges from 950 to 1250 pounds and height from 14 to 16 hands; minimum height for a mature Appaloosa (5 years or older) is 14 hands. There is no maximum height. Height and weight should be proportional.
Color: Color patterns and markings are extremely varied and found in many sizes and combinations with great variations in areas with white backgrounds. While color and markings are not primary or determinative factors in judging, it should be borne in mind that where two horses are equal in type, conformation, action and soundness, the award should be made to that particular
entry which is more reasonably recognizable as an Appaloosa.
A person looking at Appaloosa for the first time might doubt that some of the horses in the class were Appaloosas. There are many different patterns of markings as well as variations and combinations of these patterns. A person will often see one Appaloosa of one particular pattern and assume that all real Appaloosas are of that one pattern. One of the typical patterns shows a dark front and white with dark spots over loin and hips. Others will be dark in front and solid white over the hips. Some are white with dark spots over the entire body and others will be the direct opposite- dark with white spots over the entire body. Some are a mottling of dark and white with dark areas about the frontal bones, jowls, neck, hip bone and stifle.
Appaloosas often show very little coat markings as a foal and show more with age. Also, markings vary some with the seasons, often being more obvious in the summer than in the winter.
The variations are well described by an ancient Nez Perce Indian named Sam Fisher who, when asked if this variation had always occurred in Appaloosas, answered, “Yes, some have few spots and some have many spots.”
General Appearance: Symmetrical and smooth: head is straight and lean, showing parti-colored skin about the nostrils and lips; forehead is wide; sclera of eyes is white, giving eye prominence and adding distinction to head appearance; ears are pointed and of medium size; neck shows quality with a clean cut throat latch and a large windpipe; chest is deep and blends into well muscled sloping shoulders; withers are prominent and well defined; forearm is well muscled, long wide and tapered down to a broad knee; cannons are short, wide and flat with wide, smooth and strongly supported fetlocks; pastern is medium long and sloping; hooves are striped, rounded, deep, open and wide at the heels; back is short and straight; loin is short and wide; underline is long with the flank well let down; hips are smoothly covered, being long, sloping and muscular; thighs are long, muscular and deep, blending into well rounded quarters; gaskins are long wide and muscular extending to clean clearly defined wide, straight hocks.
Forelegs: Viewed in front, a perpendicular line from the point of shoulder should fall upon the center of the knee, cannon, pastern and foot; from the side, a perpendicular line from the center of the elbow joint should fall upon the center of the knee and pastern joints and back of foot.
Rear Legs: Viewed from behind, a perpendicular line from the point of the quarter should fall upon the center of the hock, cannon, pastern and foot; from the side, a perpendicular line from the hip joint should fall upon the center of the foot and divide the gaskin in the middle and a perpendicular line from the point of the quarter should run parallel with the line of the cannon.
Weight and Height: Weight usually ranges from 950 to 1250 pounds and height from 14 to 16 hands; minimum height for a mature Appaloosa (5 years or older) is 14 hands. There is no maximum height. Height and weight should be proportional.
Color: Color patterns and markings are extremely varied and found in many sizes and combinations with great variations in areas with white backgrounds. While color and markings are not primary or determinative factors in judging, it should be borne in mind that where two horses are equal in type, conformation, action and soundness, the award should be made to that particular
entry which is more reasonably recognizable as an Appaloosa.
A person looking at Appaloosa for the first time might doubt that some of the horses in the class were Appaloosas. There are many different patterns of markings as well as variations and combinations of these patterns. A person will often see one Appaloosa of one particular pattern and assume that all real Appaloosas are of that one pattern. One of the typical patterns shows a dark front and white with dark spots over loin and hips. Others will be dark in front and solid white over the hips. Some are white with dark spots over the entire body and others will be the direct opposite- dark with white spots over the entire body. Some are a mottling of dark and white with dark areas about the frontal bones, jowls, neck, hip bone and stifle.
Appaloosas often show very little coat markings as a foal and show more with age. Also, markings vary some with the seasons, often being more obvious in the summer than in the winter.
The variations are well described by an ancient Nez Perce Indian named Sam Fisher who, when asked if this variation had always occurred in Appaloosas, answered, “Yes, some have few spots and some have many spots.”
