Re: Nez Perce Appaloosas

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-11-28 19:41:57 EST, you write:

<< Isn't the modern Appy, built up from the QH. If I have my history right,
 almost all of the Nez Perce Appy's where slaughter by the US calvery  >>

There was a 60-year gap between when the US Army systematically disbanded the
Appaloosa (with the logic being that the horses were part of the military
strength of the Nez Perce) and when the Appaloosa Registry was started up.
All the males were gelded, and all horses were sold to whatever ends--many
ended up dispersed in various ranch herds, etc. throughout the NW.
Consequently, anything used as "foundation" stock was a minimum of 3
generations (and more likely 6 or 8 generations or more) away from anything
bred by the Nez Perce.  Originally, Arabians were used to try to recreate the
type of horse that the Nez Perce had--among others, the stallion Ferras was
used extensively.  (He appears close up in such purebred pedigrees as AERC
Hall of Famer RT Muffin, etc., as well.)  A few Appy breeders still
concentrate on "Ara-Appies" and there is a national organization dedicated to
that cross.  Crosses with Thoroughbreds were also common through the US
Remount program.  The trend to make the "standard" Appaloosa into a Quarter
Horse with spots occurred much later, and really isn't very true to historic
Appaloosa type.  Somehow I can't imagine the Nez Perce outrunning the US
Cavalry for so long on big huge horses with 00 feet...  In contrast, the sport
of endurance more typifies the qualities that the Nez Perce needed in their
war horses, and as so many Ara-Appies have done well in this sport, I can't
help but think that they are still closer to what the Nez Perce bred than so
many of the other Appy "types."

Heidi Smith, DVM--Sagehill Arabians (Oregon)