How many Appaloosas are there in the UK?

MrSpam said:
He sounds similar to your's Devonlass - I didn't get many offers to help exercise him!
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Lol neither do I funnily enough,in fact no-one offers except my neighbours horse mad kid,and I can't decide if she's just desperate to ride,and doesn't care what it is,or just feels sorry for me lol:o:p
 
JoBird said:
Lots of you on this forum seem to own/breed appaloosas and appy crosses but does anyone know how many registered/unregistered there are roughly in the UK?
I want to do an article on breeding appaloosas and have contacted several magazines (not H&H yet!) and there response is that "breeding" and "appaloosas" are too niche market as not enough people have them or are breeders!
Hmmmm.
Perhaps we could all campaign to see more of them in magazines and also get them back in "fashion"!
Numbers/ideas please?
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How many - would be impossible to say because a great deal of people just have them 'as horses' and don't register them or perhaps have bought them without any details (and don't usually care). I have two at the moment but because one is 'entire' (not advertising) I keep getting offered lovely mares. I am very tempted by one or two but ..... can't cope with all the poo-picking! And there is no sense in breeding more at the moment when other people have loads for sale!

Someone else mentioned that they "were not bred for temperament" - I beg to differ sorry. All the appaloosas I have known have been lovely 'genuine' horses and I certainly wouldn't breed with my boy if he didn't have a good temperament.

The American appaloosas were confiscated from the Nez Perce Indians (after their famous flight to escape and falling short of safety 30 miles below the border of Canada) many were shot but some were crossed onto draught horses so that the Indians could 'work' the reservations instead of 'fleeing'. Hence they became heavy headed, stocky, short on hair (mane and tail) and the reason why Claude Thompson created the ApHC (USA) to improve the breed and try to bring the original Palouse pony back. They were crossed onto arabians, thoroughbreds and quarter horses to create what we have today (well what they have in the USA - there are not that many 'true-to-type' in the UK). This is mainly because the English people seem to prefer the 16hh+ spotty type with the larger Knabstrupper breeding lines, as opposed to something like mine who is foundation stock (imported) and only 15hh. It is all down to personal taste - someone else mentioned (somewhere on the forum) that appaloosas were like Marmite - I always say that too "you either love em or you hate em!" Of course I love them. ;)
 
We have one on our yard imported from Belgium - Zeno/Xeno he's called. He's a stable grump, paws in his stable and also paws the ground when riding if he's not doing what he wants, won't stand still... but boy can he jump. He's only young (6yrs old I think) and being brought on for SJ, and he's clearing the 1m fences like they're at least 1m 40 tall. When he learns not to waste time in the air, he will be a serious competition machine! He's definitely not a novice ride though, and I don't think that will change even when the greeness his youth brings is out of him. His current rider loves him though, even if he did break a few of her ribs last week!
 
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SuenRoux said:
Someone else mentioned that they "were not bred for temperament" - I beg to differ sorry. All the appaloosas I have known have been lovely 'genuine' horses and I certainly wouldn't breed with my boy if he didn't have a good temperament.
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Don't get me wrong I wouldn't say none of them have nice temps,in fact my lad has what I would call a lovely nature,gentle,affectionate and very loyal.It's more the riding/training side I was referring to,I have found mine to be somewhat 'over sensitive',and prone to becoming anxious and flighty quite quickly,bit of a drama queen really lol.He's also quite intelligent and can have a bit of an 'attitude' when it suits,this seems to be a pattern with many appy's from what I have seen and read.

I wouldn't say they had bad temps not at all,but I would say they don't always have straight forward attitudes and can be 'difficult' from a working POV.

The plus side I find is that my lad is very responsive,quick to learn new things,and very rewarding *when* he is having a good day,and I think has the potential to be a superstar eventually,it's just going to be a bit more of a complicated and longer road to get there lol
 
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