Pearlsasinger
Up in the clouds
This whole is it a breed or colour question I think comes from Appaloosa being bred to all sorts, and nothing wrong with that at all, in fact I like it, but the characteristics of an Appaloosa (to my mind) become diluted.
That 'old' film of palo's was very nice as regards the native Americans, but those horses were not what I would consider Appaloosas. They are curvacesous, solid, and very QHy.
To me, the breed Appaloosa looks very different. They were scantish in many ways, not just in their manes and tails. Their conformation was more TB than anything else. I don't know what was in it, or how they originated or anything, but the Appaloosa of today I see in ads or in person or wherever is not what I consider an Appaloosa (breed) although every man and his/her dog calls them Appaloosa so, yes, maybe their colour comes from Appaloosas but maybe it comes from a different spotty.
I think you have missed the Appaloosas that were the foundation stock for BApS, they were mostly the Baroque shape, 'curvaceous and solid' describes them perfectly. The de Rivas' Klaus was an excellent example;
Appaloosa 'Klaus' | Horse and Hound Forum. Finer build stallions, such as 'Dances with Wolves' were introduced later. BApS was started in the 1970's, the ApHC was started in 2000 as a breakaway organisation.
I will say, sis and I didn't know what had hit us when we got our 1st Appaloosa mare, we had had a cob gelding before and she was like a completely differetn species. She was stubborn and claustrophobic, she was very nervous of large vehicles on narrow roads and she had such fixed ideas of what she was prepared to do. A yard move after the first 6 weeks helped enormously and we had her for the next 22 years. She decided that she was sister's horse, and insisted that I rode the mare we bought after her, who was her very best friend in all the world. She had a sense of humour, once poured a mouthful of water down the waistband of my jeans as I bent over in the stable, was clever - she let herself out of her stable unless we clipped a leadrope onto the bolt and incredibly athletic. Nobody ever fell off her, although in the beginning we often wished we could get off, she would walk off with her rider if she felt like it but never broke the gait you had asked her for. The subsequent Appys have also been sister's rides, with lots of character.
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