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The Beginning
Going back to the 1990's I stumbled upon the Appaloosa breed by accident. I knew they were in NZ, but I had not made a point of getting to know the breed.
One day I was seeking a person who was supposed to live down a particular country road in the King Country (Central North Island)because they had Clydesdales, and I was looking for a Clydey or Clydey X for riding. I always looked upon the breed as gentle giants, and at this stage I was still doing some jumping but was no longer playing Polo Crosse.
I accidently went to the wrong home, and found a horse loving woman at this home. She introduced me to her Appaloosa mare. This mare had a lovely body, minimal colour, but moved beautifully. She was quiet, but forward moving and eager to please. I was given several rides on this mare and became very keen on an appaloosa. She then took me to P & R Stud in Raglan to look at Appaloosa's to buy.
Peter and Rae Mutch owned this Stud. The first Appaloosa I bought was a yearling black leopard gelding called P & R Dusti's Spotted Ace. He was a lovely horse that matured to approx 15.0H. He wasn't started under saddle too young as I'm not a believer of starting horses under four years, unless it's for educational purposes only until they're older for proper riding. Thrash them while they're young and you have an old horse when they're only twelve years. Take it easy and let them mature and stay sound, and you'll still have a youthful horse at 20 years.
Looking back on that buying experience, makes me laugh now. I recall all the wonderful bloodlines that Rae was quoting at me, and I was trying to take it all in, but none of these bloodlines meant anything to me then, as I had no knowledge of the breed, other than what I saw before my eyes. I remember now, some of what was said, and now I do understand.
I purchased a taller Appaloosa gelding shortly after called Awanui Captain from the Wellington area for $3500. he was only progeny recorded as ApHANZ had a rule at that time that horses with stockings were not adult registerable, even though this boy was a gelding. he was adult registered at about 11 or 12 years old in the end.
This boy was by far my favourite, as he was a very tall 16.3H, and had dressage movement to die for and boy could he jump! He'd fly over jumps clearing them by two feet easily. When my daughter first had a ride on him, she laughed when she realised when rising to the trot, you had to rise extra high otherwise your butt would hit the saddle halfway through the pace, because his strides were so big. People fell in love with Cappy, everywhere I went. They couldn't believe an Appaloosa could move like that. I had gasps from Thoroughbred and Anglo-Arab loyal riders and I was asked regularly where they could buy an Appaloosa like him. He proved to be pretty lazy when I trained him for dressage, and would try and lean on my inner leg until bought into line, then he would show his displeasure and would pack me a huge buck in protest. Cappy was a bit lazy and he didn't like being made to use his hindquarter.
On occasion when I got more than one buck in a row, I would wind up on his neck staring at mother earth with my butt pointing toward the sky. He was a powerful horse, but a real pleasure to ride. He was powerful and smooth. Never-the-less he was a very capable and quick learner and loved getting out and about. He was never a learners horse, but he really suited me and we got along well.
From here I became very keen on the breed. I got the opportunity to read some Appaloosa Magazines from the USA and got to see these lovely horses on the Internet. I was gobsmacked at the range of colour they had overseas compared to what I was seeing in NZ at that time. At this point I decided to start breeding my own.
My daughter couldn't understand what I saw in the breed as she loved her solid colour horses having owned a part-bred Arab and a Thoroughbred mare at the time.
The Next Step
I made a decision to breed my own horses after looking around at the market and stumbling on chestnut roans and chestnuts with white blankets all the time. Where were all those colours you saw in the USA?
After doing some homework, I had the good fortune to be loaned a lot of information about leopards and fewspots from a South Island breeder.
I became very interested in genetics at this point.
I purchased my first fewspot mare called Princes Regal Plaudit. This was the beginning of many mistakes I made a long the way. The people selling this mare to me had leased her off the owner for foals. They said they were looking fo a special owner for this horse. I didn't understand the meaning of that at the time, but now I think the translation to that was they were looking for a gullible person! I had her fully veterinary examined after she showed pain in her legs, and she was diagnosed with laminitis. The vet also said she's suffered this a long time as her pedal bone had quite a degree of rotation. I did not want to breed from such a mare as she would pass this on. I know this because I bred a TB mare immediately after purchase before realising she had laminitis, years ago, that passed this trait/disorder on to her filly foal. From a breeders perspective only, there are too many good horses out there, to waste time and money on an unsound horse. If this type of horse is your only horse, you can spend time and money on them.
After this I purchased a black fewspot colt (Coolibah Silver Cloud), from Coolibah Stud and a bay appaloosa filly (Sundancer's Early Dawn)rising three years from a private owner. This filly had a few white hairs and some darker spots over her dark coat over the rump. She suited a fewspot sire to a Tee!
I got this beautiful fewspot colt home and was so proud of him. I showed him to my daughter very proudly, only to find she thought he was ugly. In my mind he looked like one of the dancing white stallions of Vienna! I had a close friend who thought the same as my daughter, but I wasn't going to be deterred, as I was sold on their disposition and the knowledge I had already gained. After years of dealing with Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds, these horses were super quiet. My father was a racing enthusiast, so he loved the racing breeds.
I might also add that at this stage I still had "tunnel vision", and saw little else than my criteria and intent. In my head, this was going to be a breeze. There's an old saying "You don't know what you don't know" and this was me!
My First Appaloosa Foals
When Cloud was two years old, he was bred to a TB mare called Justin's Joy, and a leopard Appaloosa mare called Rain Angel that I leased for s foal.I was so excited that the next year couldn't pass fast enough, however it wasn't to be plain sailing.
I was convinced I was going to get a beautiful leopard foal from all three mares.
Imagine my shock and horror when Rain Angel popped out a colt foal that looked just like a Clydesdale, had splash and had blue eyes. He has also since proven to be a homozygous roan, and is nightblind. I didn't know this at the time, as I still hadn't realised that Cloud was nightblind.
He was named Rain Angels Blue Thunder as he had picked up her white genetics more than I realised, until I began studying colour. Cloud also carried a wide blaze down his face, but had a wonderful disposition, good bone and good muscling. After this colt was produced, I wanted to geld Cloud as I thought it was all his fault. I then decided to await the birth of his other foal. The TB mare gave me a beautiful leopard colt (no white face), that I named Shawins High Voltage. He was beautiful, and his birth saved Cloud from being gelded.
Although I never liked the colour of this foal he proved to be a sound, quiet, riding horse for young children. He was always a bit lazy as well, which was insurance that he'd never bolt. That is still true today. I've always believed things are sent your way for a reason. In other words these are all life's lessons. I had tunnel vision and this colt was a blessing in the end as it made me begin to learn about colour genetics and genetics of other things like genetic disorders, conformation etc. If you don't learn life's lessons you are doomed to repeat them.
The more I learnt about Appaloosas, the more refined my criteria became. My mind was still on a big moving English Appaloosa like Awanui Captain.
I have included a few photos of Bluey and his dam Rain Angel so you can see genetically what I'm talking about. It also shows how much Appaloosa colour can mature.
Rain Angel (Born 1981)
You can see from this photo of Rain Angel that she carried the white face pattern with a patch of colour around the eye, which has passed to her colt.
Rain Angel was 20 years old when she produced this colt. She was a grand old girl having produced about ten foals in her lifetime.
Why Have I Shown You These Photo's?
A second photo of Rain Angels face, which clearly shows her full white nose and patches of colour around the eye.
These photo's are definitely not shown to discredit any particular bloodline. The reason I'm showing them to you is proof that no matter how well you plan a nick, you can wind up with a foal, you did not anticipate getting. Cloud is a fewspot with two loudly patterned leopard parents. Rain Angel is a loud leopard mare, and is the daughter and grand-daughter of loud leopard sires. There should have been a 75% chance of a leopard foal with this nick. However, I got a foal that was marked more like a Clydesdale. If this mare was younger, we may have been able to repeat this nick more times, to see what range of colour they would produce, however due to her age, this was her last foal to my knowledge.
Coolibah Silver Cloud As a Newborn Foal
Cloud was born 1998. This photo shows him as a newborn foal, and it also shows clearly his wide blaze face. His white face is down the centre of his face, and he doesn't carry patches of colour around his eyes like Rain Angel does. No other foals by Cloud ever showed these "eye patch" markings either and I've seen a large number of them. Some exhibit the generous blaze he has and others don't.
Coolibah Silver Cloud Face Markings
This photo shows Cloud at about one month of age. You can see quite clearly that his blaze is only down the centre of his face. He does not carry "eye patches".
Rain Angels Blue Thunder
2001 Born; by Coolibah Silver Cloud, out of rain Angel.
This is Rain Angels Blue Thunder after sexual maturity showing how his colour has matured. Today he has roaned and carries a full roan blanket, and one eye has changed to brown. He's proven to be a very quiet gelding for children to ride. He got this name because he was always so heavy, he reminded me of the term "Thunder Thighs", and the blue came from his eyes, and his mothers name, as he would have been her last foal, and no other foal appeared to be named after her and she also passed her white face and eye patches on to him. Like mother, like son.He has proven to be a very quiet but spoilt, riding horse.
What Have I Learnt?
I have learnt that you can't trust some horse people as they sell totally unsound horses to you and fabricate as well. I also include "Lies by omission" in this. No unsound horse has left my ownership. They are humanely destroyed, because its unfair to sell them and its unfair to the horse if the new owners don't keep them pain free.
I have learnt no matter what your dreams are, the power of genetics is far greater than any prayer or dream.
I have learnt you have to choose the type you like and breed it to the type you like.
I have learnt there is a great variation in the breed, like all breeds, and each breeder believes in what they produce, otherwise they wouldn't be producing it.
I have also learnt that the Country you live in has a lot to do with how these horses are bred. Each Country appears to have a surplus of one breed. In the USA it's Quarter Horses, in Europe it's the Warmbloods, and in New Zealand it's the Thoroughbred. You can tell this by looking at Slaughter House statistics.
In the USA. there is a strong following for Western so the outcross to the QH is popular in the modern Appaloosa. In NZ, English still dominates the Country so the Thoroughbred has been a popular outcross. In Europe, where they breed World Class Warmbloods, the Knabstrupper has been produced which is equivalent to the Appaloosa crossed with Warmbloods. Whilst their have been numerous spotted breeds around the World many years ago, they may well have originated from one breed or alternatively the spotted colour has existed in many breeds like Spanish and Portuguese horses, Pinzgauer, Noriker and some Chinese horses worldwide. Cave drawings found in many countries show spotted horses to have existed from 1400BC onward.
There has been a lot of outcrossing in the breed to bring it back from possible extinction after the Nez Perce War in 1877.
Whilst I prefer to see the Appaloosa purebred now, I still like the odd outcross here and there for Sporthorse reasons. I also believe we could run into problems genetically if our horses become too inbred in a small Country and we don't keep importing new blood into the Country.
My criteria has been fine-tuned to a degree since all my learning, however I do overlook some things, as I have learnt you don't get all you want in one animal. In New Zealand, Appaloosas come in all colours being, Black, Bay, Seal Brown, Palomino, Buckskin, Smokey Black, Red Dun, Yellow Dun and Blue Dun or Grullo/a.
Overseas you can also include Champagne and Silver Dapple.
I have joined and remained a member of "The Appaloosa Project" to learn as much as I can about Appaloosa Genetics, and to also support their research.
Whilst I love the look of the Quarterloosa, I will never learn to love the very short front legs and rump high conformation you see all too often. When this doesn't exist they are a lovely type.
I love the TB x Appaloosa and the WB x Appaloosa for their Sporthorse attributes.
I love the Foundation Appaloosas, because their pedigree is becoming more and more Appaloosa 'by blood', preserving all the wonderful genetics coloured and non-coloured, in the breed. I also love their people oriented dispositions and intelligence.
I have learnt of the Appaloosa versatility, and how they're a good allround horse. They suit children up to adults and are used in a wide range of disciplines and work, depending on type. The Indians bred them to be an endurance horse to hunt with, but they also had the quieter family horses for women and children and their pack animals. This again shows their versatility.
Today the Appaloosa can be seen in Endurance, Competitive Trail Riding, Trekking, Jumping, Eventing, Sprint Racing, Dressage, Polo, Polo Crosse, Hunting, Stock Work, Pleasure Riding, Calf Roping, Camp Drafting, Pony Club, and many other disciplines that I haven't included. Today speed and stamina are still required in some disciplines.
I have learnt that everyone's idea and expectations of an appaloosa varies.
I have learnt that the Appaloosa colour is always a highly debated subject.
I have learnt that Appaloosas carrying some colour genetics you don't like, don't necessarily breed on if you select a nick well.
I have learnt that the USA still has some of the very best Foundation Appaloosas, that NZ hasn't imported.......yet!
To finish this paragraph, I will never stop learning.
Today
Pic: Ace High Moon Shadow {Mighty Wind Song x TB}
I had the good fortune to meet Dave and Jean Gant of Ace High Appaloosa Stud, at The Appaloosa Nationals one year. We got talking Appaloosas and I was invited back to their tent, where we shared our foal photo's. I fell in love with their beautiful filly (Ace High Moon Shadow) by Mighty Wind Song, out of a TB mare, that they showed to me. I was also invited to their place to see this stallion. Well my jaw dropped open when I saw Mighty Wind Song move, as he has the most extravagant beautiful action and he's a very attractive stallion. None of his photo's do him justice. To really appreciate this horse, you have to go and see him. I decided at that point that this movement and this colour was what I wanted. He also has a very attractive head and has good muscling.
In 2004 I swapped Coolibah Silver Cloud for Marire's Eagle (son of Mighty Wind Song). This occurred due to discussions with Sue & Graeme Smeath about our future breeding. They wanted to breed a more Western type and I wanted more English type. Sue suggested we swap stallions. I didn't like the idea straight off and I suggested we sleep on it. I gave it a lot of thought and it didn't sit really well with me, but decided Eagle had more to offer me, with English movement and height.
I stated though that I wanted to keep Cloud a bit longer that season to put over a mare of mine. From there I got regular phone calls from Sue stating they would bring Eagle down and pick up Cloud. They wanted to trade ASAP without waiting. I'm not sure what the urgency was, but they were keen. I gave into this in the end and allowed the trade to go through.
I regretted doing this for a period of time, in one way only, for the next year. The cause of the regret, was my emotional attachment to Cloud. I also discovered Eagle wasn't as handled as I'd believed, and his condition was far from the standard I expected. That changed dramatically over the next year, for the better.
I didn't realise how much I would miss Cloud, after having him for six years, and I took quite a while to bond with Eagle. My only reasons for allowing Cloud to go was his height and the loud wide blaze he carried. After losing Eagle and when Cloud came back on the market, I seriously thought about buying him back, but after giving it some logical thought, decided against it, as the reason I let him go in the first place still existed. I'm also aware that there are some stallions out there that I like that I can take my mares to, and I don't limit these to Appaloosa. Cloud will always hold a place in my heart, for his personality and disposition alone. I loved his foals from TB mares, but wasn't keen on his foals from Appaloosa mares. This was the sabino affect more than anything.
I have discovered I'm not a fan of sabino and splash in Appaloosa's for several reasons, however the most notable being that horses with white or pink noses suffer in the summer sun with sunburn. I don't like this happening. There is a homeopathic remedy for sunburn, but it's easier not breed it on (white noses) wherever possible. Of course this will continue to be bred, because some people love the white markings. It is also my belief that they are paint patterns and don't belong in the Appaloosa breed. In saying this the Indians were never able to keep the various breeds separate, and we inherited these traits in imported horses to NZ. Today these patterns are through quite a few appaloosas, and they have their fan club as much as all other patterns. These undesirable markings can be bred out if you keep selecting the progeny, you believe, may not have inherited these traits, or you may be happy to have these traits if they're minimally expressed.
Once upon a time they were like a red rag to a bull with me, however I'm now a lot more relaxed about them and can say that I've actually really admired some horses that have these markings. I guess the big question is, "will I breed to a horse carrying sabino or splash?" Yes, if it has other things I like, that I consider more important.
My mares Waimarama Rose, Clouds Cowboy Cadillac, and Moonbars Misty Snow Queen all have generous blazes.
In November 2008, I lost Eagle (due to the bad decision of a farmer), and was totally devastated and very upset. However I'm thankful for still having two of his beautiful daughters. He left me a lovely gift of a daughter with his amazing colour. I also have a lovely leopard daughter from Coolibah Silver Cloud.
Where To From Here?
What I haven't mentioned, was that I took on a project of building "Free" websites for mostly Appaloosa people, although I have built a QH site and a Sporthorse Website. I took this on for more than one reason. The first reason was to help promote the Appaloosa in NZ, so that people became aware of the breed, and what was available. The second reason was, I have had three people in my life that tell me over and over, that people never appreciate anything you do for them, if you do it, for nothing. I argued that some people are very appreciative and often generous as well.
Well the outcome, is that all four of us were right. I have met some really lovely people who have also been very generous in what they've offered me. I'm not going into names, but you know who you are. Anyway, I hope this venture keeps our breed in the spotlight!
I know exactly what I'd like to do from here, but I'm not sure the market is there at present, so I'm debating whether or not to implement any plans. I might just wait a few months or a year or so.
I feel I have got the kind of mares I want now for breeding the kind of appaloosas I want. I have also regularly debated giving up breeding, because other things in life are beginning to be more important.
From day to day, I want to sell some mares to get down to having two only, but am having a real emotional struggle as to what I should let go. It's hard to decide when you love them all.
Time will tell, what I do next, as I haven't yet made a firm decision.
I have contemplated getting another Appaloosa sire, but the right Appaloosa stallion/colt has not yet come on the market. I also question whether it's worth it for me to do this, as I have some nice Appaloosa stallions standing fairly close to me, that I can take my mares to, without waiting two years for a colt to mature enough, to serve a mare. It's also a risk taking on a colt foal as you never know if the testicles will twist and not drop, or whether a leg bone might twist and grow crooked as they mature. There are never any guarantee's in breeding and it's always a risk.
There is also something nice about having your own sire, as they are the backbone of a stud, and they have such personalities. I find I'm always closer to the stallions than the mares, because they require special care and attention and you work closely with them. You have days when you want to throttle them and days when you just want to give them a hug. All in all they are very lovable creatures.
Updated on 01/11/2010 03:07 PM by Shawin
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