The AraAppaloosa, also known as the Araloosa, Arappaloosa and the Ara-Appaloosa, is a

horse breed A horse breed is a selectively bred population of domesticated horses, often with pedigrees recorded in a breed registry. However, the term is sometimes used in a broader sense to define landrace animals of a common phenotype located within a ...

that is designer crossbred between an

Arabian horse The Arabian or Arab horse ( , DIN 31635, DMG ''al-ḥiṣān al-ʿarabī'') is a horse breed, breed of horse with historic roots on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easi ...

and an

Appaloosa The Appaloosa is an American horse breed best known for its colorful spotted coat pattern. There is a wide range of body types within the breed, stemming from the influence of multiple breeds of horses throughout its history. Each horse's co ...

, combining the refined

phenotype In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology (physical form and structure), its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological propert ...

of the Arabian with the leopard-spotted coloring of the Appaloosa. As both breeds are noted for endurance and intelligence, the resulting cross is usually able to excel at

endurance riding Endurance riding is an equestrian sport based on controlled long-distance races. It is one of the international competitions recognized by the FEI. There are endurance rides worldwide. Endurance rides can be any distance, though they are rar ...

as well as other disciplines performed by either breed, including

ranch A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of landscape, land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often ap ...

work, and a variety of

horse show A horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and pony, ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrianism, equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days ...

disciplines. An AraAppaloosa with one

purebred Purebreds are cultivars of an animal species achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be pedigreed. Purebreds breed true-to-type, which means the progeny of l ...

Arabian parent may be registered as a half-Arabian with the Arabian Horse Association, and because the Appaloosa breed still has an

open stud book A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry, the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders w ...

to horses with Arabian breeding, some AraAppaloosas with a registered Appaloosa parent can be registered with the Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC). However, they also have their own organization, the AraAppaloosa and Foundation Breeders' International (AAFBI).

History

The AAFBI was established in an effort to protect the original or "foundation" Appaloosa, and promotes the incorporation of Arabian bloodlines into "foundation-bred" Appaloosa breeding programs, preserving what they consider to be the original type of Appaloosa horse. According to AAFBI, the AraAppaloosa of today is considered a re-establishment or preservation of the best examples of the Appaloosa breed originally developed by the

Nez Perce people The Nez Perce (; Exonym and endonym, autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning 'we, the people') are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who still live on a fraction of the lands on the southeastern Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwes ...

of the American

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

in the 18th and 19th centuries. The AAFBI believes that the backgrounds of leopard-spotted horses and the Arabian breed have much in common, with prototypes of each dating to antiquity. AAFBI notes that certain "oriental"-type horses were often particolored, as shown in

Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...

and

Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian art. The association also promotes the standards set by one of the founders of the Appaloosa Horse Club, Claude Thompson, who, beginning in the 1930s, used Arabian blood in his Appaloosa breeding program and believed that Arabian blood was a crucial part of the Appaloosa

genome A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...

Characteristics

The AraAppaloosa exhibits the "leopard" or "Lp" gene and thus must have one of the color patterns found on the

. They average from high. They are to have the general conformation of the Arabian, including a refined head, high-carried tail and overall elegance. Like both the Arabian and the Appaloosa, they should possess considerable endurance, sure-footedness, and intelligence. Overall, an AraAppaloosa will be of a more refined build than the more common type of Appaloosa, those with a high percentage of

American Quarter Horse The American Quarter Horse, or Quarter Horse, is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances. Its name is derived from its ability to outrun other horse breeds in races of or less; some have been clocked at speeds up to ...

breeding, more commonly seen in the modern show ring.

References

{{Reflist Horse breeds Part-Arabian breeds of horses and ponies