Appaloosa Horse Names

Appaloosa is a well-known horse breed which was previously called "A Palouse horse". Intelligence, great endurance, stubbornness and willingness, are some of the major characteristic traits of this horse breed. The height of these horses is somewhere between 14.1 to 15.2 hh. These horses have mottled skin around their eyes, on their skin and also around their genitals. Though many of these horses have spotted skin, some Appaloosa horses have solid colors. Some of the main physical features of this horse breed are, short mane and tail, broad head, strong legs, short and straight back. Now, before knowing what are some popular appaloosa horse names, let us take a look at the history of this horse breed.

Appaloosa Horse History

The origin of these horses can be dated back to 1700 when the Spanish explorers offered these horses to Nez Perce, which is a North American Native Indian tribe. Thus the original breeders of Appaloosa horses were the Nez Perce Indians who resided in the Inland northwest of America. Previously, these horses were referred as "A Palouse horse", since the Palouse river ran across the Nez Perce country. Furthermore, the name of these horses was evolved to "Apalouse" and then "Appaloosa." People belonging to the Nez Perce community were basically sedentary fishermen. The introduction of the Appaloosa horses, brought a drastic change in the culture of the Nez Perce tribe. They started hunting in the forests for their food and became experts in using these horses. The tribe started selective breeding of the Appaloosa horses and bred the horse to be sure footed, strong and intelligent. Even the short mane and tail was bred to avoid catching of the hair in the brush while grooming.

With the onset of Nez Perce war, the existence of the Appaloosa horse breed was endangered. The Nez Perce war started because of the invasion of the gold miners in 1860. These gold miners forced the Nez Perce people to vacate their lands and the tribe lost almost 90% of the original land they had. The Nez Perce war ended on 5th of October 1877 and the leader of the Nez Perce tribe, Chief Joseph, surrendered himself to the U.S. Government. After the surrender, many of the Appaloosa horses were taken over by the U.S. Government. Some of the horses were sold while many were killed. Finally, the Nez Perce tribe was left with very few of their beloved Appaloosa horses. It is said that the Appaloosa horse breed was considered as an extinct animal for about 60 years. In the year, 1937, Claude Thompson and some breeders, formed the Appaloosa Horse Club in Moscow, Idaho. They formed this horse club with an objective at increasing the descending number of Appaloosa horses. Since then selective and cross breeding of the Appaloosa horses is being carried and presently there are almost 600,000 Appaloosa horses registered in the Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC).

Names for the Male Horse

• Samman
• Haleb
• Teodor
• Teo
• Donato
• Montae
• Tartarus
• Carlos
• Ricardo
• Leonel
• Pablo
• Oliverio
• Ayaan
• Phobos
• Adonis
• Justino
• Raymon
• Benny
• Orlondo
• Zahir
• Jamaal
• German
• Badger
• Paco
• Monte

Names for the Female Horse

• Celestina
• Aysha
• Iris
• Alegria
• Estella
• Jasmeen
• Tierra
• Earlena
• Paloma
• Nina
• Angela
• Libera
• Cyntia
• Simona
• Patricia
• Carola
• Vanesa
• Pia
• Tia
• Whiskey
• Monica
• Aleece
• Emerald
• Ashley
• Molly

I hope this helps you select a name for your beautiful Appaloosa horse. Appaloosa horses are widely used for endurance horse riding, racing and circus performances. The Appaloosa is truly an incredible horse breed that has survived in spite of so many rough paths. The selective breeding of this horse breed is still undertaken, so as to come up with a pure Appaloosa horse that existed in the past.