The Appaloosa is a horse breed, in which the horse has one of several distinct patterns of spots. Historians are not exactly sure of the origin of the Appaloosa; some believe the Spanish Conquistadors brought some vividly-marked horses with them, others believe that the Russian fur-traders brought them.
Another theory holds that when spotted horses went out of style in late-18th century Europe, large numbers were shipped to the west coast of America and traded to Spanish settlers and the Indian people of the Pacific Northwest, a voyage survived only by the hardiest animals. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
