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

part-Arabian A part-Arabian, partbred Arabian or, less precisely, half-Arabian, is a horse with documented amounts of Arabian horse breeding but not a purebred. Because the Arabian is deemed to be a breed of purebred horse dating back many centuries, the mod ...

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 lim ...

that is the result of a cross between an

Arabian horse The Arabian or Arab horse ( ar, الحصان العربي , DIN 31635, DMG ''ḥiṣān ʿarabī'') is a horse breed, breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is ...

and an Appaloosa, 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 or physical form and structure, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological proper ...

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 rare ...

as well as other disciplines performed by either breed, including

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

work, and a variety of horse show disciplines. An AraAppaloosa with one

purebred Purebreds are "cultivated varieties" 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 p ...

Arabian parent may be registered as a half-Arabian with the

Arabian Horse Association The Arabian Horse Association (AHA) is the single national organization that is the only breed registry that registers Arabian horses in the United States. It also works with the United States Equestrian Federation to sanction horse shows and l ...

, and because the Appaloosa breed still has an open stud book to horses of Arabian breeding, many Arappaloosas can also be registered with the

Appaloosa Horse Club The Appaloosa Horse Club, located in Moscow, Idaho, is dedicated to preserving and promoting the Appaloosa breed. The state of Idaho adopted the Appaloosa as its state horse in 1975. More than 630,000 Appaloosas have been registered with the Appaloo ...

(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 of the American

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as 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 ...

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 the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...

and Ancient Egyptian 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 In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, 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 ge ...

Characteristics

The AraAppaloosa exhibits the "leopard" or "Lp" gene and thus must have one of the color patterns found on the Appaloosa. 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 a quarter mile or less; some have been clocked at s ...

breeding, more commonly seen in the modern show ring.

References

Oklahoma State
{{Equine, state=collapsed Horse breeds Part-Arabian breeds of horses and ponies