It is likely that these horses were originally descended from various Spanish horses known as spotted horses that were traded into the Northwest in the mid to late eighteenth century. These horses were later bred by the Nez Perce. The Appaloosa is also known as the Nez Perce Horse.
The first recorded reports of horses in Oregon are in the diaries of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who noted spotted horses similar to the Appaloosa among the Nez Perce. The Nez Perce valued the Appaloosa for their intelligent temperament, sure footedness, endurance, and speed.
They required their horses to traverse the treacherous trails from their wintering grounds in the Wallowa Valley of eastern Oregon through the Rocky Mountains to their summer camps on the Plains. The horses were fast enough to catch a bison and paso fino, that is, light enough to allow hunters to shoot accurately from a gallop.
The original Nez Perce Appaloosa nearly became extinct after the Nez Perce War of 1876, when the U.S. Army confiscated the Tribe's horses. However, a small number survived into the twentieth century, and in the 1930s, eastern Oregon horsemen worked to revive the breed.
As a modern breed, the Appaloosa is distinctive for its mottled skin, sclera (the white outer layer of the eye), and vertically striped hooves. The Appaloosa is one of the most distinctive and prized American horse breeds in the world. The Nez Perce tribe and other horse breeders in the area continue to develop the desired traits that were bred into the original breed in the 19th century.