About the Gait Heritage and how it relates to the  today Appaloosas and the Appaloosa Horse Club, ApHC.

The Appaloosa  horse was at one time considered a gaited breed, its founding association once allowed Gaited horse breeds to be a part of the Appaloosa heritage..

Today  the Appaloosa horse club allows only NON gaited horses in the association to be crossed with the Appaloosa such as the Quarter horse, Arabian, TB and recently added the warm bloods. The foals are fully registered as an Appaloosa if they have characteristics even though only one parent is an Appaloosa, they receive full Appaloosa Papers.  Early on in the Associations History  they allowed the gaited horse breeds , the TWH and Morgan, however  in the early 80s they closed the books to the gaited horses, but still allow the Non Gaited horses to be registered to this day. 

History says the appaloosa at one time did appear to be a gaited horse courtesy of the Nez Pierce website and the Appaloosa Journal printed by the Appaloosa Horse Club , see our website for Indian Shuffle along with other historical evidence. Today it depends on who you ask. In our humble opinion through our search of the history of the Appaloosas even before the registry was formed we believe the gait was a big part of the foundation Appaloosa, every now and then a horse will emerge within a breeders gaits unlike those of the allowed TWH, or Morgan, he or she will float around the pasture, no trot to be seen, no one can explain what gait it is doing, experts say it must be a trot or a flat walk, yet he has no bounce, he is gliding , his head held high, a pride that will not be taken from him you can see in his eyes. With the many years of out crossing to non gaited horses it is said to be lost to the the Appaloosa Forever, or is it? As Long as their are people who want the Appaloosa for its beautiful color, intelligence, disposition and smooth as silk ride the Gaited Appaloosa will live on. The appaloosa horse club will disqualify a horse if the gait shows up in some of the ApHC events, but it will allow trail, riding, and other events that the Appaloosa gaited horse can participate in and win. Endurance , chief Joseph rides and so on through the hard ship program. The Appaloosa must have  characteristics or Appaloosa coloring to be qualified for this ApHC hardship Registration.  

We continually try to breed for that wonderful smooth gait and with the help of a select few foundation Gaited horse breeds  we can once again unleash the power that we believe was once a huge part of these amazing animals. We love the gaited Appaloosa, my family had bred gaited appaloosas 65 plus years ago before they were so out crossed.   The non gaited out cross continues today to make the once prized gait extinct and we hope the gaited cross will bring it back to life. If enough people have these gaited horses, ride these gaited horses and perform with these gaited horses,  perhaps the association will rethink the past and allow it to be once again a part of his heritage.  The gaited Appaloosa is a wonderful ride and if you love the appaloosa as much as we do the gait is a benefit to the breed that once was and may be again. God bless and thanks for listening to our opinion of the ever loved gaited Appaloosa.

Written By Jane Miceli