Latest from Horse & Hound in Appaloosa

‘Everyone recognises him from TikTok’: the story behind this head-turning spotty showjumper

Jennifer Donald — Sat, 14 Jun 2025 15:32:05 +0000

Proving that successful showjumping horses come in every shape, size and colour is the eye-catching “17hh-plus” spotty showjumper TGF Africa.

The seven-year-old is officially registered as tricoloured but that describes a unique blend of buckskin, coloured and spots. Unsurprisingly he is proving to be a big hit on social media under the handle “The spotty showjumper” with his rider Charlie Dawson.

Vanessa Townsend’s stunning gelding is by TGF Asterix In Colour out of the Halona Askari mare TGF Tanqueray. He is stepping up beautifully to jumping clear after clear in newcomers, Foxhunter and talent seekers.

As Vanessa says, the partnership is “seriously something special to watch” and “turning so many heads”.

“Charlie’s ridden him since he was just backed,” she explains. “I bought him as a three-year-old and had him gelded. I owned his mother – she’d just been backed and was so easy and lovely. Then the sellers showed me some pictures of Africa, too, and I couldn’t resist him, even though I didn’t want another horse!

“But I love everything spotty and if I’d seen him out jumping with someone else, having had the opportunity to buy him, I’d have kicked myself.”

Spotty showjumper TGF Africa: “a complete show-off!”

Despite his dam only standing 15.2hh, Africa has grown to “17hh or 18hh at least”.

“So I decided that when he started jumping he should go to Charlie,” continues Vanessa.

“I think his unusual colouring comes from four or five generations back – there was an appaloosa in there somewhere.

“His sire is TGF Asterix Under Cover, who has gone to America and he was small and tri-coloured, so I think Africa’s a genetic throwback. On his passport he’s tricoloured and I’d say he is coloured but then turns spotty the more you look at him!”

Africa is described as a “complete show-off”, “quite lairy” and “mischievous” – his party piece is to “buck and spin”.

“He doesn’t do it to get you off though, it’s more bunny hops,” says Charlie.

“People stop and stare at him all the time and now we’ve set up his TikTok page, everyone recognises him. He’s become famous and everyone remembers him as the spotty one.”

“He’s like a big rocking horse”

According to Charlie, he never gets jumped in the arena at home.

“He only likes to be ridden in the field and out hacking,” she says. “He likes to enjoy life and a few cross-country fences – he doesn’t like work or pressure or flatwork. You can’t make him go in a particular way so we just go with his way.”

Vanessa was surprised that her youngster has done so well in the ring this year with such little preparation at home.

“All we’ve done is get him very fit, but he just loves Charlie’s sympathetic way of riding,” she says. “He has such personality and I love riding him too, he’s like riding a big rocking horse.

“He’s lovely and he stands out in any ring.”

To read about other unusual showjumping horses who break the mould, order a back issue of 29 May issue of Horse & Hound magazine.

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How to spot an appaloosa, the colourful horse with prehistoric roots

Martha Terry — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 12:02:06 +0000

The appaloosa horse is known for its typically eye-catching spotted coat, and many people tend to refer to all spotted horses as appaloosas. However, the appaloosa is a horse breed in its own right with a colourful ancestry going back to prehistoric times. Spotted and distinctively marked horses feature in art throughout history, but it’s only in the last 100 years that the Americans began to establish these ancient bloodlines into a true breed. Today, it’s a popular breed worldwide.

In this article: Colouring | Uses | History | Famous appaloosa horses

Colouring of the appaloosa

Not all appaloosas are spotted, and not all horses with spots are appaloosas. There are other characteristics that denote an appaloosa:

Mottled skin: this pink skin with small dark spots is most apparent around the muzzle, anus, genitalia and eyes
White sclera: like humans, appaloosas have a white sclera around their iris on their eyeball, whereas a dark sclera is predominant in other horses
Striped hooves: vertical stripes on the hoof – although there is a proportion of solid coloured appaloosas which may not have this trait

An appaloosa showing the breed’s characteristic trait of mottled skin around the eyes and lips (Image credit: Getty Images)

Appaloosas have a variety of base coat colours, such as bay, black and chestnut. The patterns of their spots also vary widely:

Leopard: white base with evenly distributed dark spots from head to hoof. These are present at birth and remain as they mature
Near leopard: born with leopard markings, but with the head and legs darker coloured. This may fade as the horse matures
Fewspot leopard: white base, sometimes with roan “varnish marks” (silvering on the bony prominences, such as on the face and legs) and just a few spots
Near fewspot leopard: similar to the fewspot, but with solid markings on the head, neck and legs
Spotted blanket: dark, solid colour at the front of the horse and legs, with white over the loin and hips as if it was wearing an exercise blanket (can be just a patch, or extending up to the withers). The white may be have large spots
White blanket or snowcap blanket: as the spotted blanket, but without spots on the white
Frosted blanket: dark base colour with white spots on the loin and hips
Snowflake: dark base colour with spots all over the body. These often become roan as they mature
Marble: roan base colour, often with darker varnish marks on bony prominences
Solid: some appaloosas are born completely solid and never develop spotting or markings

Spotted horses do exist in other breeds, for example, the British Spotted Pony, the Australian Noriker, Australian Palouse Pony and Danish Knabstrup, which may share a common ancestry with the appaloosa. Spotting used to be more prevalent in Welsh ponies and some Iberian breeds but it has likely been selected out in breeding programmes, so this is now rare.

Other typically spotted breeds include the Knabstrupper, a Danish breed with unusual coloration, and showing very similar attributes to the appaloosa, such as mottled skin and white sclera (Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)

What are the appaloosa’s uses?

Multiple breeds have influenced today’s appaloosa, and therefore a wide range of body types – and therefore abilities – is represented within the breed. It is a very popular breed in the US, where the breed was formed coming up to a century ago.

Appaloosas are typically adept at barrel racing, a popular discipline in the US, where the breed was first established (Image credit: creditUnknown)

Appaloosas were developed chiefly as a stock horse, and so they are commonly used in various western riding disciplines, such as cutting, reining, roping, barrel racing and pole bending, however they adapt well to any ridden work. While they are still rare in the upper echelons of dressage, showjumping and eventing, they are popular in endurance, trail-riding and grassroots competition.

They characteristically have high levels of stamina and strength, and are medium-sized (typically between 14hh-16hh), making them suitable for a range of ages and sizes of rider. They are known to be a loyal, dependable and versatile horse who is eager to please.

An appaloosa being competed in endurance, where their natural stamina is an asset (Image credit: creditUnknown)

They are frequently used for movies, especially for ranch and cowboy scenes, where their trainability and distinctive markings make them the ideal horse for filming. There is even an eponymous western movie, The Appaloosa (1966), starring Marlon Brando.

Like any horse, each appaloosa in an individual. Some will be calm and docile and might be suitable for beginners to learn on, while others are bred and trained to be more fiery and sensitive, and produced for the competitive rider. But as a general rule, they are known to have kind temperaments, to be trainable and eager to please.

The cost of buying an appaloosa is comparable with other popular breeds. It’s impossible to put a ballpark figure on buying any horse. Prices are dependent on age, training, temperament, conformation, ability, pedigree and so on. With appaloosas, the more striking patterns may command a higher price.

The history of the appaloosa

Although the appaloosa is an established and distinctive American horse breed, its presence in Europe may well have predated its arrival in America. Spotted horses have been represented in prehistoric cave art in southern France dating back to 20,000BC, while in Britain they were depicted in cave paintings and feature in Celtic religious rituals as fertility and growth symbols. There are also examples in ancient Greek and Chinese artwork.

Parchment from 1298 lists the horses purchased by Edward I for a campaign and among them is an expensive spotted Welsh Cob from Powys. These spotted ponies featured in old Welsh studbooks, including the famous sire, Gwynte Hero, foaled in 1916. During the 17^th century, gifts of spotted horses were sent between European and Asian royal families. Charles II rode what looked like an appaloosa, named Bloody Buttocks; while spotted horses also appear in 18th-century English portraits.

Appaloosas in America can be traced to the Spanish invasion of the 1500s, bringing “raindrop” horses to Mexico and North America. The Nez Perce tribe “liberated” the Spanish of some horses, becoming renowned horsemen and the first tribe to breed selectively.

The Nez Perce believed the spotted horse to be hardier, with more stamina than solid-coloured horses and began to establish herds bred for their endurance, hard feet and good nature.

During the wars with New World settlers of 1877, Nez Perce herds were dispersed or culled and by the 1900s, spotted horses began to appear in western round-ups and rodeos. Sellers called these horses as “Apalouse”, in reference to their Nez Perce origin near the Palouse River running through Idaho, which then evolved into the name appaloosa.

By 1938, the Appaloosa Horse Club was founded and formally established the appaloosa as a breed. It is now the state horse of Idaho.

Differences between American and European appaloosas have occurred through breeding with native stock. The American breed standard is based on the size and build of the quarter horse, which has been used extensively to improve the American appaloosa, with Arabian and thoroughbred blood also incorporated.

While spotted horses have been around on British shores for centuries, a specific breed – the British appaloosa – is in its infancy, deriving from American and Danish lines which were imported to Britain, often via Ireland. The British Appaloosa Society has co-ordinated a basis for a future breed, having implemented a grading system in 1987 to provide a six-generation journey to studbook status. These sixth-generation horses are currently being produced, making them the first pure-bred British Appaloosas. The aim is to “produce a superior riding horse – athletic, colourful and willing”. They should be hardy good-doers that can live out in winter, as well as loyal, eager to learn and of good temperament.

Famous appaloosas

Cojo Rojo, a black-blanketed appaloosa stallion who played the main part in The Appaloosa, with Marlon Brando. Other appaloosas were used for some of the stunts, but Cojo Rojo did the majority of the work.

Pay N Go, a bay leopard grand prix dressage horse who performed at the 1998 New York memorial service of Linda McCartney, wife of Paul McCartney of The Beatles fame.

Zip Cochise, ridden by John Wayne in the 1966 movie El Dorado.

Endo, a blind Appaloosa horse that became a social media sensation: able to compete, do trail rides, travel, jump, perform liberty work and generally participate in an active life. despite having had both eyes removed due to disease.

John Wayne rides an appaloosa in the film El Dorado in 1966 (Image credit: creditUnknown)

Tales from Windsor: Blind Appaloosa mare with cataracts set to make Royal Windsor debut

Alex Robinson — Sat, 03 Jul 2021 13:34:16 +0000

Despite being partially blind in both eyes owing to cataracts, Dee Jones’ Appaloosa mare Hot Chocolate (Speshie) lives life to the fullest, and she’s making her Royal Windsor debut in 24 hours. Tanisha Mayo and the 15-year-old will be contesting the Appaloosa ridden class on Sunday afternoon.

Tanisha has known Speshie since she was a youngster as she was kept on the same yard as her childhood pony:

“As a four-year-old Speshie was kicked in the field and suffered a stifle injury,” said Tanisha. “She was operated on but as she didn’t like living in, she was turned out in the field to recover. When I was about 14 years old, I was looking for a new horse but funds were limited. The yard owner helpfully suggested I approach Dee to see if I could have Speshie as she was in the field doing nothing. Dee said to take her and that she was all mine.”

Speshie commenced her ridden career as a seven-year-old:

“She was a late starter, and due to the old injury, she did take some time to get stronger,” said Tanisha. “She used to canter sideways, but after lots of strengthening work she finally came right. We competed in both showing and dressage, regularly scoring over 70 percent in our tests.”

In 2016, Tanisha moved Speshie to a new yard:

“At the time we were on a roll, though I started to notice that she would occasionally bump into the electric fence, and that she’d knock her water bucket over in the stable. She would also get disoriented and I noticed slight clouding in her eyes, too.

“We called the vet and he discovered she had cataracts. We were heartbroken, but as Appaloosas are susceptible to equine current uveitis, we decided not to operate as she currently wasn’t in any pain.”

Speshie certainly hasn’t been held back by her diagnosis:

“She’s been unstoppable,” Tanisha added. “We took her to some breed shows and her results include two championship supremes at the SpotFest championships and the supreme at the breed show held at Hartpury. In 2018, she also achieved a personal best elementary dressage score.

“Management wise, it’s important to keep her routine as much as possible. She goes out in the field with my two other ponies who look after her so well. If she changes fields I walk her around the perimeter a few times so she can get a feel for where everything is. As she can’t see, she can get stressed in certain situations, but she loves to be out showing. She depends on her hearing and my voice a lot. It’s a full team effort to keep her healthy, but she’s not let anything get in her way, and she’s enjoying life to the fullest.”

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Going spotty? 8 photos of spotted ponies that will make you want to go out and buy one

Alex Robinson — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 16:06:10 +0000

While spotted horses are usually the odd ones out, imagine a show completely devoted to these wonderfully marked marvels?

Held at Thompson House Equestrian Centre in Wigan, SpotFest North West is one of three society shows that takes place throughout the year and is open to spotted horses and ponies registered or unregistered with the British Spotted Pony Society (BSpPS).

With nine championships and a variety of prizes on offer, spotted horses and ponies of all sizes and colours were presented for judging. But who won big at this unique and colorful show?