We’ve rounded up some of the best appaloosa breeders in eastern pennsylvania, who are bringing out foals with the distinctive Native American markings and spotted coat. They’re breeding horses for show, work and pleasure riding, as well as for calf roping, barrel racing and western dressage. Their breeding program is focused on creating intense appaloosa to appaloosa breeding in order to preserve traditional appaloosa bloodlines and characteristics.
The history of the Appaloosa begins with the Nez Perce Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest. The tribes used horses to move across the rugged landscape, hunt game and travel for trade. The tribes bred Appaloosas and Palominos for their agility and stamina. Later, these same horses were bred with Thoroughbreds to produce the fabled Quarter Horse.
In the mid 1900s Ed Lane, a cowboy who wrangled wild horses and rode with Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, started his own ranch in Oklahoma. He trapped wild horses in the West, bred Appaloosas and spotted Palominos and later retired as a volunteer for the Roosevelt Rough Riders, a job that allowed him to breed more horses and travel the country.
He also bred the Colorado Ranger horse, a breed that predated the Appaloosa. Colorado Rangers are stock horses with Appaloosa coloring and have a number of Native American heritage tie-ins. Some are even eligible to be registered in the CRHA registry, which is free and easy to do. You can find out if your Appaloosa is a Colorado Ranger by entering its registry number and pedigree information on the website Treasure Hunt.
Nicole Twiss of Sport N Spots Appaloosas in Pennsylvania was born and raised on a farm with horses and the equine world is in her blood. Her first spoken word was pony and she recalls her mother catching her at age 6 luring the neighbor’s horses to the barn to play with them.
Nicole’s passion for the equine world led her to become a trainer. She has been training for over 25 years and is experienced in many different disciplines. Nicole has shown her own horses as well as trained other horses for the halter, dressage and jumper rings. Her biggest highlight was winning a reserve championship at the Appaloosa World Show with her gelding NL Seeuraiseumoonu in the Non Pro Halter Gelding class.