Appaloosas often have such a distinct look about their faces. I found some misplaced photos the other day of my third pony, Saber, an Appaloosa/Arabian. Sorry the photos are a bit blurry, they are old and didn't transfer well!
I owned him when I was around 16 years old. You can read more about him here. It has always struck me, but particularly so in these photos, that My Boy looks a lot like that pony!
I realized other than the coloring and the Appaloosa heritage, there is something in the Appy eye that does it. My sister's trainer friend calls it a "people eye," but technically it's known as white sclera.
An Appy at the stable where my mom boards her horse.
This white around the eye gives horses such a different look from horses that just have big brown eyes. Sometimes, I think it makes them look a bit scared, wise, thoughtful, or mean-spirited, or just gives them more character. I've always liked this Appaloosa trait. I think some Paints have it too, I know my sister's mare Fritzy does.
What is your horse's breed, or your favorite breed, and a characteristic of that breed you particularly like?
I am an Appy girl through and through.I love that they are smart , thinking horses ,and that they will give you there all if they "get you" also of course the wonderful variety of colors
ReplyDeleteAppies here too. Gotta love the tough, dig down, git it done attitude. Same thing that makes some folks hate 'em.
ReplyDeleteEasy question! The West African barb because of its willingness to work, work and work. Both our mares can go trailing forever and it's so obvious how they enjoy themselves. Although gray is the dominant barb colour, my personal favourite is bay. With black leggings and a black dorsal stripe!
ReplyDeleteI too love Apps, love the white wild eye look, makes them special. They are also known for having a stubborn streak, I was lucky, the mare I had was not too stubborn! LOL
ReplyDeleteLove that boy of yours!!!
~Jane
Oh I SO agree with you and the eyes. I actually have been riding my girlfriend's Appy (she rides her other Appy) and I love him..and I used to always tell her there is nothing like an Appy's eyes and how they look at you. :) I'm looking at getting a Quarter Horse myself but there is a soft spot in there for an Appaloosa!
ReplyDeleteI adore your blog!!
xoxo
Michelle
Great photos of the appys, PG. I've often thought that appys have Crazy Eye. Sort of a wild look to their eye. They are are flashy, though. Their expressions sometimes make me laugh.
ReplyDeleteMy mare's has dark eyes with one half blue moon in one.
~Lisa
If our red roan paint wasn't registered with old lines of QH before the paint kicked in I'd say he was appy bred. He actually does have that eye like your boy and has the thin appy mane and next to no forelock (we call it a "poof"!). And while I do love our paints and probably wouldn't ever branch into another breed, I do like the appys. There's a young girl that shows with my daughter on an open circuit - has a 19 year old appy that's blind in one eye - and that horse does it ALL. She rides pleasure classes all day and then goes on to do the speed events! Gotta admire a horse like that.
ReplyDelete{Paint Crazy}~ My Boy has a "poof" forelock, too! I hate it! :) I wish it'd grow, I wonder if I were to roach it off, if it'd grow out better than it is? Nah, probably not!
ReplyDeleteI have noticed eyes in aooy's. The one at the stable looks kinda wild!
ReplyDeleteI have never owned an Appy, but I do think they can be so beautiful! love Your MY BOY! Most my horses have been the GH, now... I have an big old reg. GH dun that has turned white..
ReplyDeleteMy Lily has white around her eyes. She's been DNA typed and has no APHA horses on her papers that I've seen, but on her AQHA papers it says "This horse has white markings designated under AQHA rules as an undesirable trait and uncharacteristic of the breed" Well I say pooh to that! But is the white around the eyes a paint trait?
ReplyDeleteMy first horse was an Appy and she was the best! I didn't realize at the time how willing she was to do anything I asked of her, until later when I met so many horses that said are you crazy? I now have two Oldenburgs that I love dearly. I love their athleticism, quiet temperaments, big builds, jumping ability and cooperativness.
ReplyDeleteMary Catherine (age 5) doesn't have a horse of her own...YET, but loves Appaloosas.
ReplyDeleteHer favorite author is currently Susan Jeffers and we check out "My Pony" and "Chincoteague Pony" from the library on a biweekly basis! (I have to force her to return and allow other little girls and boys to borrow!)
This week's reading list also included:
"Winter Shoes for Shadow Horse"
(Linda Oatman High)
"Face to Face with The Horse"
(Valerie Tracqui), and
"Wild Horses: Black Hills Sanctuary" (Cris Peterson)
We just attended the Johnson County (KS) fair and Mary was just enamored with the "horse barn" for 4H. She is very excited to become a Clover Bud!
Mary says, "beautiful horse pictures!"
Blessings form Kansas,
Valerie
I love all horses - all breeds - all sizes - all colors. I do like Appies a lot - rode a great one as a teenager. I like the TB fire - we have one and also a TB cross. Love QHs - their intelligence and ability. Am thinking quite seriously about Icelandics - and Morgans are appealing too - you can see that I love them all (hmm, draft crosses . . .)
ReplyDeleteI love my TWH because they're such doopers they tolerate stupid people handling them. I've had them for 50 years and often been the beneficiary of their kind, tolerant wisdom. The comfortable gaits are just an added benefit.
ReplyDeleteI have an appy also. He was a rescue and has the white eyes too. He can be a bit craxy and unruly at times, but he's my best bud. We do make a good team and he would do anything for me, just like I would do anything for him. I wouldn't call myself an "appy fan" but I can appreciate the breed. Once they trust and believe you they will do anything for you. I like that part of their personality. They can also usually be very opiniated. I know right away if my horse is upset with something. My Possum and I can communicate on a pretty neat level that not everyone has with their horses. I really love him and I know he feels the same. It took a lot of blood sweat and tears to get where we are, but it's a good place to be.
ReplyDeleteWow, I can't believe how many App lovers are lurking around here! I'm also an App lover - for more than 20 years now...I started riding on an App and never looked back.
ReplyDeleteYa...I have a horse that shows the white's of her eyes alot...Little Lady!!! LOL
ReplyDeleteI love the black eyeliner on your pony and My Boy too.
ReplyDeleteMy Pinto/Appaloosa/Arabian gelding, Scout, has Appy eyes. He also has a thin mane and almost no forelock. For years I would roach his mane so that it stood straight up and make it look thicker. It never grows longer than about four inches.
I was "raised to adulthood" by an appy mare who is still alive (32 years old now, I think), retired, and living comfortably in Oregon. I love how appy coats change color over time...and yet, they are so distinctively *themselves* that it's easy to recognize each individual.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'm a Standardbred gal. Give me an unflappable disposition with a bit of stubbornnes any time, especially if it comes in the color brown!
I'm a mustang girl, of course, but I love our appy and her people eyes. My sister just got a half appy and I feel like I already know him because he has the same eyes as our mare. On these two oldsters that eye just looks kind. Sometimes worried, but never mean or wild.
ReplyDeleteMy dad's paint has one goofy eye with some pink around the edge of the eyeball, and that eye bulges out more. It's just weird looking, and he's a naughty horse, so I don't really like that eye.
You know how I adored Appy's in my youth, I couldn't get enough of the colors!!
ReplyDeleteFritzy's eyes have pink than white. She definitely has that "look" in her eye, I have always been drawn to her eyes for some reason. It's almost like you can tell what she is thinking by looking at her eyes.
ponies here, just a wild Man Cub on the loose, with a fascination for vacuums, lawnmowers and motorcycles.
ReplyDeleteOne of my best friends has an Appy and he is a doll- his name is Gem (not sure of his registered name) but I always swear that someday I'm going to have one too. I grew up with a POA type (appy pony - white with leopard spots) and I love them!
ReplyDeleteYou know me: I'm a sucker for a spotted butt and mottling. The 'tude makes them interesting.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in high school, my best friend and her sister had an Appy named Baby. She was registered, but had no "blanket" or markings at all. She looked like a soft chestnut. She was wonderful! We could do anything on her.
ReplyDeleteThis past winter, I rode an Appy named Emmett. He was very nice to me! I rode him bareback in Florida. What a good boy.
I am partial to Thoroughbreds - dark bay is my favorite color. I can't believe my luck because that is exactly what was sent to us in Pie and Sovereign when we requested foster horses. We never specified the color and we got them! Sovey has one eye like you describe. At first, we thought it was scary. Now we think it makes him look like a bunny rabbit!!! lol!
I love quarter horses and paints!! I love a beautiful hunt seat horse. Not the normal hunt seat horse but the HUGE western hunt seat horses!!! I drool over their long legs and huge butts!!!!
ReplyDeleteI often try to stay away from horses that have a lot of white in their eye. An old belief that too much white and the horse can't see as well. But that is just an old saying. My paints have some white in their eyes. I love a big soft brown eye. I often think that the white makes them look "crazy". I didn't know that that was an appt trait!!! I wonder if it's a paint trait too? A lot of paints have it too??
For some insight on the app-paint link (qh too), check out the picture and story of Plaudette in Legends 3, in the Maddon's Bright Eyes chapter. Plaudette had both paint and app characteristics, and was the dam of Madden's Bright Eyes (reg QH that contributes to many paint and crop-out pedigrees) and Bright Eyes Brother (reg app).
ReplyDeleteI like that "people eye" description. I believe my husband's mare, Zora, has it. She is a Tennessee Walker. I think it makes them look like they understand what you are saying, and they are trying to communicate back to you.
ReplyDeleteWow that is amazing! We have an appy at our barn and she has the same eye! She is the sweetest mare!
ReplyDeleteShe is on dreamhorse for sale her name is Lady J.
I prefer QH's, geldings at that. All of our horses have Doc Bar and Three Bars breeding with some Cn. Freckles. Great working horse with alot of heart! I think I'm most drawn to the bay coloring.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought those eyes make them look intelligent. Favourite trait in one of my horses? My belgian cross mare's calm demeanor and overall placidity (and she listens to me-bonus).
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for visiting me. Good luck to you when the time comes to having your wisdom teeth pulled. It really was a piece of cake.
ReplyDeleteYou have such a wonderful blog and your photos are just stunning. My horse-crazed 12 year old daughter who just began riding a year ago is going to LOVE your photos.
Appy girl here too. I love their eyes, I always say my boy has eyes with soul.
ReplyDeleteOhhhhwa! I miss Pantz, my sissy's Appy. She was Thoroughbred, Arabian, Quaterhorse. She was my first intor to Appy's and boy she was wonderful!!
ReplyDeleteI have a love for the Thoroughbred heart though..and Wa mare has one white wall eye and one dark. Interesting.
Bays and Greys...and black and white and dappled..all of them!
Love them all!
Kac
Mosey on over my way... you won my July contest!
ReplyDelete"PeopleEye"...I like that description. Appies are lookers for sure. Very pretty and each one is so unique.
ReplyDeleteI'm a draft lover. I love the big butts and thick necks in drafts.
I love the App personality...they have pizzaz! My favorite characteristic on a horse is dapples. Love them in any color.
ReplyDeleteHola.... So, how have you been? he he I fixed dinner early so I have time to catch up on all my miss you so much blog family! Hopefully I can get back here with you and all my dear friends:) ((HUGS))
ReplyDeleteAs a teenager, my first horse (or love) was an Appy. He was a great horse.
ReplyDeleteMy horse now is an Arabian mare named Valerie. The trait I love in the Arab breed is how affectionate they are with people. My mare loves it when someone scratches her face and tells her how pretty she is.
Nice lil' makeover on your blog PG!
ReplyDeleteI really like most breeds. My favorites are Quarter Horses and Mustangs. I've had Arabs, Appys, and grades. It's all what's in their heart and mind that I look for.
A lot of cowboys hate Appys cause it's hard to train an animal that is smarter than you.
ReplyDelete