George Hatley’s long life and work are a testament to his enduring devotion to the Appaloosa Horse.

He’s known as “Mr. Appaloosa.” For more than 60 years, George Hatley’s life and the great spotted horses of Idaho’s Palouse country have been inextricably connected.

Hatley was born some 82 years ago in this country of rolling hills, golden wheat fields, and spectacular river canyons. He met his beloved Iola on a blind date after serving in the Navy during World War II; they’ve been married for nearly 60 years.

Hatley became the Appaloosa Horse Club’s first executive secretary in 1947, when the club boasted a modest 200 registered horses with 100 owners. During his energetic 31-year tenure, the ApHC became the third-largest light-breed registry, with more than 300,000 horses.

As executive secretary, Hatley oversaw or instigated a number of firsts: He founded and edited the ApHC’s first magazine, Appaloosa News, which later become the Appaloosa Journal; published the first Appaloosa studbook; and managed the first national Appaloosa show and first national sale. 

Hatley also helped organize the first Chief Joseph Trail Ride, today the club’s premier trail ride, in which riders and their Appaloosa horses retrace, in segments, the 1,300-mile route of the Nez Percé as they fled before the U.S. Cavalry. 

Throughout the years, Hatley has bred and raised Appaloosas, using them on his cattle ranch, and riding and packing them into high mountain country. He took two of his Appaloosas to the grueling Western States One Hundred Miles in One Day Endurance Ride (known as the Tevis Cup). He completed the course aboard one, while a friend guided the other across the finish line. At the Tevis, “you have to be mindful not to run out of horse — or out of time,” he says with a smile. Obviously, he had an excess of both.

In 2006, the inaugural National Championship Appaloosa Endurance Ride featured the George Hatley Cup, a perpetual trophy awarded to the best-conditioned horse among the first 10 finishers.

The Hatleys continue to be active in the ApHC: George is vice president of the Appaloosa Museum and Heritage Center board, and Iola serves as secretary, helping to oversee yet another brainchild. “Like the Appaloosa Horse Club, the museum had its birth in the basement of the home of George and Iola Hatley in Moscow, Idaho, in the 1940s,” notes current museum president King Rockhill.

Read on to meet trailblazer George Hatley, a man with an enduring passion for the spotted horses of the Palouse.

TTR: What was your childhood like?

Hatley: I was born in eastern Washington state, south of Pullman, on a farm that had been homesteaded by my grandfather in 1877. His name was Riley Hatley, and he came to the area by wagon. It’s in the Union Flat area, called that because several former Union soldiers settled in that country. My grandfather was a former Union soldier, too. I was born in 1924 and lived there until 1936.

TTR: When did you learn to ride a horse?

Hatley: My father taught me to ride before I started elementary school. It was a necessity, you see. I rode a horse every day to the country school near Union Flat Creek. There were no school busses, and that’s what all the children did.

The school was about a mile and a half from where we lived. My horse was a bay mare named Gypsy, and everybody called her Gyp. She was just an ordinary farm horse. When I was old enough to enter high school, my parents moved the family closer to Moscow, Idaho, where there were school busses. Today, the farm we lived on is the site of the Appaloosa Horse Club building, as well as the Appaloosa Museum.

George and Iola Hatley in 1955. During George Hatley’s 31 year-tenure as executive secretary of the Appaloosa Horse Club, it grew from 200 registered horses to more than 300,000.

TTR: How did you meet your wife?

Hatley: My future wife lived with her sister and brother-in-law in Spokane. After World War II ended, I got out of the Navy and returned to the area, and mutual friends set us up to meet at a dance at what was then Eastern Washington State College in Cheney. I don’t know if it was love at first sight, but it seemed like we both had considerable attraction for each other. We married about a year later, and this year we celebrated our 59th anniversary. Fortunately, in addition to all of her other good qualities, Iola is an excellent typist. I worked for the ApHC and put out the Appaloosa News, and she typed for me.

TTR: What is it about the Appaloosa that makes it your breed of choice?

Hatley: First, they’re very much tied to the history of the Palouse country where I grew up. Long before white settlers, there were spotted horses owned by the Palouse and the Nez Percé Indians. The horses that strayed away from their herds thrived in the Palouse country, because there was excellent grass for grazing.

When the first settlers came to the area and found these spotted horses, they referred to them as “Palouse Horses.” If a newcomer came and saw spotted horses for the first time, and asked what kind of horses were they, the answer would be, “a Palouse Horse.” That eventually was slurred together, as “Appaloose.” I always heard them called “Appaloose-y” when I was growing up. And then “Appaloosa,” as they’re known today.

Also, my great-uncle — one of my grandfather’s brothers — participated in the Nez Percé War, and I was interested in that. He was in a skirmish called Misery Hill. When his son asked him what kind of horses the Nez Percé were riding, he said they used a number of “Appalooseys.”

For those reasons I was interested in Appaloosas, then, when I owned them, I found them to have a good disposition, to be surefooted, and have great endurance. And they were good cow horses, too!

TTR: Who was your all-time favorite trail horse?

Hatley: When I was in high school, I had cattle for a Future Farmers of America project, and they increased so that by the time I got out of university, I was in the cattle business. I kept about a dozen Appaloosa geldings as cow horses, and they were all good trail horses.

The one I rode and used the most was named Tracker. He was a very free-moving horse that had a good, fast walk and was very surefooted. And he understood cows. He had the ability to help you sort cows — he’d help you get the job done!

I led a pack string with him for many years. In fact, many times I rode Tracker on the Chief Joseph Trail Ride, and led a pack horse with the doctor’s and veterinarian’s bags — very important cargo! Tracker had a very good disposition and was great to get along with. He was a super good horse.

TTR: Who’s your current favorite trail horse?

Hatley: A horse named Doubles, whose sire is a horse I raised, Apache Double. Doubles is also a very free-moving, fast-walking horse with a super disposition; very surefooted.

TTR: What’s the most amazing trail ride you’ve been on?

Hatley: Riding and finishing the Tevis was amazing, but that’s an endurance ride. The most amazing pleasure ride I’ve been on was probably in the Seven Devils Country of Idaho. I’ve ridden the trail from Pittsburgh Landing on the Snake River, upriver to the mouth of Granite Creek, and that’s an interesting trail.

The trail goes across a place called Suicide Point, which is well-named, because it would be suicidal if your horse went off the edge. It’s about a 500-foot drop. However, it’s spectacular: rugged country, lots of high bluffs, basalt rims. After a day in the saddle, you eventually get to someplace that’s level enough to camp overnight, often by the river, where you can go fishing and catch a mess of fish for breakfast. How about some cutthroat or rainbow trout?

TTR: What was your inspiration for organizing the first Chief Joseph Trail Ride?

Hatley: The possibility of Appaloosa riders following the route taken by the Nez Percé had been discussed by the ApHC board of directors, and they all agreed that it would be a good idea. Since I was the executive secretary at the time, it was just a case of them telling their employee to implement the idea.

Don Johnson of Walla Walla, Washington, was very helpful in getting the first ride started. Since the ride starts in the Wallowa Mountain area near Don, quite a few members of his local club volunteered to help us.

The first ride had about 36 riders. It was a beautiful ride, which crossed the Lone Pine Saddle into the Snake River Canyon, down to a place called Dug Bar, where we camped. It was there that the Nez Percé forded the river when they were required to go to a reservation in Idaho.

The second year, we had nearly 75 riders. Today, it’s so popular that we have to limit it to about 250 riders, because it’s too unwieldy with more. I wrote a book, Riding the Nez Percé War Trail Twice. It covers the history of all 13 segments of the 1,300-mile ride. Readers can buy it from the Appaloosa Museum or from me. [Editor’s note: For ordering information, see page 57.]

TTR: What’s the greatest challenge you’ve faced on the trail, and how did you overcome it?

Hatley: The second segment of the Chief Joseph Ride is in Idaho, going from the Salmon River Canyon to the Joseph Plains country, on top of a ridge between the Snake and Salmon Rivers.

To get there, the trail (if you could call it a trail!) goes across an area that’s quite steep, with a lot of loose rock. That year, my son was along, riding a good Appaloosa that was used to rocky trails. He crossed the expanse with no problem. I crossed it, but came back after deciding it wasn’t fit for a lot of the trail riders. The rock was loose enough to be dangerous for an inexperienced horse or rider if they tried to cross. So I led each trail rider’s horse across the rock, and Don Johnson led them the last 100 feet to the top, while the riders walked.

Once there, we overlooked the Snake River on the south and the Salmon River on the north — a fabulous view and well worth the effort!

TTR: What was your most humorous trail-riding experience?

Hatley: In Montana, during the Chief Joseph Ride, all the participants were assembled on a big, flat ground where riders could water their horses before we got underway. As usual, I was leading a pack horse and riding an Appaloosa gelding. My saddle horse was young, and it was his first time on the ride.

While my pack horse nibbled grass, something got his attention. He raised his head abruptly to see what was happening, and, in doing so, pulled his lead rope under my saddle horse’s tail. The gelding immediately bucked me off in front of at least 200 people! If you were watching, I suppose it was pretty funny. One fellow, who missed the performance, asked if I’d mind doing it again. I told him I’d rather not.

TTR: What three items would you never be caught without on the trail?

Hatley: A canteen with water, gloves so the backs of your hands don’t get sunburned, and a hat so your face doesn’t get burned, either.

TTR: Of all of your accomplishments as executive secretary of the ApHC, which one makes you most proud?

Hatley: I’m proud of starting Appaloosa News, a publication that eventually grew into The Appaloosa Journal. And I’m proud of establishing the Appaloosa Museum. Today, I give museum tours. Just let me know in advance, and I’ll meet you there and give you the full tour!

The Appaloosa Horse Club was hatched in the basement of George and Iola Hatley’s Idaho home. Here, they celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in 1997.

TTR: What books have you written?

Hatley: The first book I wrote, Horse Camping, was about taking horses into the mountains, and how to pack and manage horses in the mountains. Unfortunately, it’s been out of print for a few years. However, someone is now trying to get it back into print, because there’s a need for that kind of a book.

Next, I wrote Pioneer about my grandfather, Riley Hatley. Born in North Carolina, he moved to eastern Tennessee, then traveled to Kansas to take the Santa Fe Trail as far as Colorado, where he ranched for about 10 years.

Riley had a cousin who settled in Washington’s Palouse country who persuaded him to sell his Colorado ranch (for $1,000) to move to Washington. Riley traveled north until he joined up with the Oregon Trail to cross southern Idaho, then to Walla Walla, Washington, and finally east, settling in the Palouse Country. Riley landed there in 1877.

My most recent book is Riding the Nez Percé War Trail Twice.

TTR: What’s your favorite book?

Hatley: I’ve always been very interested in the Nez Percé War. The two books I feel are most accurate on that subject are written by Virgil McWhorter. He interviewed and conferred with many of the actual Nez Percé warriors. He wrote Yellow Wolf and Hear Me My Chiefs. When he passed on, his family gave all his files to the Washington State University in Pullman. The files included a drawing made by a Nez Percé warrior. It shows himself leading an Appaloosa horse as he approaches a Cheyenne who was working with the U.S. Army.

TTR: What’s your most valued possession?

Hatley: That’s hard to say, because I’ve collected a few old saddles, bridles, and spurs. I had a good friend named John, who had a fine saddle made by Ray Holes of Grangeville, Idaho, a top saddlemaker in the early 1940s.

John died in the Philippines during World War II, and now I have his saddle and his spurs. His name is tooled onto the skirts of the saddle. I named my son John Craig Hatley, after him. When he inherits this saddle, he’ll have his named carved onto the skirts. I guess that would be my most valued possession.

TTR: What three people of any era would you invite for an evening around the campfire?

Hatley: I’d invite Bob Peckinpah, who served as president of the ApHC for a record nine years. We traveled together many autumns on pack trips and for elk hunting. I’d also invite Bill Moore, who was ApHC president for five years. He became a very good friend and we’ve also been on several pack trips together.

Both men have a tremendous sense of humor.

I’d add Margie Berndt, a past director of the ApHC. She comes to the Apalousey Trail Ride, an annual summer fundraiser for the Appaloosa Museum. She’s very helpful with that program, and great fun, too.

TTR: If you had a motto, what would it be?

Hatley: Get the work done!

TTR: What’s your idea of happiness?

Hatley: A pack trip in the mountains with good Appaloosa horses and good company.

For an autographed copy of George Hatley’s book, Riding the Nez Percé Trail Twice, contact him at (208) 882-4879. To contact the ApHC, call (208) 882-5578, or visit www.appaloosa.com. To contact the Appaloosa Museum and Heritage Center, call the ApHC, and enter extension 279.