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One of the best parts of the Appaloosa horse is that no two look the same. It’s not just the spots — Appaloosa coat patterns come in all colors, with markings of all shapes and sizes. Even Appaloosas without spots still have telling characteristics. Here are the common Appaloosa markings and coat-pattern terms that are used by the Appaloosa Horse Club, Inc.

Spots: Spots are a dominant characteristic of Appaloosa horses. A darker-colored horse may have white spots, or a white-colored coat with dark spots. The leopard pattern, shown here, has dark spots on a white coat.

 

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Blanket: A horse with a blanket is characterized by a base coat color that’s “blanketed” by solid white in the hip area. The blanket can also extend to other parts of the body.

 

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Blanket with spots: Rather than having a solid-white blanket, some Appaloosas have spots in the white area that are typically the same color as the base-coat color. This is called blanket with spots.

 

 

Roan: The roan pattern features a mixture of white and colored hairs. Some roan Appaloosas have this coloration throughout their bodies, while others only have lighter hairs on parts of the face, on the loin and hips, or over the back. The legs, as well as the face’s frontal bones, may be a darker shade than the coat color. This horse has spots along with the roan pattern over his body, but a closer look also shows that the hairs along his jowls are both white and colored.

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Roan blanket: A roan blanket features a combination of the roan pattern, plus a white area over, but not limited to, the hips.

 

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Roan blanket with spots: A roan blanket with spots has the same characteristics as a roan blanket, but the horse will also have white and/or dark spots in the roan area.

 

 

Solid color: Some Appaloosas are born with no coat pattern at all. However, a solid-colored Appaloosa, such as the one pictured here, still may have other telling characteristics of the breed. If this is the case, a closer look shows that below the solid base color, there might be mottled skin (pigmented skin splash speckled with nonpigmented skin). The hooves may also be striped, or there may be a white area around the eye, known as a white sclera.