Find a wonderful selection of plush toy Appaloosa horse stuffed animals and resin figurines at the Forest Cottage.

The colorful Appaloosa horse has a wonderful heritage. Its unusual spot patterns make it unique among the various breeds of horses. This gentle horse is eager to please and a pleasure to work with.

This versatile breed can be found on the race track, in jumping and roping events, used as a pleasure and endurance horse and as a favorite family horse.

Horses with a spotted pattern can be found throughout history. They can be seen in ancient French cave drawings. Images of the spotted horse can be found in Asian and Chinese art.

As history shows, horses found their way onto the North American continent via Spanish explorers and eventually Native Americans came to use them in their everyday lives.

One particular tribe of American Indian, the Nez Perce of Washington, Oregon and Idaho became especially adept at breeding horses. The spotted horse was a favorite and when settlers arrived in the American Northwest, they found this spotted horse in the Northwest Palouse region.The horses were called Palouse horses and over time the name became Appaloosa.

The Nez Perce were forced to turn their horses over to soldiers in the 1800s and since that time until about 1938, nothing was done to preserve the breed. Then a group of dedicated horsemen formed the Appaloosa Horse Club.

The Appaloosa Horse Club is an international breed registry and is located in Moscow, Idaho. More than half a million Appaloosas are on record, with about 10,000 new horses registered and 26,000 members annually.

Pictured above are Duke the Douglas Cuddle Toys Appaloosa plush toy, Ganz Spirit the brown appaloosa, Breyer's Chief of Fourmile, and some Trail of the Painted Ponies figurines including Rope My Heart and Magical Mystery Mare. We also have Cherokee Warrior from the Horse of A Different Color series. Find a variety of horse plush toys and gifts are our sponsor's online gift shop.