About the Breed
Gait Tips
Getting Spotted!
 

Since at this time the registry is still in it's growth stages; you will find horses with almost any of the gaits available throughout the gaited breeds. The smooth gait has always been a part of the Appaloosa history, but in modern days has become less common, due to the gaits being frowned upon by the Appaloosa Registries of modern days. The Walkaloosa Association was founded to help in preserving a gaited Appaloosa patterned horse for the future!

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is
Short,
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Dessert First!

The Walkaloosa Horse as a breed is made up of many body types. The breed standard is designed to promote the ideal for the breed, with the goal to attain a horse that combines beauty with functionality, a generous and docile temperament with smooth and brilliant gaits. Walkaloosa horses are versatile, bred for balance of movement and harmony of form, resulting in ease of training. The ideal Walkaloosa will travel in a smooth gait with animation, rhythm, and style. Walkaloosa horses have solid gait, radiant coloring, good minds, good conformation and a genetic ability to transmit these traits to their progeny. Breeders of Walkaloosa horses especially need to adhere to a breed standard that ensures soundness and versatility,
Conformation must adhere to standards which promote a sound, hardy horse with longevity. The Walkaloosa should walk AND gait AND canter with EQUAL quality. While degrees of “type” are allowed and even encouraged, all examples of the Walkaloosa breed should exhibit conformation illustrating that basic soundness is of primary importance, followed by solid gait, vigor, presence and brilliance of movement, to allow the exotic beauty of the Walkaloosa horse to shine as their lasting heritage. Severe faults in conformation shall be penalized severely even in the presence of outstanding “type”. 

OVERALL IMPRESSION
Stallions will display masculinity and mares will display femininity. Thickness and type of muscle pattern will vary between gait types, but its muscling will be ideal for the gait the horse is best suited for.

SIZE
Ranges from 13 to 16 hands with 14 to 15.2 being most typical and desirable.

HEAD
Head of complimentary size in relationship to the neck and body of the horse; may be of any profile except extremes of those profiles. Sometimes slightly convex just above the nostril but not between the eyes. Most commonly with a face which is neither dished nor protruding.  The concave or dishface is not typical and an extremely Roman nose is not desirable. The head conveys the indefinable presence of the horse and should have an expressive face, large sparkling eyes, with a clean chiseled profile and well defined jaws, the nostrils are large and gently flared set over firm fine lips and an even bite. The ears should be of medium length and shapely, sometimes curving and curling inwards at their points. They will be somewhat longer in the mare. 
Faults: Severe overshot or undershot jaw, common or coarse head, Pig eyes, Parrot mouth,
 

NECK
Length of neck will vary with type. It should neither be thickset or narrow but arched, well muscled and tapering in relation to sex. Thickness of neck will vary with sex and bloodline. The neck should be long enough, flexible at the poll and mobile enough to work in conjunction with the head position necessary to facilitate balance in the gait performed. Neck ties in at the shoulder at an angle appropriate for the gait bred for--that is, horses performing a gait requiring a ventroflexed back should have a naturally higher neck set than one bred to perform a gait requiring a level or slightly dorsiflexed back. The neck should be longer on topline (from straight to arched upward) and shorter on bottom line. Neck to shoulder attachment should be smooth and clean, with neck to shoulder placement varying with gait types. The stallion should have more crest than the mare or gelding.
Faults: Thick throatlatch, thick neck, low neck set, ewe neck.

THROAT - LATCH 
Throatlatch should be clean, deep and sufficiently refined to allow proper flexion and normal respiration at all times in all movements. Width between jaws is desirable.

TOPLINE
Topline should be level or slightly uphill to enhance self-carriage, impulsion and gait 
Faults: Downhill horses (particularly with no withers). A square outline, the horse being taller than it is long.

BACK: 
May vary from short to long and still be quite typical. Strong, well muscled loin. 
Faults:  Excessively long back, especially when coupled with a weak loin connection. Extreme downhill conformation. Thick, coarse or overly muscular appearance. Insufficient muscling to the loin or any crookedness of the back are serious faults.

FOREHAND: 
Shoulder angle should permit free and smooth movement of the front legs sometimes sloping, sometimes laid back, with depth through the heart. Moderate width through the chest. Withers well defined, but not pronounced. Well Sprung ribs and deep heart-girth  to promote ease of breathing during exercise.

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