Appaloosa Museum

Visiting the Appaloosa Museum in Moscow, Idaho is a wonderful way to appreciate and learn about how the Appaloosa horse helped to shape early American history. The museum chronicles the first accounts of spotted horses in Lascaux and Peche – Merle in France to the prophesied Heavenly or Celestial horses of China and on to the New World where the Nez Perce readily received these new creatures. The Nez Perce practiced selective breeding creating a line of excellence that was famed throughout the territories. Merriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition wrote of these exceptional horses in his journal. This impressive history inspired the Appaloosa Horse Club, established in 1938 by Claude Thompson and a small group of dedicated horseman who saw the need to reestablish this breed that had diminished after the Nez Perce War. The museum offers an impressive and overflowing collection of antiques to share and preserve the history of this noble breed.