Appaloosa Horses

What is Leopard Complex (appaloosa markings)?
This type of white pattern is most commonly called the "Appaloosa" patterns and it occurs in several breeds, such as the Appaloosa, Pony of the Americas, Colorado Ranger, Tiger Horse, Knabstrupper, American Miniature Horse and Falabella. Sponenberg uses the term "Leopard Complex" because his theory is that all of the different patterns are related to one another, although many of the patterns are quite different in physical appearance.

Like the Pinto patterns, two or more Leopard Complex patterns can occur in the same horse.

The Leopard Complex is in no way linked to the colored parts of the body of the horse. The pattern is just superimposed over the body of the horse and what color the horse is has nothing to do with what pattern it is or what pattern it's foals will be.

Sparse manes and tails sometimes go along with the various patterns associated with the Leopard Complex, this is sometimes called "rat-tailed". There are also many horses of these patterns that have full manes and tails, so the association between the Leopard Complex and the sparse manes and tails is uncertain.

There are 3 signs of a horse having the Leopard Complex:

Mottled skin - this is small dots on the skin of the mouth, eyelids, genitalia and anus. On pigmented skin these dots are pink or white, on pink skin, these dots are pigmented.

White Sclera - the sclera of the eye is very frequently white on horses with the Leopard Complex. Some old-timers call this "walleyed".

Striped Hooves - horses with the Leopard Complex frequently have striped hooves, regardless of if the color of the leg.

These three traits can also occur in horses that are not Leopard Complex, horses that do have this gene may not always display all three traits, so while it may not be a reliable way to determine if a horse does in fact have the Leopard Complex gene or not, it is very rare that a horse that does not have the Leopard Complex will display all three.

Just like the Pinto patterns, the Leopard Complex patterns also range from maximum to minimum expression. The following is a description of each of the levels of expression seen in Leopard Complex horses.


There are several different patterns associated with the Leopard Complex. These include: Blanket, Few-Spot Leopard, Frost, Leopard, Mottled, Snowcap, Snowflake and Varnish Roan. As mentioned above it is possible for more than one of these patterns to be present in one horse.

Mottled
This is the most minimal expression of the Leopard Complex patterns. These characteristics are found on horses with no body spots as well as on horses that have lots of spots or pattern.

Blanket
The Blanket pattern is one of the more common Leopard Complex patterns. The characteristics of this is a white area over the hips and croup. The edges can be very clean and sharp, flecked or roaned. On some horses with edges that roan, the solid white blanket can feather out into the solid areas and create vertical roan stripes, especially over the ribcage. Most Blanket patterns have dark spots in the white areas, but some do not. Sometimes these spots have a different texture than the hair around them. On some horses these spots may change shape or location as the horse ages.

Few-Spot Leopard
This is the maximum expression of the Leopard Complex pattern. These horses are largely white with just a few colored spots on the body usually retained in the areas of the flank, elbow, neck and head.

It is important to remember that the large amount of white on these horses is covering up the actual color of the horse.

Frost
This pattern causes white hairs to be scattered along the topline of the horse. Frost patterns can also have a min and max expression. Min. Frost horses usually will have very few white hairs along the topline while max horses may have it so much that the horse appears to be a roan.

Leopard
Leopard horses are predominantly white with spots of color over their body. Sometimes these spots are more concentrated in the head and leg areas. The spots may also occur in the direction the hair grows, this is most evident in the flank area.

Snowcap
Snowcaps are similar to the Blanket pattern except that the white area of the hips and croup will not have any spots in it. The white area can extend up to the withers and even cover most of the body. In these cases the horse will usually retain some color on the head, legs, flanks and elbows.

This is the other Leopard Complex patterns that is thought to be homozygous.

Snowflake
The Snowflake pattern causes a colored horse to have small spots of color randomly distributed over the body. Sometimes these spots can get larger with age. These spots could be mistaken for "Birdcatcher" spots, which have nothing to do with any of the Leopard Complex patterns, in fact the genetic control of Birdcatcher spots is unknown. The reason we know Bircatcher spots are not associated with the Leopard Complex patterns is because they occur in horses who do not have the Leopard Complex patterns in their gene pool.

Varnish Roan
Varnish Roans start life as colored horses that get lighter as they age. This is not related to the Greying gene. The horse usually retains color over the prominent bony parts (hips, withers, shoulders, legs, facial bones, etc.).

Varnish Roan is not associated with the "Classic" Roan pattern and can be told apart from it by looking at the face. The face of a "Classic" Roan will be solid with just a few white hairs, if any.