Lost Breed - National Appaloosa Ponies

 In this show program for the 1972 Columbian Park Horse Show,

there was a class for a pony breed that most people have never heard of:

National Appaloosa Ponies!

Screenshot of 1965 print ad from eBay.

Information about them is difficult to come by, and I only know about them because of the Columbian Park Horse Show. Having said that, I did find this snippet recently in an online forum:

There was also the short-lived National Appaloosa Pony Incorporated (NAPI), in Indiana, which was in business the same time as the POA, Inc. An advertisement in the 9-1966 Western Horseman magazine, the NAPI stated that they registered “the most popular riding size pony… the Appaloosa Pony 40 inches up to 14 hands.” In the book America’s Horses and Ponies, the registry is called National Appaloosa Pony Association [NAPA] with height requirements from 40 inches up to 55 inches. The NAPI mantra is that the registry is “preserving the Appaloosa Pony” as found, as opposed to the POA which is “creating a new breed”. 

The 4th Annual National Appaloosa Pony Sale, held 4-8-1967 was promoted in the 2-1967 issue of the Horse Bits magazine. Many NAPI ponies were double registered in the POA. Registered Appaloosa stallions were sometimes used in NAPI programs. Holliday Dancer ApHC F-3110 (also sired POAs) and his son Dancer’s Jim Dandy ApHC F-3575 were used by the G-C Ranch (Appaloosa horses and ponies), owned by Glen Coons, Maquon, ILL. Dancer’s Jim Dandy’s sons, Dandy’s Running Otter ApHC T33049 and Dandy’s Redheart NAPI P1135 were also used in the program, and were crossed on NAPI daughters of Holliday Dancer ApHC 3110. Mary Tolan also bred and/or owned POAs that were double registered with NAPI- Tolanka’s Raindrop POA T2330 (Colimo line), Apple Jack POA T2140, and Tolan’s Peggy POA T4645. Tolan had other NAPI registered ponies, including Tolan’s Roan (to Dragon POA 103), Black Beauty T38, Tolan’s Pixie (Colimo line), Tolan’s Colimo, and Tolan’s Maggie.

From Opinions about Appaloosas, Mexican in the Mix, by Rangerbred Researcher, Sherry Byrd, undated.

Notice how it states that the breed was short-lived and that the breed registry was here in Indiana. Proponents of the breed felt the POA was a created breed whereas the Appaloosa pony was a distinct breed in and of itself and the registry was trying to preserve them. (It reminds me of the Foundation Appaloosa Horse Registry.)

Robert and Violet Giltner bred these ponies and they and their ponies were well known in the late 1960s/1970s here in Lafayette.

They also owned a shop, Hoos-Yer Square, that sold square dancing clothes and western wear. (The name of the store is a play on the word Hoosier and then connects the word Square from square dancing to a busy local shopping area named Market Square.)

Their little shop is now a business office, but I remember shopping there and being amazed at all the frilly square dance dresses.

The Giltners' influence on the local horse community was enough that the NAPIs got their own classes at the Columbian Park Horse Show. No other breed got that privilege.

So, what happened to the National Appaloosa Pony Registry? To the ponies that were bred, sold, and shown? I don't know. My sister Leslie also draws a blank when it comes to the Giltners and their ponies. It's as though they and their NAPIs just quietly disappeared.

Just as the breed did.