The couple breed Foundation Appaloosa Breed Horses (Appaloosa x Appaloosa, with no crossbreeding) at Hurricane Ranch.

"We are located deep in the heart of beautiful and scenic southeast Oklahoma, USA," write the Wicklunds.

"Our breeding program strives to produce colorful, beautiful and athletic equines that are sound, smooth moving, and have a wonderful disposition. We specialize in Competitive Trail Riding and Endurance Riding."

While the Wicklunds specialize in Appaloosas for distance events, the breed serves many needs. Appaloosas make popular stock and pleasure horses. You'll find many Appys at the rodeo, performing in such Western riding disciplines as roping, barrel racing, and others.

The Appaloosa Sport Horse developed to utilize Appaloosas in the English disciplines of jumping and dressage, and were bred to suit the conformation and movement required by English riders.

And Appys were well known as fierce war horses.

The Nez Percé Indians developed the Appaloosa horse from Spanish stock in the mid-1700's. The Nez Percé lived in a region encompassing the northeastern corner of Oregon, the southeastern corner of Washington and adjacent lands in Idaho, a region called the "Palouse" from one of the rivers flowing there. The name Appaloosa derives from Palouse. ("Palouse," incidentally, means flea in French!)

• Blanket - A solid white area, normally over the hip area, with a contrasting base color.

• Spots - White or dark spots over all or on some portion of the body.

• Blanket with spots - A white blanket that has dark spots within the white.

• Roan - A light-colored area on the forehead, jowls, and frontal bones of the face; also over the back, loins, and hips. Dark areas may appear along the frontal bones of the face, and also on the legs, stifle, above the eye, point of hip, and behind the elbow.

• Roan blanket - Roan pattern consisting of a mixture of light and dark hairs, over a portion of the body. The blanket normally occurs over, but not limited to, the hip area.

• Roan blanket with spots - A roan blanket that has white and or dark spots within the roan area.

• Solid - A solid base color, with no visible Appaloosa coat pattern. Needs to have mottled skin and one other Appaloosa characteristic to qualify for regular registration.

• Snowflake - white spotting can occur all over the body, but concentrated over the hips.

• Marbleized - mottled pattern covers the entire body.

• Frost - white specks on a dark background.

Other distinguishing features, which are seen even in horses that have solid coat color, define the Appaloosa. The sclera, the area of the eye surrounding the iris is white instead of the usual dark color seen in other breeds, and the skin around the muzzle and genitalia is

often noticeably mottled or spotted.

Since 1965, the Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC) offers the week-long Chief Joseph Trail Ride, open to registered Appaloosas only, retracing a different portion of the 1,300-mile route the Nez Percé took to evade the U.S. Calvary.

The Wicklunds' Appys, bred for distance and endurance, would make this trip handily.

Bill Wicklund, who refers to himself as a Professional Distance Rider, is the only person in the world who as a rider, breeder and trainer, has qualified 25 Appaloosas for their ApHC Medallion in Distance. In 2004, he received the "Presidents Achievement Award" from Frank Larrabee, President of the ApHC, in recognition of this accomplishment.

"In 2004," says Merry Wicklund, "Pratts Toby IV, our foundation bred stallion co-owned with Arita Harwood, of Big Creek Ranch, Lakeside, OR, became the 25 th Medallion earner.

"The first Medallion a Wicklund Appy earned won in 1975.

"'Toby' competed in NATRC CTR's (Competitive Trail Rides) and was the 2004 NATRC High Point Appaloosa. Bill and Lone Star Lad ('Atta Boy!') won the Medallion in Distance Riding from the ApHC on Nov. 28, 2003, at the Pineville Turkey Trot Endurance Ride, Pineville, MO.

"In early June of this year, Bill rode Deanna K. Brown's young foundation stallion, Eagles Thunderntoby, in the first National Championship Appaloosa Endurance (50-mile) Ride, held in Wisconsin. 'Thunder' has completed two of the seven rides required to earn his ApHC Medallion and hopefully will be Bill's 26th Medallion earner."

Appaloosa Horse Club logo

Deanna is President of the Appaloosa Horse Club in East Texas.

One of the reasons Appaloosas can make such grand distance horses is a gait called "The Indian Shuffle."

Merry adds, "Foundation Appys with this gait enable folks with knee or ankle pain who

cannot stand in the stirrups or post the trot, or people with back pain, or just plain old age, to participate on an Appaloosa in distance riding."

Kristi Johnson notes, "The Indian shuffle, like the pace, is a lateral gait: the legs on the same side of the horse move together. In the shuffle, the pace is broken as each hoof hits the ground a fraction ahead of the other, which results in four beats as in the walk. The shuffle is sometimes called the 'running walk,' but the true walk, like the trot, is a diagonal gait. The shuffle, as its name implies, does not have much elevation. The horse moves with a rolling motion of the shoulders and hips: the motion of the horse is absorbed in its back and loins giving the rider a smooth, gliding ride."

Apparently, the gait, natural in many foundation bred Appys, derived from the Spanish Paso Fino.

However the shuffle developed, it gives significance to the Wicklunds' farewell salute "Appy Trails to you!"

To learn more about the Wicklunds and Hurricane Ranch, they enthusiastically invite readers to visit http://www.hurricaneranch.net.

The Encyclopedia of the Horse - Elwyn Hartley - Edwards. ISBN 1-56458-614-6

Foundation Appaloosa Horse Registry (FAHR) http://www.foundationapp.org

The Indian Shuffle by KRISTI JOHNSON, as published by Appaloosa News, June 1978 issue