The Non-characteristic Appaloosa (N-Appaloosa) is a sub-registry of the Appaloosa breed. It is intended for the registration of solid-colored Appaloosas born to an Appaloosa parent.

Why is there a registry for solid-colored Appaloosas?
The Appaloosa breed is famous for its iconic spotted coat pattern. This pattern--officially known as 'leopard complex'--encompasses six different spotting patterns. Those patterns are coded by the leopard L allele, with three of them requiring only one L allele and the other three require two L alleles.

The L allele is dominant, and a horse will be spotted even if they are heterozygous to this allele, meaning if they carry only one L allele. Crossing two heterozygous (Ll) horses has a 25% chance of resulting in a foal that doesn't carry the L allele. Those foals are born solid-colored.

Even though they have a solid coat, those foals are still Appaloosas, as they have at least one Appaloosa parent with the other one being an Appaloosa, a Quarter Horse, a Thoroughbred, or an Arabian, as allowed by the Appaloosa Horse Club's breeding rules.

However, those solid-colored foals still can't be registered as 'regular' Appaloosas, because they lack the iconic spotted pattern of the breed. Therefore, they are registered as Non-characteristic Appaloosas and marked with '(N)'.

Eligibility and breeding:
In order to be eligible for registration as a Non-characteristic Appaloosa, a horse must have two Appaloosa parents or one Appaloosa parent and one American Quarter Horse or Thoroughbred or Arabian parent.

Non-characteristic Appaloosas can serve as breeding stock for Appaloosa horses, and as such they can be crossed with other Appaloosas, preferably with spotted ones. They cannot, however, be crossed with Quarter Horses, Thoroughbreds, or Arabians, as all of those breeds have a solid coat.

Conformation and performance:
Non-characteristic Appaloosas have the same conformation and performance metrics as regular Appaloosas. See the 'Appaloosa' for more info.

Coats & Height:
Colors: all colors except for dominant-white and mushroom, although the latter can be bred into this breed.

Additionals: flaxen, linebacked, minimal-mealy, rabicano, roan, sooty, all rare patterns. The coat is always solid.

Height: 14hh to 16.1hh.