The IPAA requires a purebred to have at least 75% “original” Foundation ancestry and be at least the fifth generation of Appaloosa-to-Appaloosa breeding. We are proud to say this meets commonly accepted scientific requirements for a purebred. IPAA is the ONLY Appaloosa breed association with registrations based on the original ApHCC and ApHC registered Foundation stock whose purebreds meet common scientific purebred requirements.

IPAA members researched what it takes to “make” a purebred. In this effort we were assisted, informed and advised by professors from major universities, the Canadian Department of Agriculture (Canada regulates breed associations and has specific requirements designed to meet accepted scientific requirements for purebreds), and the use of references on breeding and genetics.

What IPAA found is that there is no one, all-inclusive specific definition for a purebred. However, it was unanimous that a purebred must derive most of its ancestry from a set number of designated “founding stock” and this is the basis (and typically the only requirement) for any purebred definition. The suggested requirement for this percentage of Foundation stock ancestry varied but was generally within a range of three-fourths to fifteen-sixteenths Foundation ancestry for a purebred.

Given the history and current state of the Appaloosa horse, IPAA determined three-fourths (75%) Foundation blood (derived from the original ApHCC and ApHC Foundation Appaloosas) was the best requirement for today’s purebred Appaloosa. This makes good sense when one considers:

° IPAA’s goal is to preserve the original bloodlines of the Appaloosa – so any purebred requirement must be based on the original Foundation bloodlines of ApHC and ApHCC. To utilize the entire spectrum of today’s registered Appaloosa bloodlines as Foundation stock would in effect be creating a new breed.
° Given the amount of crossbreeding and subsequent dilution of the original bloodlines in most of today’s Appaloosas, a higher Foundation percentage is impractical and would provide for only a VERY limited number of horses upon which to build IPAA. Such a small genetic base could have potentially severe health consequences for the breed later on.
° IPAA does not allow crossbreeding- therefore the Foundation blood within its registry will not become diluted over time.

Another consideration for new breeds being produced from dissimilar breeds is the need to gain some amount of genetic uniformity regarding the display of the new breed's defining characteristics. This is accomplished by requiring several generations of interbreed breeding and selection for characteristics of the new breed. Because IPAA is based upon 75+ % original Foundation ancestry Appaloosas from approved breed associations, a requirement for generations of interbreeding within the breed is not needed to meet a scientific definition for purebred. All IPAA Appaloosas come from ancestors already having similar type and general breed characteristics of the Appaloosa. Therefore the goal of such a “generation requirement” is already met. However, in order to further insure a minimum of uniformity, and be consistent with programs already existing within some associations approved by IPAA, the IPAA does include “generation requirements”.

° Any horse registered with IPAA must be at least the second generation (F2) of Appaloosa-to-Appaloosa breeding. This is in addition to the 75% Foundation ancestry requirement.
° All IPAA registered purebreds must be at least the fifth generation (F5) of all registered Appaloosa-to-Appaloosa breeding. This is in addition to the 75% Foundation ancestry requirement.0