distinctive blanket.

distinctive blanket. Sometimes, the animal stays solid colored but often the appearance of the blanket is just delayed, maybe for just a few months or for as long as two to three years.

There are signs a breeder can look for that will tell the story. All foals have a white ring around the eyeball when they're born but at about a week of age. the ring begins to haze over in all breeds except the Appaloosa. If the white ring is still visible when Mauri and Bill check the babies during that second week, odds are, they’ll have an Appaloosa—some day.

“It’s an almost fool-proof way to tell,” Mauri said. In addition, Appallpo^as, whether born solid t>r with the hoped-for-blanket, have mottled skin under the tail and on the nose and usually have striped hoofs as well.

Busy Days

Keeping the foals around until they color increases the workload as well as the expense. By 6:30 every morning. Mauri has all 19 head at Rock Bottom fed. The babies are brought in to the barn from the stallions’ lot where they’ve spent the night and Fox, the Paynes' handsome and docile Appaloosa stud, is turned out.

Then Mauri goes next door to Bill's parents' thoroughbred barn, puts the senior Paynes' mares up and cleans out stalls there.

Rock Bottom currently has two young Appaloosas on the show circuit—a spotted colt from this year’s crop and a yearling filly.

The colt. Peach, is the pride of the barn and rates, special attention. Afternoon chores begin with his grooming. He gets his feet picked up and rasped if they need it. Next, the filly gets the same routine and if there’s time. Mauri goes over the rest of the babies, giving them all a lick and a promise with the curry comb and brush.

Then Peach and Andy (their stable, not their registered names) have show lessons, 45 minutes each. Bill is usually home by then from his job as a salesman for a tobacco company so he and Mauri each take one youngster.

"We walk them away from the barn, expose them to different surroundings and work on the basics, like the