When the U.S. 7th Cavalry accepted the surrender of Chief Joseph and the remaining Nez Perce, they immediately took more than 1,000 of the tribe's horses, sold what they could and shot many of the rest. But a significant population of horses had been left behind in the Wallowa valley when the Nez Perce began their retreat, and additional animals escaped or were abandoned along the way. The Nez Perce were ultimately settled on reservation lands in north central Idaho, were allowed few horses, and were required by the Army to crossbreed to draft horses in an attempt to create farm horses. The Nez Perce tribe never regained its former position as breeders of Appaloosas. In the late 20th century, they began a program to develop a new horse breed, the Nez Perce horse, with the intent to resurrect their horse culture, tradition of selective breeding, and horsemanship.
When the US 7th Cavalry accepted the surrender of Chief Joseph and the remaining Nez Perce they immediately took more than 1000 of the tribe's horses sold what they could and shot many of the rest But a significant population of horses had been left behind in the Wallowa valley when the Nez Perce began their retreat and additional animals escaped or were abandoned along the way The Nez Perce were ultimately settled on reservation lands in north central Idaho were allowed few horses and were required by the Army to crossbreed to draft horses in an attempt to create farm horses The Nez Perce tribe never regained its former position as breeders of Appaloosas In the late 20th century they began a program to develop a new horse breed the Nez Perce horse with the intent to resurrect their horse culture tradition of selective breeding and horsemanship