Appaloosa occurs in several overlay patterns on one of several recognized base coat colors. There are three other distinctive, "core" characteristics: mottled skin, striped hooves, and eyes with a white sclera. Skin mottling is usually seen around the muzzle, eyes, anus, and genitalia. Striped hooves are a common trait, quite noticeable on Appaloosas, but not unique to the breed. The sclera is the part of the eye surrounding the iris; although all horses show white around the eye if the eye is rolled back, to have a readily visible white sclera with the eye in a normal position is a distinctive
Tache noir de la sclerotique eye, which becomes brown and then black within a few hours, upon which dust settles and the surface becomes wrinkled. Tache noir de la sclerotique Tache noire de la sclerotique (French for "Black spot of the sclera") is one of the ocular signs of death in which a reddish-brown discoloration is transversely arranged across the sclera. It occurs when the eyes are not completely closed so that the sclera is exposed to air. If the eyelids are open for a few hours after death, a film of cell debris and mucus forms two yellow triangles on the sclera, each at