Appaloosas brought Michael House to Thoroughbreds. The spotted horses carted his kids in show rings across the country and his silks on the California fair racing circuit. House even now sometimes keeps an Appaloosa as a riding horse for himself or his wife, Dawn, at their California home in Rancho Santa Fe, and they breed them at their Montana ranch. The Houses stick to Thoroughbred broodmares and babies, however, at their Chestnut Farm near Versailles, Ky., where they raise youngsters for the yearling sales.
During the 1970s, when House first began racing, Appaloosa stakes purses could reach six figures. In the mid-1980s one of House's racehorses, Blowing Easy, won the first $100,000 Appaloosa race in California. A member of the Appaloosa Hall of Fame, Blowing Easy remains the second-leading Appaloosa racehorse earner of all time, behind Wing It, with $260,798.
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