OklahomaHorses Magazine March 2021

March/April 2021 • OklahomaHorses 21 Tattoo the Spotted Appaloosa A Social Media Sensation and More WRITTEN BY: Bill Snyder PHOTOS COURTESY OF: Branigan Kuhns S ome social media influencers spend count- less hours perfecting a post. Others know how to get tons of likes with just a shake of their mane or a showing off of their spots. With over 19,000 followers on Instagram, Tattoo the Appaloosa is one of Oklahoma’s most popular online personalities. He’s from Piedmont, where he lives with owner Branigan Kuhns. The bay peacock leopard Appaloosa has captured eyes and attention with his unique coloring and playful personality. Branigan says that she is as shocked as anyone with the large following her horse has gathered. “I don’t even really keep up with my own social media,” Branigan says, but she started Tat- too’s Instagram account as a way to document his training process. “When he was 2, I posted a picture of him on Facebook that started getting shared around a lot. His unique coloring caught everybody by surprise.” When describing Tattoo’s coloring, Branigan tells people to think of a leopard’s spots, and then picture spots inside of spots. Of course, his Instagram account @tattoo_the_appaloosa has tons of pictures and videos of the 6-year-old horse to see for yourself. While participating in a college equine program, Branigan took an internship with her trainer. She worked with a number of mares in foal, including Tattoo’s mother. Branigan met Tattoo within hours of his birth and began forming a bond; she was the first human he had ever met. Like a proud mother, Branigan takes great joy in Tattoo’s big personality. “He loves attention and making goofy faces,” she says. “He’s really energetic, so he likes to bounce around and show off. He’s just eccentric. He has so many facial animations I’ve never seen before; he almost looks cartoonish! That just makes me laugh more than anything.” Branigan has had a lifelong love of horses, just like her family. She took her first riding lessons when she was 5 years old. She still has her first horse, a 35-year-old Tennessee Walker. When she was 15, Branigan started showing competitively. She credits horses with helping her through childhood. “I was an incredibly shy kid growing up,” Branigan says. “I didn’t have a lot of friends. Horses, I didn’t have to speak to them. They were just there for me all the time; it didn’t mat- ter. I could be in a horrible mood from school, or something could ruin my day, and my horse is just there, ready and so excited. “I think horses got me out of my shell,” she adds. “I never did competitive sports like basket- ball or anything like that; I’m 100% horses all the time. They’re just sweet and compassionate, no matter what is going on.” Branigan’s unique bond with Tattoo goes back to before his birth. Her internship included working with Tattoo’s mother. After his birth, Branigan spent hours every day in the stall, brushing the horses or lying with Tattoo. She says their strong connection made the process of separating Tattoo from his mother very stress free for the horse. “Our bond is so incredibly strong that noth- ing scares him,” Branigan says. “If something is scary for him, it’s really interesting to watch him run to me, which is really odd for horses. He runs to me, and everything has to be a touch sensation. So he has to kind of lean into my space, or I put my hand on him to calm him. A lot of people don’t really get to see that on my Instagram because I’m usually not filming in that moment.” She says that as a yearling at his first show, nothing phased Tattoo. “I’m like his second mom,” Branigan says. Speaking of moms, Tattoo was named by Brani- gan’s mother, Anita Kuhns. “When he was born, my parents stopped by to see the baby horses,” Branigan says. “When they walked in, I was in the stall, and Tattoo was asleep in my lap. I was sobbing and told my parents, ‘I think my heart is beating out of my chest; he is so beautiful.’ “My mom then said, ‘You should call him Tattoo.’ Tattoo means a strong rhythmic beat- ing, tapping. We are Native American, so names have a lot of meaning and strength to them. So Tattoo was a strong name that means so much to me.”