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Paint
and Pinto horses are so much fun to look at we can’t
take our eyes off them! Whether they’re grazing beside
a mountain stream, cutting ranch cattle from a herd, or
tackling a jumper course in the show ring, their striking
looks command attention. But have you ever looked at one
of these beautiful animals and wondered what the difference
between Pintos and Paints actually is?
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Historically,
the terms paint and pinto were used interchangeably for spotted
horses. The Spanish, who brought horses to the New World, called
them caballos pintos, which translates into “paint horses.”
Prior to 1962, when the American Paint Horse Association, APHA,
was formed, one of these colorful animals could have been called
either by the English word, paint, or the Spanish term, pinto.
Now,
however, because of the existence of both a Paint and a Pinto
horse registry, these terms describe two entirely different
types of horses. Some may be double registered if they meet
the breed standards of both, but the two registries are unrelated.
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Pinto Registry
Requirements
The
Pinto Horse Association, PtHA, registers any breed of horse, pony,
or miniature, except animals with Draft, Mule, or Appaloosa breeding,
that meet its minimum color requirements. In addition, all registered
Pinto horses and ponies are further categorized, based upon conformation
and suitability, within one of the following four types:
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Stock Type:
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Conformation associated
with Quarter Horse breeding. Suitable for western events, Hunt
seat, and a variety of other events. |
2. |
Hunter Type: |
Conformation associated with Thoroughbred,
approved Warmblood, or running Quarter Horse breeding. Suitable
for Hunt seat events, western, and a variety of other events. |
3. |
Pleasure Type: |
Conformation associated with Arabian
or classic Morgan breeding. Suitable for general western, English,
driving, and a variety of other events. |
4. |
Saddle Type: |
Conformation associated with American
Saddlebred, Tennessee Walking, or Missouri Foxtrotter breeding.
Suitable for general English, western, and driving events, along
with a variety of other events. |
Paint Registry
Requirements
Effective
January 1, 2005, all horses registered in the Regular Registry must
have one Paint parent, either Regular Registry or Breeding Stock.
The other parent can be Paint, Quarter Horse, or Thoroughbred.
Though the breed requirements may differ, what the
two registries do have in common is that colorful coats are the
cornerstones of both breeds, and the popularity of each group is
on the rise. PtHA boasts numbers of more than 121,000 horses, ponies,
and miniatures, and growing, and APHA is right behind the AQHA in
terms of the number of new foals registered annually, making it
the second-largest breed registry in the US.
Spotted Coat Patterns
Although
painted horses come in countless variations of white combined with
black, chestnut, bay, dun, sorrel, grey, roan, or palomino, in different
shapes and sizes all over the body, there are only three specific
coat patterns: tobiano, overo, and tovero. The amount of white on
a horse does not affect the pattern, but the location of white on
the body does. There’s a relatively easy way to make the distinction.
Tobiano
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The
name tobiano (toe-bee-ah’-no) came from a man named
Tobias, who introduced the horses to Argentina in the 19th century.
The horses were called tobianos to distinguish them from the
overos already in the country. Generally, tobiano horses appear
to be white with large spots of color. The white areas are distinctly
oval or round, with crisp, clean edges. They start on the top,
extend down the neck and over the withers and move down toward
the ground in a regular or clearly marked pattern. The chest
is often dark and as a rule, a tobiano never has more than two
solid-colored legs. The mane and tail are often two different
colors, as the hair takes on the color of the region from which
it extends. The head markings are like those of a solid-colored
horse, often with a snip, star, strip or blaze. |
Overo
Overo
comes from the Spanish word meaning “like an egg”
and refers to the overo’s egg-like spotting or speckling
pattern. On an overo, the white spreads up and over the stomach.
Rarely does the white hair cross over the back between the withers
and tail. So, in most cases if there’s a line of solid
dark color from the withers to the dock, it’s an overo.
The
white markings of an overo are scattered and irregular, and
have the appearance of being splashed up from underneath the
horse. The total amount of white on the body can deviate from
very little to almost completely white. The mane and tail are
usually one color, either solid white or solid dark, although
the tail is usually the latter. One of the most notable characteristics
of this color pattern is the bold, white head markings, such
as a bald face.
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Just
to complicate things a bit, within the overo classification,
there are some different spotting patterns. The sabino
is characterized by jagged edges of white patches splashed up
on the body as belly spots. Sabinos usually are flecked and
roaned, and sometimes they have blue eyes. |
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Another
pattern is called frame overo. Generally, a dark ‘frame’
surrounds white body markings. The white patches are arranged
horizontally on the sides and neck; the head is mostly white
and the eyes are often blue. Most rare is the splashed white
pattern. A splashed white horse looks as if it has been dipped
into a trough of white paint. The legs and belly are white,
along with most of the head. The white edges are very crisp
and many of these horses have blue eyes. |
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the most fascinating overo marking is that of the Medicine
Hat. A Medicine Hat horse has a nearly all-white body, with
a dark bonnet-like marking over the head and ears, and an equally
dark shield of color over the chest. Because of these distinct
markings, the Plains Indians revered the Medicine Hat horse.
“Only the braves who had proved themselves were allowed
to ride them, and a Comanche warrior who rode a Medicine Hat
into battle considered himself invincible,” writes author
Glynn W. Haynes in his book, The American Paint Horse.
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Tovero
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But
not all variations in coat patterns can be pegged into the confines
of the typical tobiano and overo. Because of this, shortly after
the APHA was founded, they established a classification called
tovero for horses with characteristics of both patterns. For
example, a tovero might have a bald face along with a two-tone
mane. They may be primarily white or dark. Toveros typically
come from one tobiano parent and one overo parent. |
All
painted horses are a pleasure to look at and to watch in action.
And the easy way to ‘spot’ the color patterns is this:
white starting on top, two-toned tail, must be a tobiano.
Bald face, white spreading up and over the belly –
probably an overo.
Now
you’ve got the knowledge you need to make a very educated
guess!
For
additional information on the Paint Horse Breed, contact APHA at
www.apha.com or 817-834-APHA.
To find out more about the Pinto Horse Registry, call 405-491-0111
or log on to www.pinto.org.
Article
Provided By Susan Union
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