Did you know that there is a difference between a Pinto and a Paint horse? The Pinto Horse Association is color registration not a breed registration. The American Paint Horses Association a breed registry.  You have to be able to prove that your horse's parents have to be an American Quarter Horse, Thoroughbred, or a American Paint Horse. A Pinto can be any breed except Appaloosas, mules and draft horses. Paints have a strict measurement for their colors and markings. If your horse has a baby and meets all of the requirements for being a paint but is a solid color, its not considered a paint it is considered a "breeding stock" paint. They can still be registered but they must compete in different classes at Paint horse shows.
    Paints can be white with any other colors: brown, chestnut, black, bay, grullo, dun, palomino, sorrel, grey, buckskin, or roan. There markings can be any shape or size and can be anywhere on their body.
    There are three specific types of coat patterns for paints: tobiano, overo, and tovero.  A tobiano's usually has dark markings with white legs and their spots are in the shapes of ovals. Their heads have markings such as star, snip, solid, or with a blaze. They also normally have two colors in their tails.
    An overo's markings usually will not cross their back. At least on of their legs is dark and most of the times all four legs are dark in coloring. Most if the time a overo's face is marked in a bald pattern.  They are most dark or white and their tail is only one color.

    A tovero is a mixture of tobiano and overo markings.

    A Pinto Horse Association splits their horses and ponies into four types. Pleasure type Pintos should have Arabian or Morgan-type conformation. A Stock type Pinto should have a Quarter Horse-type conformation. Saddle type Pintos should have Tennessee Walking Horse, American Saddlebred, and Missouri Fox Trotter-type conformation. Hunter Type Pintos should have Thoroughbred or Warmblood-type conformation.
    There are organization that you can get involved with. Some of them even offer scholarships. If you have a Paint of a Pinto you should look into getting involved in one of their organizations.

 

Farin Phillips
 Junior Editor/Graphic Designer
feedscoop.com