From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A pinto horse has a coat color that consists of large patches of white and any other color. Pinto coloration is also called paint, particolored, or in nations that use British English, simply coloured. Pinto horses have been around since shortly after the domestication of the horse.
Pinto colors can come in a number of genetically distinct patterns, which have different visual characteristics and tend to make white or leave colored different areas of the horse. These include tobiano, sabino, splashed white, frame, and manchado. A pinto horse may also have a combination of these patterns, such as tovero.
Pinto patterns can be found in various breeds of horses, notably including the American Paint Horse. Color breed registries such as the Pinto Horse Association of America record pedigree and horse show results for pinto horses, regardless of ancestry. Both the terms "Pinto" and "Paint" may sometimes refer to breeds or registries rather than coat color.
Pinto patterns are visually and genetically distinct from the leopard complex spotting patterns characteristic of horse breeds such as the Appaloosa. Breeders who select for color are often careful not to cross the two patterns, and registries that include spotting color preferences often refuse registration to horses that exhibit characteristics of the "wrong" pattern.
The non-white area has the same colors in the same arrangements as one would see on a solid horse. Overall, the effect is as if a horse with a solid coat had white painted in patches over top. The white areas of a pinto horse generally have pink skin underneath.
The earliest known pinto horses appeared shortly after horses were domesticated. Analysis of ancient horse DNA found a tobiano horse that lived about 5600 years ago, and a sabino-1 horse that lived about 5000 years ago. Tobiano was at first favored by humans and became especially common during the Iron Age (900 BC to 400 AD), before becoming less frequent again in the Middle Ages.
Images from pottery and other art of ancient antiquity show horses with flashy, spotted patterns, indicating that they may have been desirable traits and selectively bred for. Images of spotted horses appear in the art of Ancient Egypt, and archaeologists have found evidence of horses with spotted coat patterns on the Russian steppes before the rise of the Roman Empire. Later, spotted horses were among those brought to the Americas by the conquistadores.
By the 17th century in Europe, spotted horses were quite fashionable, though when the fad ended, large numbers of newly unsellable horses were shipped to the Americas, some of which were sold, while others were simply turned loose to run wild. The color became popular, particularly among Native Americans, and was specifically bred for in the United States, which now has the greatest number of pinto horses in the world.
While pinto horses in general have patches of white and patches of color, there are a number of different, separately inherited patterns which tend to arrange the white and colored areas differently.
Pattern Description
The most recognizable type of pinto, tobiano is a spotting pattern characterized by rounded markings with white legs and white across the back between the withers and the dock of the tail, usually arranged in a roughly vertical pattern. The head is usually dark, and may have facial markings similar to those seen on non-pinto horses such as a star, snip, strip, or blaze. Tobiano is a dominant trait caused by a single gene, so all tobiano horses have at least one tobiano parent.
Frame or frame overo
Frame is characterized by horizontally oriented white patches with jagged, crisp edges. White patches typically include the head, face, and lateral aspects of the neck and body, and the eyes can be blue. Frame overos may have very modest markings that are not obviously pinto. This quality allows the pattern to seemingly "hide" for generations, and is thought to be responsible for some cases of cropouts.
The same gene that causes the frame pattern can also cause lethal white syndrome. Although frame overo horses are themselves healthy, if two horses with the frame gene are bred together, there is a 25% chance that the foal will have lethal white syndrome. Affected foals are fully white and die shortly after birth.
A less-common pinto pattern, splashed white coats have horizontally oriented white markings with crisp, smooth edges, and make the horse appear to have been dipped, head lowered, into white paint. The face has significant white markings, and the eyes are usually blue. Most splashed white pintos have normal hearing, but the trait is linked to congenital deafness. Splashed white patterns can be caused by multiple variants of two different genes.
Sabino and dominant white
A group of visually similar patterns which may range from white markings on the face and legs all the way up to a solid white horse. In between those extremes, sabino horses possess a spotting pattern characterized by high white on legs, belly spots, and white markings on the face extending past the eyes. The edges of markings may be "lacy" or patches of roaning patterns standing alone or on the edges of white markings can occur. Sabino may sometimes look similar to roan or rabicano. Of the 30+ forms of sabino and dominant white where the genetic cause is known, all are caused by different alternate variants of the same gene. It's possible that some forms of sabino where the cause is not yet known may turn out to be caused by a different gene or genes.
Some additional terms describe the pattern without specifying the exact pinto pattern. These include:
Overo: A collective term used primarily by the APHA, overo essentially means "pinto, but not tobiano". It denotes patterns produced by at least three different genetic mechanisms: frame, splashed white, or sabino, described above. These patterns are usually characterized by irregular markings with more jagged edges than tobiano markings. The white usually does not cross the back.
Tovero: A mix of tobiano and any form of overo coloration, usually reflecting that the horse carries more than one set of genes for a spotting pattern. For example, a tovero may have a mostly white tobiano pattern on the body, but also have blue eyes with or without a white head. Horses can carry multiple spotting genes at the same time, producing characteristics of several patterns.
Chrome: This informal term of approval for appealing white markings on the horse can be confusing, as it is also used to describe boldly patterned Appaloosas.
Solid: In the context of pinto, a solid horse is one with no visible pinto pattern, regardless of whether white markings are present and regardless of whether the horse carries any pinto genes. In other contexts, "solid" may be used to describe a horse with no white markings.
Medicine hat: An uncommon pattern, the poll and ears are dark, surrounded completely by white, a true "medicine hat" pinto or paint usually has a predominantly white body, sometimes with dark coloration by the flanks, chest, and above the eyes.
Shield: A large, dark patch covers the chest, surrounded completely by white, usually on a predominantly white horse, sometimes associated with medicine hat patterning.
Mapping: Areas where the edge between white and color is softer, neither completely white nor completely colored, especially when seen on normally crisp-edged patterns such as tobiano. Mainly of interest to artists.[13][14]
Cropout: A pinto horse from two apparently solid-colored parents, typically within a breed whose standard does not allow pinto coloration.
A number of color breed registries encourage the breeding of pinto-colored horses, with varying registration requirements. The less restrictive organizations allow registration of a horse of any breed or combination of breeds with as little as three square inches of white above the knees or hocks, not including facial markings. Some pinto registries do not accept animals with draft horse or mule breeding, though others do. None accepts horses with the genetically distinct Appaloosa pattern, produced by genes in the leopard complex, and the Appaloosa registry in turn does not accept animals with pinto patterns.
When used to refer to breeds, Pinto is a color breed that can be of any type or ancestry, while a Paint is a breed with a specific type and bloodlines.
The Pinto Horse Association of America (PtHA) is a color breed, which accepts horses based on coat color regardless of ancestry. They maintain three registries: the Color Registry, which accepts pinto colored horses; the Solid Registry, which accepts any horse not accepted by the Colored Registry; and the Long Ear Registry, which accepts donkeys and mules of any color. To count as Pinto, a horse must have at least four square inches of white fur and pink skin in areas other than the face and lower legs. The Color Registry does not accept horses with appaloosa characteristics, but the Solid Registry does. The Color Registry also requires that both parents of stallions be registered with the PtHA or an approved outcross breed, though this is not required for ponies, miniatures, or horses of Vanner or Drum type.[6][15][16]
Horses with pinto coloring and verifiable pedigrees tracing to Quarter Horses or Thoroughbreds have been named the American Paint Horse, and are recorded in a separate registry, the American Paint Horse Association. While a Pinto may be of any breed or combination of breeds (possibly with restrictions depending on the registry), a horse that is registered as an American Paint Horse must have at least one parent recorded with the APHA, and both parents must be only of registered American Quarter Horse, American Paint Horse, or Thoroughbred bloodlines. Therefore, most Paint horses may also be registered as Pintos, but not all Pintos are qualified to be registered as Paints.
Many breed registries do not, or at some point in the past did not, accept cropout horses with spots or "excess" white for registration, believing that such animals were likely to be crossbreds, or due to a fear of producing lethal white foals. This exclusion of offspring from pedigreed parents led to the formation not only of the American Paint Horse Association, but also other pinto registries. Among the breeds that excluded such horses were the Arabian Horse and American Quarter Horse registries. Modern DNA testing, though, has revealed that some breeds do possess genes for spotting patterns, such as a non-SB-1 sabino pattern in Arabians, and sabino, overo, and tobiano in Quarter Horses. Therefore, these registries have modified their rules, allowing horses with extra white, if parentage is verified through DNA testing, to be registered. The Jockey Club's Thoroughbred registry, however, still does not officially recognize pinto as a registerable color, though it does allow white body spots to be recorded under the category of markings. The Welsh Pony and Cob Society of the UK also does not accept "piebald" or "skewbald" horses for registration.