Pinto horse

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,^: 171  or in nations that use British English, piebald. 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.^: 171 

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.

Description

A pinto horse has a coat with patches of white fur and patches of another color. The white on a pinto horse is usually not symmetrical, unlike white added by the leopard complex.

The colored areas look just like the coat of a solid-colored horse, with white patches added on top. The white areas of a pinto horse typically have pink skin underneath. A horse with only small white spots on the face or legs is not called a pinto; these are known as white markings. There isn't a strict rule for how much white a horse needs to be called a pinto, and different groups have slightly different ideas about this.

The word pinto is Spanish for "painted", "dappled", or "spotted".

History

Pinto horses with their colorful patches have been around almost since people first began to ride horses. Scientists have found evidence of these special horses living thousands of years ago. In very old pictures and art, we can see horses with bright, spotted coats, showing that people liked these patterns and chose horses with them on purpose.

These spotted horses traveled to many places. They were seen in ancient pictures from Ancient Egypt and roamed the wide lands of the Russian steppes before the time of the Roman Empire. Later, when explorers came to the Americas, they brought some of these horses with them. By the 1600s in Europe, having a spotted horse was very popular. When this trend faded, many of these horses were sent to the Americas, where some were sold and others were set free to live wild. Today, the United States has the most pinto horses in the world, and they are especially loved by Native Americans.

Pinto coats by base color

Some words help describe pinto horses by talking about the color that isn’t white, mainly used in British English. You can also name the coat by including the base color, like “bay pinto” or “pinto palomino”.

• Piebald: Any pinto pattern on a black base coat, so a black-and-white spotted horse. The term comes from "magpie".
• Skewbald: Any pinto pattern on any base coat other than black; since chestnut and bay are the most common base coat colors, skewbalds are most often chestnut and white or bay and white. This term also comes from "magpie" via Scandinavian skjöt.
• Tricolored or tricoloured: A horse with three colors, usually bay (brown and black) and white. Usually considered a type of skewbald.

Pinto coats by pattern

Pinto horses have patches of white and other colors on their coats, and there are different ways these patches can appear. Some general terms describe these patterns without naming a specific type.

Overo is a term used for pintos that are not tobiano. It includes patterns with irregular, jagged edges, and the white usually does not cross the horse's back. Tovero is a mix of tobiano and overo patterns, often showing features from both types.

Related terms

See also: Horse markings

• Chrome: This is a friendly way to describe nice white markings on a horse, though it can also refer to boldly patterned Appaloosas.
• Solid: A solid pinto horse has no clear pinto pattern, even if it carries pinto genes.
• Medicine hat: This rare pattern has a dark area around the poll and ears, with the rest of the horse mostly white.
• Shield: A large dark patch covers the chest of a mostly white horse.
• Mapping: This is when the edge between white and color areas is softer, especially in patterns that usually have sharp edges.
• Cropout: This is when a pinto horse is born from parents who appear to have solid-colored coats.

In biology, pinto is considered a type of piebaldism, which is a type of leucism.

Pattern	Description
Tobiano	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.
Splashed white	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.
Manchado	A rare pattern characterized by large, crisp white areas with smooth round spots of color inside them. Usually there will be more white on the dorsal side the neck, and more color on the belly and the ventral side of the neck. It has been seen in the Thoroughbred, Criollo, Polo Pony, Arabian, and Hackney breeds, and almost always in Argentina. The cause of manchado is not known for certain, but Sponenberg & Bellone propose it may be caused by a rare recessive gene.: 202

Organizations

Many groups help people who raise pinto-colored horses. Some groups have easy rules, like needing just a small patch of white on the horse. Others have stricter rules, such as not allowing certain types of horses to join.

The Pinto Horse Association of America started in 1956. They register horses based on their coat color, no matter where the horse comes from. To be a pinto, a horse needs at least four square inches of white fur and pink skin in areas other than the face and lower legs.

The American Paint Horse is a special type of pinto horse that must have parents who are registered Quarter Horses or Thoroughbreds. These horses are very popular in the United States.

Some horse registries used to not allow horses with extra white patches, but now they sometimes allow them if the parents are tested with DNA.