Each Paint Horse has a particular combination of white and another color of the equine spectrum. Most common are horses with white spots combined with
black,
bay,
brown, and
chestnut or
sorrel. Less common are horses with spot colors influenced by
dilution genes such as
palomino,
buckskin,
cremello,
perlino,
pearl or "Barlink factor", and
champagne, various shades of
roan, or various shades of
dun, including
grullo. Paints may also carry the
gray gene and have spots that eventually fade to white hair, though retaining pigmented skin underneath the areas that were once dark. Spots can be any shape or size, except
leopard complex patterning, which is characteristic of the
Appaloosa, and located virtually anywhere on the Paint's body. Although Paints come in a variety of colors with different markings and different underlying genetics, these are grouped into only four defined coat patterns:
overo (includes
frame,
splash and sabino),
tobiano and
tovero and solid. Breeding Stock Paints can sometimes showcase small color traits, particularly if they carry sabino genetics. Such traits include blue eyes, pink skin on lips and nostrils, roan spots, and minimal roaning.
Terms for color patterns defined ,
New York •
Tobiano: The most common 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 and more white than dark, with the head usually dark and with markings like that of a normal horse. i.e. star, snip, strip, or blaze. •
Overo: A group of spotting patterns characterized by sharp, irregular markings with a horizontal orientation, usually more dark than white, though the face is usually white, sometimes with blue eyes. The white rarely crosses the back, and the lower legs are normally dark. The APHA recognizes three overo patterns: •
Frame: The most familiar overo pattern, the gene for frame has been genetically mapped and in the
homozygous form, results in
Lethal White Syndrome (LWS). Visually identified frames have no health defects connected to their color, and are characterized by ragged, sharp white patches on the sides of the body, leaving a "frame" of non-white color that typically includes the topline. •
Sabino: Often confused with
roan or
rabicano, sabino is a slight spotting pattern characterized by high white on legs, belly spots, white markings on the face extending past the eyes and/or patches of roaning patterns standing alone or on the edges of white markings. •
Splashed white: The least common spotting pattern, splashed whites typically have blue eyes and crisp, smooth, blocky white markings that almost always include the head and legs. The tail is often white or white-tipped, and body markings originate under the belly and extend "upwards". •
Tovero: spotting pattern that is a mix of tobiano and overo coloration, such as blue eyes on a dark head. • Solid: A horse otherwise eligible for registration as a Paint that does not have any white that constitutes a recognized spotting pattern. • "Color": An informal term meaning that the horse has a spotting pattern. (The opposite of "Solid.") • "Chrome": An informal term of approval used in some geographic regions to describe a particularly flashy spotting pattern. • Pintaloosa: An informal term used to describe the color of a horse that has been crossbred between an American Paint and an Appaloosa.
Paint or Pinto? The terms
paint and
pinto are sometimes both used to describe paint horses. The breed is specifically called
Paint, and
pinto actually refers to the color. ==History==