American Paint Horse
The American Paint Horse is a breed of
horse which is a specific type of stock horse developed in the
United States. Paint horses are characterized by a spotting pattern of white hair over unpigmented skin combined with some other color.
Encyclopedia
The
American Paint Horse is a breed of
horse which is a specific type of stock horse developed in the
United States. Paint horses are characterized by a spotting pattern of white hair over unpigmented skin combined with some other color.
Registration
The American Paint Horse's combination of color and conformation has made the
American Paint Horse Association the second-largest breed registry in the United States based on the number of horses registered annually. While the colorful coat pattern is essential to the identity of the breed, American Paint Horses have strict bloodline requirements and a distinctive stock-horse body type. To be eligible for registry, a Paint's sire and dam must be registered with the American Paint Horse Association, the American Quarter Horse Association, or the Jockey Club . At least one parent must be a registered American Paint Horse. To be eligible for the Regular Registry, the horse must also exhibit a minimum amount of white hair over unpigmented skin, although solid colored horses of registgered Paint parents are also eligible for registration, with certain restrictions.
Color
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, dark bay ,
chestnut or
sorrel. Less common are horses with spots that are
palomino, buckskin, gray,
cremello, perlino, various shades of roan, or various shades of
dun, including
grullo.
Markings can be any shape or size, and located virtually anywhere on the Paint's body. Although Paints come in a variety of colors with different markings, there are only four defined coat patterns:
overo,
tobiano and
tovero and solid.
Terms for color patterns defined
- 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: Spotting pattern characterized by sharp, irregular markings with a horizontal orientation, usually more white than dark, though the face is usually white, sometimes with blue eyes. The white rarely crosses the back, and the lower legs are normally dark.
- Sabino: Often confused with roan, 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. In some registries, sabinos are registered as having the tobiano pattern
- 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.
- "Chrome": An informal term of approval used in some places to describe a particularly flashy-colored horse.
Paint or Pinto?
A horse with a white and dark spotting pattern may be considered a Pinto horse. . Paints are only those horses with both specific stock horse breeding and recognized color patterns. Thus, most Paints are pintos, but not all pintos are Paints.
History
The American Paint Horse shares a common ancestry with the
American Quarter Horse. A registered Paint horse should conform to the same "stock horse" body type desired in Quarter Horses: a muscular animal that is heavy but not too tall, with a low centre of gravity for maneuverability, and powerful hindquarters suitable for rapid acceleration and sprinting.
When the American Quarter Horse Association emerged in 1940 to preserve horses of the "stock" type, it excluded those with pinto coat patterns and "crop out" horses, those born with white body spots or white above the knees and hocks. Undeterred, fans of colorful stock horses formed a variety of organizations to preserve and promote Paint horses. In 1965 some of these groups merged to form the American Paint Horse Association.
Genetic Problems
One medical issue associated with the breed is the genetic disease lethal white syndrome. Due to the heavy influx of Quarter Horse breeding, some Paints may also carry genes for HYPP and HERDA. The influence of Thoroughbred breeding is believed by some to also make the breed slightly more prone to Wobbler's Syndrome.
References
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