What is the Difference Between Paint and Pinto?

Among horse owners and enthusiasts, there is quite a lot of confusion on the subject of whether a horse is a paint, or a pinto. What is the difference? Is there a difference?

There is, in fact, a slight difference. But just by looking at a horse, you won't be able to tell. Any owner of a paint or pinto horse will tell you, 'Paint is a breed, Pinto is a color'. This is true to some extent, but not always.

Technically, the Paint horse is a breed. The APHA (American Paint Horse Association), because it is an official registry, doesn't allow just any paint-colored horse. They must have one parent that was registered as such, and another parent that is an approved cross-breed.

Many registries do this to allow for different types, and new blood. For example: the POAC, which is not a very old breed, allows for any POA that is crossed with an Arabian, Thoroughbred, Appaloosa, Connemara, among others, to be fully registered as long as they meet other height and color requirements. Through out-crossing, many different kinds of conformation are allowed for, whereas, if only POA blood were allowed, they would be mostly similar in build, in either a more Western type, or English type. In old breeds, like Arabians and Thoroughbreds where no outcrossing is allowed for purebreds, there is a much more typical type between all of them as a whole.

Even though it may seem that the Paint Horse is a color-oriented registry, any horse that is born solid either from two registered APHA horses or from one APHA parent and one approved outcross breed (the only out-cross breeds allowed are Quarter horses, Thoroughbreds, or Appendix (meaning 1/2 Quarter horse, 1/2 Thoroughbred)) can be registered as breeding stock. It is not the same thing as full-registry in that there are some showing restrictions, but they can produce very valuable or colorful foals by breeding back to another registered Paint horse. The horse below is a 'solid' paint.

A lot of people get confused when the owner of the horse tries to explain that their ordinary-looking horse is a registered Paint (breeding stock), but that is because most people who don't own horses don't know how registries, or genetics, work. The fact that two loudly-marked horses can produce a solid foal makes no sense. But in the genetic sense, it does. Another solid paint mare, below:

It is quite unfair, though; by reading through the APHA rules, I learned that irregular markings, or blue eyes, which both indicate some interesting genes that can produce colored foals, aren't allowed full registration.

Back to the other subject: what, then, is a pinto?

A pinto is defined by the fact that it is, and isn't, a breed.

Any horse that has paint-markings can be called a pinto. They may or may not be actually a different breed. For example: Tenessee Walking horses can be purebred, and also pinto color. If you don't know and you call them a pinto, that is totally okay, but the owner may sharply reprimand you and tell you that,  it is in fact a Tenessee Walker. Below is a paint-color Tennessee Walking horse.

Technically, there is actually a pinto registry. It's pretty cool; they are much more forgiving of breed, and you can basically double-register if you want. There are slightly more rules for registering stallions, but almost any horse that has paint markings, even with unknown parentage, can be registered. The mare below is double-registered as Half-Arabian, and also Pinto.

 In fact, any horse that shows two pinto characteristics but is not loudly marked can be registered as well. Which as basically taking into account some genetics. Registering a horse with the PtHA (Pinto Horse Association) can greatly increase a horses value, and all because of the color!

There are many un-registered paint-marked horses. Which, in any case, would be a pinto. I've found that owners of any Paint or pinto horse is very particular about calling them one or the other.

The final question: does it actually matter what you call them? To me, not really. When speaking in terms of genetics, I'll use either, although if I wanted to be technical I would use pinto because I'm only talking about the color, and not the breed.

It is fascinating how many registries there are. If you have a horse with absolutely no papers at all, there is very likely a chance you can register it somewhere.

Horse Color Genetics: The Silver Gene

Review: E/e=black or red, A/a=bay or black

Dilute genes are any genes that make the horse turn a lighter color, like dun, cream, or champagne. Silver is sometimes put in the same category, but I personally don't think of it as a dilute, but more of a modifier.

Silver, similarly to agouti, only works on horses with dominant extension (E/e, or E/E). A horse must have black pigment for silver to be 'active'. It won't show up on a horse with red pigment (e/e).

What exactly is silver? A horse with black pigment and the silver gene (abbreviated with a Z) will always have a significantly lightened mane and tail, which can range from a silver color (hence the name), to a blonde or cream color. Sometimes even a bizarre orange color, like the Morgan below.

All black pigment, whether on just the legs or over the whole body, depending on whether the horse is black or bay, is usually lightened to some degree. The normal color is sort of chocolate, but it can be much darker, but not quite pure black. The one below is on the darker end. If it is a bay horse, then the whole body will not be lightened, but the black on the legs will.

Silver is a simple dominant gene, with exceptions. One copy or two dominant copies won't make a difference, the horse will look the same. The exception is a horse with red pigment will not be silver, like I mentioned before. There is a catch, and that is that red horses, or horses with recessive extension, can still carry the gene. A red horse can have the silver gene and hide it, since there is no black pigment to lighten. The pony below could carry it, and when crossed with a black or bay horse could produce a silver baby.

When paired with a black horse, it is called 'silver dapple' or sometimes 'black silver', and with bay, 'silver bay'. Basically, add on silver to whatever the color is, with the exception of silver dapple. Silver buckskins are very pretty, although unusual. Not neccesarily rare, but silver is not very often paired with other modifiers, but it is possible. The first pony is a silver bay, and the one below is a silver buckskin.

Flaxen chestnut, which can be a very dark color, is sometimes confused with silver dapple. Because a red horse can range in color from bright red to a liver color, and then paired with a cream mane and tail, the darker flaxen chestnuts are sometimes easy to mistake as silver dapple, and vice versa. However, the silver gene usually causes the mane and tail to be not nearly as white as a flaxen chestnuts. The horse below is bay roan silver.

The color has been partially isolated in particular breeds such as Rocky Mountain, Morgan, Shetland, Miniature, and Icelandic. It can also be in Quarter horses or other breeds, but is more unusual.

Using Horse Colors to Know a Purebred

There are certain horse registries where only certain colors are allowed. Most registries have colors that are not neccesarily 'illegal', but just aren't present in a purebred. Using this information, you can have a clue as to the breed of the horse, and also to recognize a non-purebred when you see one. This could also be useful in being angry at model horse makers for using colors that are 'illegal' in certain breeds.

Let's begin with Arabians. Most Arabs are recognizable, yet the colors allowed are very limited. The coat colors allowed are:

Base colors (red, black, bay, brown)

Gray

Roan/Rabicano (it appears the AHA identifies rabicano as roan, although true roan is not apparent in the breed)

Sabino (Although not SB1, as yet unidentified)

Dominant White (careful when identifying, this can be confused for other forms of pinto)

Colors NOT allowed:

Cream (that includes palomino and buckskin)

Dun

Champagne

Appaloosa

Tobiano

Frame Overo

Splashed White

Roan

Silver

Here is a stallion that appears to be pure Arab, but his coat gives him away. The owner states that he is 7/8 pure Arabian, which is about as good as it gets in terms of color and breeding.

Most of the dominant white coats actually look more sabino compared to several of the other dominant white mutations, so they are a little more recognizable than other pinto patterns.

Quarter Horses:

The AQHA is very forgiving, and are annoyingly un-meticulous about the registry colors. There aren't really any rules. They can come in every color under the sun, but AQHA doesn't allow loud pinto patterns. Cropout-producers would be allowed, which honestly isn't fair because purebred Quarter horses could carry something like sabino and produce a loud sabino foal that couldn't be registered.

Thoroughbred:

The Jockey Club is a little unusual in that there are no genetics taken into account. Palomino is allowed, yet buckskin or any double dilutes aren't mentioned. The Jockey Club seems a bit indifferent to actual color. If another color is present, they wouldn't care about the color; rather that the foal would not be purebred.

Colors allowed:

All base colors

Palomino (am I the only one who wants to know why there aren't more of these?!?)

Gray

White (this may be double-dilute, or dominant white. Quite a few white patterning mutations are found in Thoroughbreds)

Colors Not Allowed (or simply not present)

Dun

Champagne

Rabicano

Pinto (including, I believe, SB1, meaning unusual markings wouldn't exist)

Appaloosa

They also mention roan, but it is listed with gray almost as though the process of graying could count as roan. Whether roan is actually apparent in Thoroughbreds I am unsure.

Mustangs:

Because Mustangs are allowed to just breed as they want, almost every color is allowed. Again, whether the actual gene is available is the question. I don't think any genetic studies have been done on Mustangs, other than assuming their color genes are the same because they originated from the other horses. The BLM is not really concerned about the genetics, because most people do not buy their Mustangs for breeding purposes. There aren't any rules either, so I am going to have to guess as to which colors are 'available'. Also some areas of the BLM have more color variation than others. The only color I think isn't present at all is champagne, which I believe is a domestic mutation.

Tenessee Walking Horse:

The TWHBEA is relatively loose, and Tenessee Walkers generally come in a rainbow of colors, which can make for very interesting breeding options. 

The colors allowed: 

All base colors

Cream

Champagne

Tobiano

Sabino

Roan\

Dun

Silver

Grey

'White' (it states in the rules that white is rare; I'm going to guess that they are referring to some form of dominant white)

"Overo" 

There are several things I was surprised about; I have never heard of a dun TW, but upon Googling it, there are some, but not many.

Another possibly confusing term is 'overo'. I've seen many tobianos...

And some sabinos....

But did not know that 'overo' was a possibility. The question: which one? Sabino has already been listed, so it has to be either splash, or frame.

This one looks frame, and it turns out there are quite a few of them. I can't find anything on splashed white.

To wrap all that up, the only color 'out' is appaloosa, and even then there is a registry for spotted gaited horses, a 'Walkaloosa'. 

There might be a second post in the future, talking a little more about several registries with unusual color rules.