It has been suggested that Breeding Stock Paint be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

American Paint Horse
American Paint Horse
Distinguishing features:	Broad pinto spotting patterns of white and dark hair
Alternative names:	Paint
Country of origin:	United States
Common nicknames:	Paint
Breed standards
APHA:	Stds

The American Paint Horse is a breed of horse that combines both the conformational characteristics of a western stock horse with a pinto spotting pattern of white and dark coat colors. Developed from a base of spotted horses with Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred bloodlines, the American Paint Horse is now one of the fastest-growing breeds in the United States. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into American Paint Horse. ... Photo of an American Paint Horse taken by myself File links The following pages link to this file: American Paint Horse ... Binomial name Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758 The horse (Equus caballus, sometimes seen as a subspecies of the Wild Horse, Equus ferus caballus) is a large odd-toed ungulate mammal, one of ten modern species of the genus Equus. ... Western riding is shown in this sculpture, Great Western Tradition, by Doug Israelsen Western riding evolved from the cattle-working and warfare traditions brought to the Americas by the Spanish Conquistadors, and both equipment and riding style evolved to meet the working needs of the cowboy in the American West. ... Pinto is a horse coloring that consists of large patches of white and another color. ... Wild horses on the range, showing a wide range of coat colors Horses exhibit a diverse array of coat colors and distinctive markings. ... The American Quarter Horse is a breed of horse originally bred specifically to race the quarter mile. ... Thoroughbred race horses The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known as a race horse. ...

Registration

The American Paint Horse's combination of color and conformation has made the American Paint Horse Association (APHA) the second-largest breed registry in the United States.^[1] 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 (Thoroughbreds). 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 (pink) skin, though solid colored horses of registered Paint parents are also eligible for registration, with certain restrictions. The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), based in Amarillo, Texas, is an international organization dedicated to the preservation, improvement and record-keeping of the American Quarter Horse, a breed of horses known throughout the globe for endurance, performance, conformation, and pedigree. ... Thoroughbred race horses The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known as a race horse. ...

Color

A Tobiano Paint

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 (called brown by the APHA), and 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. ^[2] Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 794 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1634 × 1234 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 794 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1634 × 1234 pixel, file size: 1. ... Friesian horses are one of the best-known breeds of black-colored horse Black is a relatively uncommon coat color in horses, though not so unusual as to be considered rare. ... A blood bay horse. ... Chestnuts. ... Sorrel is a coat color in horses, ranging from reddish-gold to deep burgundy. ... Palomino is a coat color in horses, consisting of a gold coat and white or flaxen mane and tail. ... Buckskin New Forest pony A Buckskin Quarter Horse Mare Buckskin is a color of horses; it also refers to other things that are the color of a buckskin horse, such as the color of some breeds of dogs. ... Gray is a coat color of horses, consisting of black skin, a white to dark gray coat, and a mane the same color or darker than the body coat. ... Cremello is a color of horse consisting of a cream-colored body with a cream mane and tail. ... Perlino is a color in horses created by a dilution gene, also known as the creme gene acting on an underlying Bay coat color. ... A red roan horse Roan is a type of coat color in horses (and, occasionally, in other animals, such as dogs and cattle) that is a mixture of white hairs with a base coat of another color. ... Dun is a yellow-brown color, sometimes seen in the hair coats of horses, characterized by a body color ranging from sandy yellow to reddish-brown. ... Grullo is a color of horses, characterized by smoky or mouse colored hairs on the body, often with shoulder and dorsal stripes and black barring on the lower legs. ...

Spots can be any shape or size, except Appaloosa patterning, and located virtually anywhere on the Paint's body. Although Paints come in a variety of colors with different markings, these are grouped into only four defined coat patterns: overo, tobiano and tovero and solid. ^[3] An Appaloosa horse The Appaloosa is a horse breed with a color preference. ... Overo is the name of a coloration pattern in American Paint Horses in which the horses head is bald or nealy bald. ... Tobiano is a genetic trait among horses which produces a characteristic white pattern in the coat. ... The Tovero coloration is a mix of tobiano and overo colorations in Pinto horses and American Paint Horses. ...

Terms for color patterns defined

An Overo Paint

• 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 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.
• 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. In some registries, sabinos are registered as having the overo 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. (The opposite of "Solid.")
• "Chrome": An informal term of approval used in some geographic regions to describe a particularly flashy spotting pattern.

Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 788 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1072 × 816 pixel, file size: 163 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Image showing the location of the withers Please mention www. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 788 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1072 × 816 pixel, file size: 163 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Image showing the location of the withers Please mention www. ... Tobiano is a genetic trait among horses which produces a characteristic white pattern in the coat. ... Overo is the name of a coloration pattern in American Paint Horses in which the horses head is bald or nealy bald. ... This Clydesdale horse has classic Sabino belly spots, white above its hocks, a chin spot and wide white facial markings. ... A red roan horse Roan is a type of coat color in horses (and, occasionally, in other animals, such as dogs and cattle) that is a mixture of white hairs with a base coat of another color. ... Rabicano is a horse coat color that appears to be a type of partial roaning. ... The Tovero coloration is a mix of tobiano and overo colorations in Pinto horses and American Paint Horses. ...

Paint or Pinto?

A Pinto differs from a Paint solely by breeding. A Pinto may be of any breed or combination of breeds, though some Pinto registries may have additional restrictions. (Some do not register draft horses or mules, for example.) For a horse to be registered as an American Paint Horse however, it must have registered American Quarter Horse, American Paint Horse, or Thoroughbred bloodlines. Therefore, all Paint horses (except for the small number of "solids" allowed into the Paint registry under special circumstances) could be registered as Pintos, but not all Pintos are qualified to register as Paints. Pinto is a horse coloring that consists of large patches of white and another color. ... A palomino Quarter Horse shown in-hand. ... Thoroughbred race horses The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known as a race horse. ...

History

The American Paint Horse shares a common ancestry with the American Quarter Horse and the Thoroughbred. 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 center of gravity for maneuverability, and powerful hindquarters suitable for rapid acceleration and sprinting. A palomino Quarter Horse shown in-hand. ... Thoroughbred race horses The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known as a race horse. ...

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. Pinto is a horse coloring that consists of large patches of white and another color. ...

Genetic Problems

One medical issue associated with the breed is the genetic disease lethal white syndrome. Due to the heavy influx of American 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. Lethal white syndrome (LWS) is a common genetic disorder primarily associated with American Paint Horses. ... A palomino Quarter Horse shown in-hand. ... Hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HYPP), also known as Impressive Syndrome, is an inherited autosomal dominant disorder which affects sodium channels in muscle cells and the ability to regulate potassium levels in the blood. ... Hereditary Equine Regional Dermal Asthenia (HERDA) aka hyperelastosis cutis (HC) is an inherited autosomal recessive connective tissue disorder. ... Wobbler disease is a condition of the cervical vertebrae that causes an unsteady (wobbly) gait and weakness in dogs and horses. ...

HYPP is mainly found in bloodlines tracing to a Quarter Horse stallion named Impressive. It is an autosomal dominant gene. Even though not all Impressive-bred horses are affected, it is a dominant gene and so it is recommended that owners of horses with these bloodlines obtain a DNA test to determine if the horse carries the genes for the condition, is affected by the condition, or does not carry the gene at all. An autosome is a non-sex chromosome. ... In genetics, the term dominant gene refers to the allele that causes a phenotype that is seen in a heterozygous genotype. ... In genetics, the term dominant gene refers to the allele that causes a phenotype that is seen in a heterozygous genotype. ... The structure of part of a DNA double helix Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions for the development and function of living organisms. ...

References

1. ^ American Paint Horse Association
2. ^ APHA coat colors.
3. ^ APHA web site

• Paul D. Vrotsos RVT and Elizabeth M. Santschi DVM. University of Minnesota Genetics Group. "Stalking the Lethal White Syndrome". Paint Horse Journal. July 1998.
• Bowling, Ann T. "Coat Color Genetics: Positive Horse Identification" from Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis. Web site accessed February 9, 2007

External links

• American Paint Horse Association
• Paint Horse Journal
• Paint Racing
• Paint Horses at the Open Directory Project