Please explain Pinto types....

[misty'smom]

I was wondering if someone or many of you could explain the different types of "Pintos"??? I never knew there were so many different markings and names. I have read posts where they have been called "Slash", "Overos", "Toveros" what does this mean? Misty's coloring is looking like Black and White, she just turned a year and is shedding all her baby and winter coat. The more she sheds the darker she is getting. She also has the black spots within her white markings. Here are some pictures of her some of her with her Momma. She may be just a simple "Pinto" but I wanted to understand what you mean by the different names????

 

[Watcheye]

Your baby looks to be a Tobiano. They are known for their solid heads and "chest sheilds" of color. The little spots of black on the shoulder are paw prints. I guess sometimes they indicate that the horse has a good chance of passing it to its offspring. I have on that is a tobiano mix. She has pawprints galore but she has white on her face and a "true" tobiano does not have white on the face from what I understand. They also do not throw/carry blue eyes like the Splash Overo does and I know her parents both had a blue eye. Splash has the blue eyes and they look like a solid colored horse that was dunked in white paint. The white comes up from underneith them. Often they have bald faces.

The red and white mare is the Tobiano cross. The black one is a splash cross (Splash and Sabino actually)

Nose to nose with a Splash overo looking baby

Color genetics are fascinating.

 

[Barefootin]

Here's how I think of each of the different pinto variations generally speaking.

Frame Overo - I think of a solid colored horse that had white added to the sides. So that there is white "framed" in color.

Splash Overo - I think of a white horse that had the color added by pouring it on from the top.

Sabino Overo - I think of a solid colored horse that has chipped off some color from the under belly and then was crinkled up like paper then reflattened so the color is missing in the creases. They also generally have high white stockings.

Tobiano - I think of a white horse that has a solid colored head with color dabbed on willy nilly over the neck and body.

The fun comes when you mix 2 or more patterns.

 

This is a great site for pinto genetics. Scroll down the page, and you will come to "Pinto Patterns" which has descriptions and pictures so you can see what is being referred to. I would call her a Tobiano pinto pattern.

http://whitehorseproductions.com/ecg_basics3.html

And my understanding would be that the "paw prints" are indicating she might be "homozygous" tobiano, so all her future babies will be pintos regardless if she's bred to a "solid" stallion. You could test her to be sure though.

 

[misty'smom]

Thanks for the replies!! I think I understand it now!! It is an interesting subject, growing up I had a big horse that was a Pinto but never knew there were names for the different types of patterns and markings.

Diane, Thanks for posting the site with the Pinto genetics, the pictures defiantly helped!! I am a visual learner!!!!!! LOL

So I am thinking Misty is a Homozygous Tobiano, maybe!?!? She is really shedding her baby/winter coat and underneath is a very black and white shiny coat!! I can not wait until she is shed out and has her 1st bath!!

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I think she is Splash White + Tobiano and probably Sabino as it is that, not Tobiano, that puts chest shields on a horse. Tobiano limits all white forward of the shoulder, although often it will lose out id Splash is involved, in this case, Tobiano won. The paw prints, I am afraid, do not mean she is H/Z for tobiano, if you want to know if she is you will have to have her tested. The use of the word "overo" is pretty much obsolete now, as it does not actually mean anything. It is most usually only used in connection with Frame- Lethal White Overo.

 

[paintponylvr]

Your filly is NICE!! Enjoy her.

I agree that she looks to be a Tobiano. The paw prints do not necessarily mean that she is homozygous for Tobiano, but she might be. For a while everyone went crazy saying that both paw prints and ermine spots (color spots within the white leg markings on Tobianos) meant that they were homozygous. My stallion proved that wrong as ALL of his foals out of solid mares had ermine spots along their coronet bands and most also had one or two on their legs. A few also had the paw prints.

Here in the USA, the two big horse pinto registries still use the "Overo" term - adding in that it can be a sabino, splash or frame type pattern. They also use the Tovero term - meaning a mix of the Tobiano and Overo patterns. The two associations are the American Paint Horse Association (only horses of QH & TB bloodlines - closed registry now) and the Pinto Horse Association of America (registers horses, ponies and minis under types - stock, saddle, pleasure & hunter). I believe that there may be another association that deals in pinto patterns but I'm not familiar with it. The APHA has some pretty nice drawn figures showing how the different patterns look - showing from minimum expression of white (an almost solid horse) to maximum expression of white (an almost all white horse).

Jane - can you state where you are seeing Sabino and Splash white on this filly? I'm very confused.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

The height of the leg white and the way it "bleeds" into the general pattern. That is not "just" Tobiano. The registers may well use out dated and useless terms but then AMHA uses such incorrect terms for it's colours that it has taught me never to trust a register to understand even the most basic things about colour or pattern! "Overo" is a non description and really it is about time the societies caught up with the 21st century since that is the century we are living in!!!

 

[misty'smom]

Thank you for teaching me about the Pinto coloring/patterns. But still a little confused?? So can Misty be a combination of patterns? Do you all think she is a Splash White,Tobiano and Sabino?? Jane you said that "Tobiano limits all white forward of the shoulder" Misty has no white on her chest is that the indication for part Tobiano? This can be confusing to a someone new to this!

Also I have seen some black/white Pintos that appear to have their white markings outlined in grey, so pretty. I see a little of this on Misty!!

She is still shedding but I think she will be really pretty especially after that 1st bath!

 

[paintponylvr]

Ahhh - kind of the way I feel about associations not accepting silver or still using silver chestnut (a non-color!)... Several of our horses ancestors are listed as silver chestnuts. Some of those I suspect may have been silver bays. Others may have been chestnut, but carried a silver gene. Or the way the AQHA wouldn't accept cremellos and perlinos - even though parentage was known and could be proven.

Hmm - never realized that the high leg whites, especially on the rear legs, was considered splash. I think almost ALL of our tobianos have that going on... That's a lot of "splash" testing to do... Wonder if they keep the samples and I can just check to see splash can be checked on those? When I go back and look at pictures of our horses from years ago, they also all had that "bleeding" affect (high white traveling up the hind leg - sometimes almost joining the "wings" that a lot of our Tobis had).

Misty's Mom - sounds like you are describing "shadowing" - or where the colored hair extends into the white skin area creating a lighter outline or shadow around the spots. You are right, some do this and some don't. I like it too. It adds to the beauty of the PINTO marked horse.

Here are several links that will help with your understanding of the colors...

Florida Animal Testing - http://www.horsetesting.com/equine.asp - the one that does my color testing

University of Kentucky - http://www.ca.uky.edu/gluck/AGTRL.asp#color - the one that does DNA and PQ for ASPC/AMHR

UC Davis - http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/coatcolorhorse.php

Equine Color Genetics - http://www.whitehorseproductions.com/equinecolor.html

Equine Genetics - http://www.horse-genetics.com/ *** a lot of new info (to me anyway!)

DNA Diagnostics - http://www.dnadiagnostics.com/animal_genetics.html

I believe there are others - I haven't been out to all of them by any means. Maybe Jane or others here knows some others? I also have some related specifically to the silver coloration as that is one of my fascinations...