| Broken colored horses are associated in the | | | | "pinto" may be uncertain as to what the terms |
| popular imagination with the old American west. In | | | | actually mean and what all the fuss is about. In |
| particular, they are associated with Native | | | | general, paint horses are bi-colored horses, having |
| Americans, with whom they were a popular | | | | a coat that is a mixture of white patches and |
| choice, as the pattern of broken colors made the | | | | patches of another colour. This should not be |
| horses hard to see, either during a hunt or during | | | | confused with the color known as roan, where |
| war. | | | | individual white hairs are interspersed with either |
| Broken colored horses - also known as pintos - | | | | chestnut (red roan) or black/grey (blue roan). |
| continue to be popular today, both in the | | | | A horse with black and white patches is often |
| American west and around the world. However, | | | | referred to as a "piebald" and a horse with |
| even though "pinto" is the Spanish word for | | | | patches of white and another color is known as a |
| "paint", pinto horses are not quite the same thing | | | | "skewbald." The most common patch colors in |
| as paint horses. | | | | skewbalds are brown and chestnut, but patches |
| To be registered with the American Paint Horse | | | | of palomino (gold) and buckskin are also possible. |
| Association (APHA), a horse must not only have | | | | Among paint horses, further distinctions are |
| the classic broken-colored coat, it must also have | | | | made, tobiano and overo being the main ones. A |
| either the sire or the dam registered as an | | | | horse classified has a tobiano is predominantly |
| American Paint Horse and have Quarter Horse or | | | | dark on the belly and neck with the white |
| Thoroughbred blood somewhere in its background, | | | | markings being smaller, while an overo is the |
| Quarter Horse for preference. | | | | reverse. Paint horses are often bred for the |
| Thus, while all paint horses are pintos, not every | | | | beauty of their markings. |
| pinto is a paint horse - for example, a | | | | Why choose a paint horse? As they have |
| chestnut-and-white Shetland pony, while it | | | | Quarter Horse ancestry, paint horses can take on |
| certainly fits the description of a pinto, is not a | | | | a number of working roles with ease. They make |
| paint horse. The same is also true, for obvious | | | | excellent mounts for stock work, combining |
| reasons, for parti-colored donkeys and mules. | | | | beauty with practicality, and perform well on the |
| Appaloosa horses, while they were also developed | | | | rodeo circuit in cutting competitions and barrel |
| by Native American tribes for a similar purpose, | | | | racing. |
| are not classified as pintos, even though an | | | | Paint horses also make good trail horses or |
| Appaloosa can do much of the work that a paint | | | | general hacks. They also do well in the show ring, |
| can. The Appaloosa spots and "blanket pattern" | | | | their distinctive coats making them particularly |
| are unique to that breed alone. The same applies | | | | eye-catching. And, of course, many are kept as |
| to other spotted breeds. | | | | companion animals by those who admire the |
| Those not familiar with the term "paint horse" or | | | | beauty and history of the breed. |