Palomino and Pinto Horses
Modified: 30-11--0001 00:00:00
Palamino
The Palomino, with its striking golden coat and flaxen mane and tail, is found in many countries, but it is most common in North America. Even there it is not granted true breed status because of the variations in size and appearance. Like the Pinto, it is a colour type rather than a breed. The golden coat is not the result of a "Palomino" gene, and it can, in theory, occur in any breed or strain where the spotted gene has been bred out. So it is possible, for instance, though most unlikely, for there to be a Palomino Thoroughbred as a result of colour crossing. The Palomino colouring is found in many breeds and types, particularly in the Quarter Horse
Most Palomino horses are registered with the Palomino Horse Association Inc.The Association defines ideal features in its "breed standard". The height may be 1.45- 1.63 m (14.1-16 hh), but the colour requirement is specific. The skin may be either dark or of a golden colour. The coat colour must be no more than three shades lighter or darker than a newly minted gold coin, with no smudges. The mane and tail should be white, with not more than 15 per cent of darker hairs in either. The eyes must be dark or hazel; horses of Pinto, Albino, or Appaloosa parentage, which may have pink, blue, or wall eyes, are ineligible.
White facial markings are limited to a blaze, snip, or star, and on the legs white hair must not extend above the knees and hocks. To qualify for entry in the breeding register, stallions and mares should have one parent in the register, and the other must be Quarter Horse, Arab, or Thoroughbred Crossings that produce Palominos may include Albino, but the favoured cross, which produces the richest colour, is considered to be Palomino crossed with chestnut.
The origin of the name Palomino is unclear. At least one source traces it to the Spanish palomilla, one meaning of which is "a cream-coloured horse with white mane and tail" (D.P. Willoughby, Empire of Equus). Others link it to a golden grape of a similar name, or to the Spanish word for dove, paloma.
Pinto
The name Pinto comes from the Spanish pintado ("painted"), and in the US this has become "paint". At one time the word "calico" was also used. In Europe horses with coats of two colors, other than the spotted breeds, are called part- or odd-colored. The British distinguish between coats with patches of black and white, known as "piebald", and those with patches of white and any other colour, known as "skewbald". ("Bald" is the old English term for a white-faced horse.) In the US, more precise definitions are favoured.
There are two societies for part-coloured horses. The Pinto Horse Association of America maintains a large register for horses, ponies, and miniature horses. Entries are divided into stock type, of mainly Quarter Horse breeding; hunter type, descended largely from Thoroughbreds; pleasure type, with Arab or Morgan background; and saddle type, with Saddlebred, Hackney, or Tennessee Walking Horse blood. Similar classifications exist for ponies. The American Paint Horse Association registers stock-type horses with bloodlines from Thoroughbreds, Quarter Horses, and Paints. The criteria for entry concern bloodlines rather than colour. Most Paints are Pintos, but not every Pinto is a Paint because of the breed restriction.
Pinto coat patterns fall into two types: Tobiano and Overo. In the Tobiano the coat is white, with large patches of solid colour. The legs are usually white, and white crosses the back or rump. Overo is a colored coat with splashes of white, which almost never cross the back. Among the 19th-century Sioux and Crow Indians Pintos were valued for both their colour and their hardiness. Registered modern Pintos are usually well-made, even though they are of no fixed type.
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