Paint

The American Paint Horse Association formed in 1965 from the merger of earlier color registries, and it has grown into what it calls the second-largest equine breed association in the world, with over a million horses registered.

The rule that shaped the breed is the bloodline requirement: sire and dam must be registered with APHA, the American Quarter Horse Association or the Jockey Club, and at least one parent must be a registered Paint. The breed is stock-horse genetics wearing a regulated coat.

The patterns have names that matter. Tobiano is white crossing the topline with a mostly solid head; overo, which covers several distinct genetics including frame, sabino and splashed white, generally does not cross the back and carries a white face. Tovero is both.

A solid-colored foal out of two registered Paints is still registrable, as a Solid Paint-Bred. It is the same horse without the pattern, and it shows under different rules.

The same work as the Quarter Horse: western pleasure, reining, barrel racing, ranch work and rodeo, plus English disciplines.

The registry's scale matters to a buyer: over a million horses registered means depth in every discipline it serves.

Management that follows the genetic panel. APHA requires breeding stallions to have results on file for HYPP, HERDA, GBED, MH, PSSM1 and OLWS, and two of those conditions are managed mostly through feed and exercise. University of Minnesota Extension lists American Paint Horses among the breeds in which HYPP occurs; an affected horse needs its potassium kept down, with alfalfa among the feeds to limit, and regular exercise or turnout. UC Davis's Center for Equine Health says PSSM1 is more common in Quarter Horses and related breeds such as Paints, and that an affected horse needs daily exercise and a diet low in sugar and starch.

Watch the eyes. University of Minnesota Extension lists Paints among the horses at higher risk of equine recurrent uveitis, the leading cause of blindness in horses.

The trade is one specific and fatal gene. The frame overo pattern is caused by a mutation that, when a foal inherits it from both parents, produces lethal white overo syndrome: a white foal that dies within days. It is testable, and breeding two frame carriers together without testing is inexcusable.

The stock-horse inheritance carries its own test list: HYPP, HERDA, PSSM and malignant hyperthermia all occur in the underlying bloodlines. Ask for genetic panel results, and for frame status specifically on anything with overo breeding.

Check which registration the horse holds. The regular registry needs the qualifying pattern; a Solid Paint-Bred is registered but shows under different rules.

Recent sale prices on HoofnHorn, where there are any, are further down this page.