Horse Colors - White Patterned Colors

White Patterned Colors

The base color of a horse can also be affected by different types of white patterns. This section of the module will discuss some of the common white patterns that occur on the base coat color. When talking about these horses, the base color is stated first, and then the white pattern. So you could have a 'bay pinto'. Diluted versions of the base colors may also have white patterns on them.

Pinto

The pinto color pattern is one that is an irregular pattern of white and a base color. Although you may hear these horses also referred to as 'paints' the color pattern is actually pinto. The American Paint Horse is a horse of stock type breeding that must meet the registration requirements of the American Paint Horse Association. There are two general terms used to describe the color patterns of pintos, tobiano and overo. Pinto colors may be described as piebald or skewbald, but these terms have become less and less common, and you will more often hear the base color used to describe the horse instead of one of these terms.

Piebald	Skewbald

Pinto pattern: Tobiano

Tobiano is the most common of the pinto patterns. The feet and legs are white while the head is mostly non-white with dark eyes. The white pattern generally crosses over the back from one side to the other, and there is a clearly defined line between the base color and the patches of white. The edges where the white meets the other color tend to be smooth. The legs and head may have recognizable markings similar to what would be seen on a solid colored horse.

Pinto pattern: Frame Overo

Frame is one of the three overo types. Frame horses have dark feet and legs, but a head that is mostly white. Blue eyes are common. White is generally found on the sides of the horse, and while they have a clear line between the base color and white, the line is more ragged than that of a tobiano. These horses also carry the Lethal White gene which causes foal death shortly after birth, referred to as lethal white syndrome.

Pinto pattern: Sabino Overo

Sabino horses are clearly distinguished from the other overo patterns by having extensive white covering the body; the head and legs are mostly covered. They are also easily determined by the jagged lines between the base color and white as well as displaying a speckled or flecked pattern. Sabino horses can have blue or partially blue eyes and birth to lethal white foals is possible.

Pinto pattern: Splashed White Overo

Splashed white overo horses have white legs and an underbelly, which can extend up the sides of the chest and/or neck with clearly defined white areas. They appear as though they were "dipped" in paint and generally have a large amount of white on the face. They often have blue eyes, and in rare cases where the ears are completely white and lacking pigment, may be deaf.

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Appaloosas

Appaloosa is a coat pattern, as well as a breed. Although in the United States the Appaloosa coat pattern is most frequently associated with the stock type Appaloosa breed, or the Pony of the Americas, there are several other breeds in the world that have the Appaloosa coat pattern, including the Knabstrupper and the British Spotted pony. The Appaloosa pattern may also be seen in Minature horses. There are several spotting patterns that are characteristic of the Appaloosa color pattern.

Blanket

A blanket pattern is one where the solid coat color has a contrasting solid white area which covers the hips. This blanket may extend forward over the back and towards the withers. The blanket pattern can either be solid white (snowcap), or have spots that may be the same color as the contrasting coat, or a dilution or modification of that base color. For example, you could have a Red roan blanket pattern, or a palomino blanket pattern.

Frost

The frost pattern has a dark base color, and roaning that becomes more concentrated toward the back and hind quarter.

 

Leopard/ Few-spot Leopard

The leopard pattern is a white base coat with colored spots all over the body of the horse. The number, size and shape of the spots is highly variable. One pattern variation is primarily white, with a small number of spots, and that pattern is known as a 'few-spot leopard'.

Snowflake

The body color is a solid dark color, with white spots throughout the body. This color pattern may change as the horse continues to age.

Varnish Roan

The body is roan, either red or blue, with varnish marks on the face, hips, wither, elbows, stifle and knes or hocks. Some individuals will have additional spots on the body, and other will not. The roaning in the Appaloosa pattern is caused by a different gene (LP) than the modifier gene discussed earlier (Rn). This results in a color that progressively lightens each year, although the places with the varnish marks stay the original roan color.

With any of the white patterned horses, there are opportunities for horses to be born whose patterns do not fit neatly into the categories we have described. Here are a few examples of patterns that are not easily described.

  

Information adapted from eXtensionCampus - 2015