American Paint horses
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Spotted horses have been called pinto, paint, skewbald and piebald. Only the registered American Paint horse preserves the delight of color with stock horse conformation and pedigree.
Cortez already brought a few spotted horses with him when he entered North America. It is also common knowledge that the horses left behind by the Spaniards became the bloodstock for many American breeds.
As herds of wild horses ranged the early West, spotted horses appealed to humans. Indians particularly prized these horses, some white settlers as well. That the Comanche Indians loved them is evidenced by the many painted ponies on their buffalo robes.
The American Paint Horse Association (APHA) came into being when Quarter Horse breeders grew tired of the fact that some of their best foals were not eligible for registration with AQHA because they had more white on them than what AQHA allowed. Originally, extensive white markings, even loud colored Paints, had been part of Quarter Horse history as far back as one can search, but with the founding of AQHA came a rule that discriminated against too much white. Just why, nobody knows anymore. The American Quarter Racing Association, which later fused with AQHA, had registered Paint Racing Quarter Runners as well as solid-colored ones, and some of their all-time top horses were Paints.
In 1962, for the above-mentioned reason, the American Paint Horse Association (APHA) was founded, first under the name of American Paint Stock Horse Association. Some early members were just interested in a place to register their spotted Quarter Horses, others had a strong affinity for the attractive Paint Horses. From modest beginnings, the APHA rapidly grew into the fastest-growing breed association in America, by-passing registries that had had a considerable head start on APHA. Today, Paint Horses are the third-largest breed in America. There are Paint Horse shows all across the country and an annual World Championship Show.
American Paint horses can be of any basic coat color, but they must also combine this with white markings, or a white marking of mandatory size, any place on the body, or in a prescribed area. In predominantly white horses, there must be a contrasting color of sufficient size somewhere in that area.
The spotting in Paint Horses as in all spotted horses comes in different patterns, which are inherited differently, too: tobiano (which is a dominant gene and always expressed 100 per cent), and overo, which today is also considered dominant, but can be expressed incompletely, that is, supressed by other genes. Within the overo inheritance, several patterns are distinguished: frame overo, several sabino expressions, and splashed white.
American Paint Horses do not comprise just a color breed, but are based on bloodline integrity. The bloodlines are those of the Quarter Horse. Like in the Quarter Horse, Thoroughbreds are accepted as an outcross breed, so they also are accepted in the APHA, albeit in a different mode.
Solid-colored Paint-bred horses are registered in a separate book by APHA, formerly called Breeding Stock Registry, now called solid-colored Paint-bred. Offspring or produce of such solids are fully eligible for regular registration provided they meet the color requirements. Breeding-wise, solids have the same status as regular-registered Paint Horses.
Recently the Quarter Horse has come full circle, so to speak, because AQHA now does register AmericanPaint Horses if they have two AQHA-registered parents. Those crop-outs , as they are called, have made up a certain percentage of registrations over the decades, but have considerably contributed to the improvement in quality of the Paint Horse, as have AQHA-registered Quarter Horses. This has led to amendments on the part of APHA, which now accepts for registration only horses with at least one APHA-registered parent. The other parent may be AQHA- or Jockey Club-registered (T.B.).
Conformationwise, American Paint Horses are no different than their cousin, the Quarter Horse. The same critera apply, and abilities are the same. The ideal Paint Horse has always been a Quarter Horse with plenty of white markings.
There have been a few outstanding bloodlines in the Paint Horse breed that were not founded by registered Quarter Horses, although their Quarter Horse ancestry was obvious, but most of today s Paint Horses have a pedigree that goes back to AQHA horses, or T.B. horses, in all lines.
Today American Paint Horses are found in backyards, trails, competition, jumping and on the race track. Paint Horses have won the top events in many fields, including World Championships, in NCHA, NRHA, and NRCHA. The combination of conformation, combined with performance, temperament and all that magical color has made the Paint one of the most popular horses in the country.
Article by Hardy Oelke.
Photo at top of page and the photos below (c) and courtesy of the American Paint Horse Association
  
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Global associations for the American Paint Horse:
American Paint Horse Association
British Columbian Paint Horse Club
American Paint Horse - Germany
American Paint Horse Racing
Paint Horse - Australia
Paint Horse - Brasil
Paint Horse - Denmark
Paint Horse - France
Paint Horse Association of Italy
Paint Horse Association of New Zealand
Paint Horse Association of Norway
Paint Horse Association of Switzerland
American Paint Horse Association - UK
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