# Please explain paint colors



## Blue (Sep 4, 2011)

I realize I'm probably the only person on the planet that doesn't know this, but I've never really cared before. A horses color doesn't make him good or bad to me, so their color is what it is. However now, I have a paint. He's a really nice horse, but I find myself curious what actual color he is. Brown? Sorrel? And forgive my ignorance, but somebody please explain to me in a way I will understand and *remember*, the difference between overo and tobiano? I can get a better pic if needed. Thanks.


----------



## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

dont see any pic


----------



## Blue (Sep 4, 2011)

Ugh! What happened? I'll try again.


----------



## Blue (Sep 4, 2011)

Ok. That time it came through for me, but took a really long time. What am I doing wrong?


----------



## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

A closer shot would be nice .. but he looks to either be sorrel or bay . But the color gurus will give an answer. I say bay on his body color because his tail color.. is it black ?
as for the Tobiano.. etc.. I cannot help at all..


----------



## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Not a great pic to tell from.

He's either brown or bay. I'm leaning more toward brown, as I can see some lightening on his muzzle. 

Bay is black with bay agouti. Agouti is a modifier that restrictions the expression of black to the hard points of the horse (i.e.-the mane, tail, legs, muzzle and ears). Brown is a modified version of agouti. It acts much the same way as bay, but restricts the black more, adding cinnamon points to the soft points of the horse (i.e.the flank, muzzle and point of the buttocks). Browns will also vary in color from season to season.

As for patterns, I'd say definitely tobiano. Beyond that, the pic isn't good enough to tell. Maybe splash.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

The easiest way to remember the difference in the patterns:

Tobiano is white based with the "color" over it.

Overo is color based with the white over it.

Of course, that is extremely simplified, and gets quite muddled on some horses.....but that is how I learned it.

Overos "usually" do not have white over their back, and Tobianos "usually" have one or more white socks or stockings.


----------



## BugZapper89 (Jun 30, 2014)

You can buy a book on the APHA website that will give you all the information you are looking for. Also you can use your membership to download a rule book which has some information in it


----------



## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

BugZapper89 said:


> You can buy a book on the APHA website that will give you all the information you are looking for. Also you can use your membership to download a rule book which has some information in it


If the OP is looking for more specific pattern description than just tobiano, overo (which is a wildly general term) and tovero (which is a horribly outdated term meaning "tobiano and some other white pattern that we can't be bothered to differentiate"), then APHA is not the place to go. Registries are notoriously behind on the times when it comes to genetics.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

The details of genetics aside, you can see the APHA coat colors at

Coat Colors


----------



## Blue (Sep 4, 2011)

ok Lets try these pics


----------



## anndankev (Aug 9, 2010)

From long ago here are the rules of thumb I use to tell a paint/pinto pattern, of which there are/were 3:



Tobiano:
4 white legs
body white is connected and goes over the back
face could be mistaken for a solid colored horse
ie a white horse with dark areas
2 tone tail
 
Overo :
dark horse with white areas
legs often dark with jagged white
facial white often going off side of face
if white over the eye area, then blue eye
3 subcategories of Overo (not specified on papers)
Frame
dark down the spine with white areas on the sides
many have lightning bolts on legs
reminiscent of a picture frame (ie white picture with dark frame)
 
Splash
looks like someone was underneath them and threw/sprayed white paint up onto them
 
Scattered White
3 more:
roan
white hairs throughout
heavier white on body than neck/head/legs
 
sabino
sort of like a splash and roan mixed
 
rabicano
sabino with a skunk tail, and
white hairs concentrating to form almost stripes along the ribcage.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tovero:
basically a Tobiano pattern influenced by Overo
many primarily white with shields and flank spots only
 
many medicine hats, war bonnets ....
 
Probably way outdated, and possibly some lost due to memory fading in my old age. One thing about the patterns is that when speaking of color you are referring to the white. So a loudly colored horse is one with a lot of white.

I would appreciate being corrected as necessary, so I don't go on thinking these things if they are not so.

Here is Pickle, a Tobiano:








Bart, a Frame Overo:








Daisy, a Medicine Hat Tovero:








And finally 2 of Irish, a Rabacino:


----------



## Blue (Sep 4, 2011)

Hmmmm.... ok so my Dutch is probably considered Tobiano? But he doesn't have a 2 toned tail. So how hard and fast is that rule?


----------



## anndankev (Aug 9, 2010)

Rules are made to be broken, and they are more guidelines than rules anyway.

I'd say he is Tobiano, I have Dewey, an unreg SSH, who is Tobiano with an all black tail, and consider myself lucky for that (his mane is white, forelock is black).










All the previous pics were of registered APHA horses that I have owned, and did not loose all their pics when changing computers.


----------



## Blue (Sep 4, 2011)

Yup, gotta love that dark tail! I've got a grey/white mare with a streaky mane and while tail. Whew! Try to keep that clean!


----------



## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

Yours looks like a bay tobiano to me. 

A simple rule of thumb is if the white crosses the spine anywhere from withers to tail head they are tobiano. Solid color (other than white of course) down the length of the spine is overo. This is the most basic explanation and there are variations of the overo pattern. Get them down pat in your mind and get used to recognizing those two patterns then move on to the more complicated things. I don't say that to be offensive just that once you those 2 patterns set in your mind it's easier to start understanding the other patterns, at least it worked that way for me.

Looking at lots of pictures of pinto horses can help too.


----------



## Blue (Sep 4, 2011)

Thank you! I'll do that


----------



## danicelia24 (Jul 16, 2013)

My husbands horse is a minimally marked red dun tobiano.


----------



## Bridgertrot (Dec 2, 2011)

JCnGrace said:


> Yours looks like a bay tobiano to me.
> 
> A simple rule of thumb is if the white crosses the spine anywhere from withers to tail head they are tobiano. Solid color (other than white of course) down the length of the spine is overo. This is the most basic explanation and there are variations of the overo pattern. Get them down pat in your mind and get used to recognizing those two patterns then move on to the more complicated things. I don't say that to be offensive just that once you those 2 patterns set in your mind it's easier to start understanding the other patterns, at least it worked that way for me.
> 
> Looking at lots of pictures of pinto horses can help too.


Yeah, even though overo and tovero are really outdated terms, this is probably the easiest way to start getting the grasp of things. Then you can expand from there and learn the reasons why those terms are no longer work in most cases.


----------



## Blue (Sep 4, 2011)

Ok. Thanks


----------

