# Palomino: A Breed or a Color?



## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

Palomino is not a breed. Nor is buckskin, which is also listed as a "breed" once in a while. They are just colors that exist within many breeds.


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## poundinghooves (Aug 5, 2010)

Yeah, I've seen "Buckskin" listed as a breed on a website where you can post horses for sale. EquineNow, I think.


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## Reno Bay (Jul 8, 2012)

Palomino, in the US, is what is called a "color breed"...basically meaning we have a Palomino Horse Breeders Association that only accepts palomino-COLORED horses regardless of BREED. That makes it too complicated IMO. Palomino is a color, not a breed. If the horse is registered in the PHBA, then there should be some record of its actual BREED.


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## poundinghooves (Aug 5, 2010)

I don't think there's any papers so I don't know what it's breed is. It's kind of stocky though.


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## Reno Bay (Jul 8, 2012)

Well I don't think breed really matters if it's a good horse. The only time breed would really matter, to me, was if you planned to produce offspring (considering some genetic issues in some breeds that could crop up; Arabians, Appaloosas, Quarters).


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## poundinghooves (Aug 5, 2010)

I don't care about breed a whole lot either as I do not plan to breed her. Maybe I'll post some pictures sometime and you guys can guess her breed?


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## Mochachino (Aug 14, 2012)

I was wondering this question myself the other day when our school had a book fair and I picked up a book entitled "Breeds of Horses" and saw the pali listed as a breed.


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## poundinghooves (Aug 5, 2010)

Yep, pretty confusing


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## ponyboy (Jul 24, 2008)

Mochachino said:


> I was wondering this question myself the other day when our school had a book fair and I picked up a book entitled "Breeds of Horses" and saw the pali listed as a breed.



It must have been an old book. People in the US tried to make Palomino horses into a breed but we know now that it's not possible. Palomino coloring is the result of two genes which means crossing Palomino X Palomino will only ever give you a 50% chance of producing another Palomino. Therefore it can't be a distinct breed.


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

As others have said, there is a Palomino registry, and a horse can be registered Palomino, but it's incorrect to call it a breed. The Pali registry is, IMO, a way to register an otherwise unregisterable horse, be it for legal reasons (e.g. to help establish ownership), because the owner thinks it will make the horse more valuable, or some other reason.


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