*** Welcome to piglix ***

Pinto pony



A pinto horse has a coat color that consists of large patches of white and any other color. The distinction between "pinto" and "solid" can be tenuous, as so-called "solid" horses frequently have areas of white hair. Various cultures throughout history appear to have selectively bred for pinto patterns.

Many breeds of horse carry pinto patterns. Pinto coloring, known simply as "coloured" in nations using British English, is most popular in the United States. While pinto colored horses are not a "breed," several competing color breed registries have formed to encourage the breeding of pinto-colored horses. The word "paint" is sometimes used to describe pinto horses, but today is specifically used for the American Paint Horse, which is a pinto-colored horse with identifiable American Quarter Horse or Thoroughbred bloodlines.

Pinto patterns are visually and genetically distinct from the leopard complex spotting patterns characteristic of horse breeds such as the Appaloosa. Breeders who select for color are often careful not to cross the two patterns, and registries that include spotting color preferences often will refuse registration to horses who exhibit characteristics of the "wrong" pattern.

The word "pinto" is Spanish for 'painted', and also 'dappled' or 'spotted'.

While pinto coloration has yet to be identified as a wildtype by DNA studies or seen in cave art predating horse domestication, images from pottery and other art of ancient antiquity show horses with flashy spotted patterns, indicating that they were desired traits and may have been selectively bred. Images of spotted horses appear in the art of Ancient Egypt, and archaeologists have found evidence of horses with spotted coat patterns on the Russian steppes before the rise of the Roman Empire. Later, spotted horses were among those brought to the Americas by the Conquistadors.


...
Wikipedia

...