What does pinto mean in horses?

What is the difference between a tobiano and an overo horse?

Tobianos have a solid dark covering while the legs are white. The tail and mane can be either color, and the head is often dark with typical facial markings, like a blaze, strip, or star. The overo (Spanish for “like an egg”) horse has dark legs with a white face. The back, tail, and mane all have a solid color.

What do head markings look like on a tobiano?

Head markings are like those of a solid-colored horse–solid, or with a blaze, strip, star or snip. A tobiano may be either predominantly dark or white. The tail is often two colors. The white usually will not cross the back of the horse between its withers and its tail.

What is an overo horse?

2) Overo (O-vair’-o) appears to be a colored horse with jagged white markings usually originating on the animal’s side or belly, spreading toward the neck, tail, legs, and back. The color appears to frame the white spots. Thus, an Overo often has a dark tail, mane, legs, and backline.

What is a tobiano pattern horse?

The hallmark of the tobiano pattern is that the white color crosses the center of the horse’s back between the neck and the croup. In addition, all four lower legs are white and the head (although possibly having a star, stripe or blaze on the face) is indistinguishable from that of a solid-colored horse.

Can a tobiano horse have a white head?

Tobiano can hide the characteristics of the other pattern genes, but extensive white face markings can give away a combinaion. Some tobiano horses have white bodies and colored heads, the heads being the last part of the body remaining colored.

What is an overo Quarter Horse?

Overo “crop-outs” from supposedly solid Quarter Horses indicate that many registered as Quarter Horses are actually minimally-marked overo horses. The majority of classic frame overos have solid color over the backbone from the withers to the tail bone with white on the sides.

What does frame overo mean on a horse?

Horses with a particular white spotting pattern known as frame overo can produce affected offspring. The frame overo pattern can vary along a continuum, but most horses with this pattern have pigment that “frames the horse”, with white patterning primarily occurring on the abdomen, middle of the neck, and face.

What is the difference between a white horse and an overo?

The white usually will not cross the back of the horse between its withers and its tail. Generally, at least one and often all four legs are dark. Generally, the white is irregular, and is rather scattered or splashy. Head markings are distinctive, often bald-faced, apron-faced or bonnet-faced. An overo may be either predominantly dark or white.

What kind of horses do overo horses carry?

Overos are at greatest risk of carrying the gene, particularly of American Paint Horse and American Miniature Horse breeding. Over 94 percent of framed overos are carriers. Framed overos have white patches centered on the body and neck.

What causes the spotting pattern in tobiano horses?

The tobiano spotting pattern is caused by a large chromosomal inversion (you could think of part of the chromosome being the wrong way round). The inversion was only found in tobiano horses.

How old is the tobiano gene in horses?

In fact, some recent tests of DNA samples of ancient horses revealed that the tobiano gene existed in horses that lived approximately 3500 years ago. The Tobiano pattern is very common in the Gypsy breed and American Paint Horse.

What does a minimal overo horse look like?

Minimal overos tend to have white on the face, a white spot on the side or sides of the neck and possibly a small patch or patches over the ribs. Very minimal overos may look like solid horses with normal white markings.

What breed of horse has the white overo pattern?

Breeds appropriate for testing: Paint Horse, Quarter Horse, Miniature Horse, Thoroughbred Horses with N/N genotype will not have the overo pattern and cannot transmit this lethal white overo variant to their offspring. Horses with N/O genotype will have the overo pattern.

How can you tell if a horse is a frame overo?

Since the frame overo white spotting pattern can vary, with some horses having very little white while others are almost completely white, it is not always obvious to tell if a horse is a frame overo just by appearance. In some cases, horses thought to be solid colored with no obvious spotting patterns have produced affected foals.

What is frame overo in foals?

Foals with the condition are characterized by a completely white coat as well as intestinal tract abnormalities that result in death soon after birth. The frame overo pattern itself is characterized by a white spotting pattern in which pigment is said to “frame” the horse.

What is a frame overo pinto horse?

A frame overo Overo refers to several genetically unrelated pinto coloration patterns of white-over-dark body markings in horses, and is a term used by the American Paint Horse Association to classify a set of pinto patterns that are not Tobiano. Overo is a Spanish word, originally meaning “like an egg”.

What does overo mean in horses?

When discussing white patterns in horses it is never long before the word Overo is enters the conversation. But what does Overo really mean? To be blunt, the term Overo, only means “Any white pattern that isn’t Tobiano”. This is a carryover from times past when distinguishing between white patterns was impossible for most breeders.

What is a frame overo pattern?

The frame overo pattern tends to have white spots on the flanks and face, surrounded by a dark “frame” of color. If two horses with the frame overo gene are bred together, there is a 25% chance the foal will have lethal white syndrome.

What is white overo syndrome in horses?

Foals born with the lethal white overo syndrome are affected by intestinal tract abnormalities, leading to colic and eventual death. Horse breeding programs specializing in the frame overo pattern have particular challenges compared with programs for other white patterns such as tobiano.

What is overo White syndrome in horses?

Overo Lethal White Syndrome (OLWS) is a condition that occurs in newborn foals. The condition is genetic, and both parents carry the defective gene. Horses which carry this gene are most commonly overo white patterned horses (frame overos), but there are exceptions.

Which horses have lethal white overo (LWO)?

Until recently, there has been no reliable way to identify which horses have the gene associated with lethal white overo (LWO). Now, however, there is a molecular horse genetics test.

What causes a horse to have a spotting pattern?

The tobiano spotting pattern is caused by a large chromosomal inversion (you could think of part of the chromosome being the wrong way round). The inversion was only found in tobiano horses. This included horses of diverse genetic backgrounds, indicating a common genetic origin thousands of years ago.

What causes the tobiano white pattern?

However, unlike the other spotting patterns caused by changes in the KIT gene’s DNA sequence, the Tobiano is instead associated with a chromosome inversion very close to KIT. Consequently, this impacts the function of the KIT gene, leading to the production of the Tobiano white pattern.

What is a tobiano pattern in horses?

Tobiano is a white spotting pattern characterized by white on the body that crosses the topline. Foal homozygous for the tobiano pattern (TO/TO genotype).

What is the dominant allele for Tobiano?

The tobiano gene has two alternative states (alleles). The dominant allele, TO, produces the tobiano pattern and the recessive allele, called “N” by VGL but “to” by others, is non-tobiano. A horse that is homozygous for tobiano, symbolized as (TO/TO), will always produce offspring that are tobiano regardless of the mate.

Where does the tobiano gene come from?

It is thought to be an ancient gene among domestic horses, about 3500 years old, and is widely distributed across many breeds in the world. Genetic testing is available to help determine the presence of the tobiano gene.