Pinto horse

A pinto horse has a coat color that consists of large patches of white and any other color. Pinto coloration is also called paint, particolored, or in nations that use British English, piebald. Pinto horses have been around since shortly after the domestication of the horse.

Pinto colors can come in a number of genetically distinct patterns, which have different visual characteristics and tend to make white or leave colored different areas of the horse. These include tobiano, sabino, splashed white, frame, and manchado. A pinto horse may also have a combination of these patterns, such as tovero.

Pinto patterns can be found in various breeds of horses, notably including the American Paint Horse. Color breed registries such as the Pinto Horse Association of America record pedigree and horse show results for pinto horses, regardless of ancestry. Both the terms "Pinto" and "Paint" may sometimes refer to breeds or registries rather than coat color.

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 refuse registration to horses that exhibit characteristics of the "wrong" pattern.

A pinto horse has a coat with patches of white fur and patches of another color. The white on a pinto horse is generally asymmetric, unlike for example white added by the leopard complex.

The non-white area has the same colors in the same arrangements as one would see on a solid horse. Overall, the effect is as if a horse with a solid coat had white painted in patches over top. The white areas of a pinto horse generally have pink skin underneath.

A horse with small amounts of white only on the face and/or legs is not called "pinto" but instead said to have white markings. There is no clear dividing line for how much white counts as pinto and how much counts as only white markings, and various breed registries have slightly different rules on how much white must be present and where it must be placed to count as pinto.

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