Pinto Horse - Paint or Pinto?

Paint or Pinto?

A pinto differs from a "Paint" solely by breeding. Horses with pinto coloring and verifiable pedigrees tracing to Quarter Horses or Thoroughbreds have been named the American Paint Horse, and are recorded in a separate registry, the American Paint Horse Association. While a pinto may be of any breed or combination of breeds, and some registries for pintos may have additional restrictions (some do not register draft horses or mules, for example), a horse that is registered as an American Paint Horse must have at least one parent recorded with the APHA and both parents must be only of registered American Quarter Horse, American Paint Horse, or Thoroughbred bloodlines. Therefore, most Paint horses may also be registered as pintos, but not all pintos are qualified to be registered as Paints.

Thus, while it is always correct to refer to a horse with a non-leopard spot pattern as a pinto, a spotted horse should only be called a Paint if its ancestry is known or if it displays conformation that is clearly akin to that of an American Quarter Horse. A leopard spotted horse is usually called an Appaloosa, whether it is a registered Appaloosa or not. However, "paint" or "painted" was also an archaic word used by 19th century writers for assorted spotted horses bred by various Plains Indian tribes and thus is occasionally used in this context when describing all types of spotted Mustangs.