American Paint Horses

The Quarter Horse is the oldest and most popular American horserace. The race has its origin in Arabic races, which were brought to America by Spaniards and which were crossed with European thoroughbred horses in about 1600.

Grullo / Overo

In the 17th and 18th century people enjoyed horseracing in America. However, there were hardly any straight racecourts to be found anywhere, neither were there any long and straight roads, so really short races were held on the villageroad. Distance was rarely more than a quarter of a mile.

In order to win, the horse had to reach its top speed within a very short amount of time.

Thus the Quarter Horse got its name, being faster than any of the thoroughbred horses at the quarter of a mile.

Paint Horses - Paints for short - are the Quarter Horses that are white on the body above the knee. There are two possible colour patterns: Tobiano and Overo. Tobiano is most prevalent. Tobiano is a Paint Horse with the white pattern across its back and patches are big and regular.

Overo is a Paint Horse which seldomly has the characteristical white pattern on its back. The white pattern runs from the belly up and is often regular and flamed. You will often find the Overo with white head and dark legs. This type also often has blue eyes.

The height at the withers of Paint Horses varies from 1.42 meter to 1.72 meter. The Paints' character doesn't differ much from other Quarter Horses: they are intelligent and have an excellent temperament.

External conformation

Colour is the only feature that distinguishes the Paint from other Quarter Horses. As for other physical characteristics, they do not differ: a broad forehead, expressive eyes, a somewhat Arabic nose, not much withers to speak of and a strong, muscular hind quarters. The horse is very "cool" by nature.

Movement

Quarter Horses are fast, well-balanced and very maneuverable. Because of their muscular hind quarters and well-developed hind legs the animals are able to sprint away, turn and make sliding stops very fast and balanced. The Paint Horse has quiet gates and have incredible power to accelerate. The Paint is a typical westernhorse and is used in every discipline of westernsport.

This separate race with a pedigree of its own came into being as a reaction to the fact that Quarter Horses could not be entered in theQuarter pedigree if they were not uniformly coloured. It sometimes happened that a stained foal was born from two uniformly coloured parents so in 1962 the American Horse Association was founded in order to be able to enter registrate these particular horses.

There is also the Pinto Horse Association, which enters horses from any race as long as they have the right colours. This herdbook was founded in 1941. The Pinto originates from Spain. The race has been bred by Indians for centuries. However, the Pinto should not be confused with the Paint Horse.

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