Re: Paint and pinto coloring

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-12-01 00:04:37 EST, wind@visionsofthewind.com writes:

<< Anyway, along the same lines (but perhaps SLIGHTLY more endurance related),
 how about purebred Arabs with body white? I had a straight Egyptian mare
 that had an unusual blaze (looked kinda like the top of a china cabinet) and
 a huge belly spot. She also had a few small silver-dollar-sized white spots
 on the insides of her stifle and under her chest. I've seen several Arabs
 that look almost like an overo... I KNOW that the Arabs don't have the
 pattern genes anymore than they have the dilution genes, BUT could something
 like this be considered a pinto?
  >>

I am not sure if the "overo" Arabs that we see have the same gene as the
overos in other breeds, but I suspect that they do, and that they are most
likely the source of the gene in other breeds.  Will have to clarify that with
Ann Bowling sometime--she is really the leading expert on equine genetics.  At
any rate, there were at least two of the original strains that exhibited pinto
characteristics (you folks into strain breeding will have to help me out as to
which two), and those genes are alive and well in several lines of Arabians
today.  I personally have two mares with HUGE belly spots and white to mid-
forearm, obvious from the side without having to bend down at all, and I have
seen more than a few Arabs with white extending up onto necks, shoulders,
ribs, flanks, etc.--just like any other overos.  One of my "loud" mares just
presented me with a stunning BAY filly with a blaze and four high stockings, a
hand-sized spot mid-belly, two tiny spots on her girth at about elbow level on
one side, and a spot about the size of my thumb between her mandibles.  (Since
most of my veterinary practice is reproductive, and much is with Paint
breeders, I can't help but tease them when I get babies like this, since the
color has no value to my program but can make or break one of their foals...)
One of my two-year-old stallions also has a small belly spot--more than enough
to make my Paint clients happy if the same occurred on one of theirs!  To
answer the question about pintos--yes, these horses can be registered as
Pintos if their body spots are large enough.  BTW--one of my really "loud"
mares is Muferra, the dam of Hall of Fame RT Muffin.  She is also the dam of
Aurlani Farwa, who produced such endurance horses as BRR Aurber Lights (1998
PNER Champion), MC Starbright, MC Missing Link, etc. (the latter two are pinto
partbreds), as well as our purebred stallion Aur Bold Tribute--who by the way
is a Pinto-listed sire, and was being used in a partbred Pinto breeding
program when we got him.  He was an 85% color producer for his former owners.
Those "white genes" haven't slowed him down one whit as he takes on a new
career in endurance for us, and if his first foal crop here is any hint, we
most likely will get "cropout" purebreds by him as well. 

Heidi