Whats the difference between a paint and a pinto?

Question

Ive seen paints that I thought were pintos and pintos that I would have picked for paints!?

How do you tell the difference?

Answer 1

Pinto is a coat color pattern

Paint is a breed

All pintos have spots or blotches of white coloring on a darker coat.  Lots of different breeds have pinto markings..some common ones are Paint Horses, Gypsy Vanner Horses,  and many ponies, just to name a few

Not all members of the Paint breed have the traditional coat pattern, they are called "breeding stock Paints" and have solid coats.  Paints were established as a breed because of their coat coloring - the breed is derived from the stock type horses such as quarter horses and have their own registry.

Answer 2

Paint horses are a breed and there spots are more blended and smooth looking.

Pinto horses are not a breed and there spots are more rough looking.

Answer 3

Paint horses have a specific stock-type body type and are closely related to the American Quarter Horse. To register a horse with the American Paint Horse Association, both the sire and the dam must be registered paint horses but pinto coloring is not required! The APHA has a special "breeding stock" division for Paint Horse who lack pinto coloring.

Pinto horses, however, may be of any breed or type, because the word "Pinto" simply refers to color. A Saddlebred, for example, may be a Pinto, but could never be a Paint. Pinto horses come in all shapes and sizes. A color-based registry has opened for Pinto horses. Instead of breeding being the qualifier for registry, color is. Any non-draft, non appaloosa colored may join the Pinto Horse Association of America.

Answer 4

The Paint Horse (registered by the American Paint Horse Association) is limited to horses of documented and registered Paint, Quarter Horse, or Thoroughbred breeding. The difference in eligibility between the two registries has little to do with color or pattern; only bloodlines.

While most Paints can be double registered as Stock or Hunter type Pintos, the Pinto Horse Association (PtHA) also allows for the registration of miniature horses, ponies, and horses derived from other breed crosses, such as Arabian, Morgan, Saddlebred, and Tennessee Walking Horse, to name a few. In essence, the Pinto horse is a color breed in contrast to most other breeds which are defined by their genetic ancestry.

Answer 5

There is an old saying "A Paint Is Always A Pinto But A Pinto Is Only Sometimes A Paint." LOL It doesn't have any thing to do with color or pattern though.

A pinto is basicly any spotted horse. The Pinto Registry will accept any horse based on it color alone. Although they do have 2 types of Registration, the Stock-Type registration, and Saddle-Type restristration.

A Paint must be a registered horse of either QH or TB lineage. In the old days many "crop out" QH's (both parents solid but too much white on the foal for QH registry to accept) were accepted into APHA. A few years ago AQHA decided to start accepting these foals regardless of how much white they had as long as both parents were registered with AQHA.

This spurred APHA to in turn create the "One Paint Parent Rule". Now for a foal to be registered into APHA at least one parent much be registered with APHA, the other parent can be either another Paint, a QH or a TB as long as they are registered (with their specific registry). If QH or TB they must be nominated with APHA for breeding status, basicly this requires paying a fee to APHA..

This switch over with AQHA to accepting the crop-outs was retroactive as well, they gave back restration to all the horses who they had denied acceptance because of the white rule before that.. So now there are many horses that are Double Papered with both APHA and AQHA. registration papers.

Many Paints are also double registered these days into the Pinto Registry to get access to their shows --- in my opinion not very fair since many times these are horses that didn't make the 'big time cut' at the Paint Shows or never even competed at Paint Shows.

Add to this the crop-outs that were re-accepted into AQHA, and many times you see "spotted horses" that have three sets of papers -- AQHA, APHA, PtHA.

Answer 6

oh wow, some of these people are way out there.

paint has the quarter horse breed in it

and pinto has the arabian, or saddlebred.

EDIT:

4 the horses and Rosi M are dead right!

everyone else said pinto is the color, that is WRONG. its not a color.. the color's are tobiano, tovero, overo... not PINTO

here's a pinto:

http://clearcreekarabians.com/photos/sta...

here's a paint:

(he's younger)...

http://simplymarvelous.files.wordpress.c...

if you know your breeds, you can tell the paint is a quarter horse and the pinto is a NSH (arabian/saddlebred cross)

Answer 7

All colored horses are technically "Pinto" horses.  

The term paint comes from the American Paint Horse Association so in all technicality a "Paint" is a horse that is registered with the APHA.  To be registered with the APHA you must have registered parents.

If you have a pinto horse without registered parents the baby can be registered with the National Pinto Horse Registry or the Pinto Horse Association of America.

In common language, however, most colored horses are called Paints - simply because "pinto" is an akward word. :)

Hope This Helps!

Answer 8

A "Paint" can basically trace their ancestry to Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds and their and conformation and pedigree show it.

A "Pinto", is any breed or cross of breeds that have the pinto colouring patterns.  You can have a horse that looks like an American Saddlebred, but have the pinto colouring and it can be a registered pinto the same with an Arabian cross horse or anyother breed.  You can have a Paint horse (APHA) that is double registered with Pinto as well.

http://www.APHA.com

http://www.pinto.org

I hope this explains it to you.

Answer 9

a paint is a specific breed of horse

and is similar to the quarter horse

a pinto is any breed of horse that is a tobiano

http://www.bnbpaintranch.com/images/stal...

an overo

http://www.whitehorseproductions.com/ima...

or a tovero

http://www.zegifts.com/Design/Assets/ima...

dont worry its confused me too :)

Answer 10

Just to look at them?? You can't...UNLESS the horse looks to be an ASB, or Arabian, a pony or anything not resembling a Quarter Horse or Thoroughbred. In which case, they can be both. The marking patterns don't have to do with Pinto or Paint per se. And there's a Pinto registry for any horse meeting the white requirements, but they also recognize noncolor Pintos as I have one. Her sire is a  double registered Paint/Pinto, her dam's Arabian. As her sire's Pinto, she qualifies for Pinto papers as breeding stock. Kid you not.

Best way to find out is to ask the owner.

Answer 11

A paint is a breed and a pinto is a type of color that is on a breed of horse.

Example- A pinto quarter horse

Answer 12

pintos are a colour

paint is a breed

Sooo

A paint is a breed, a breed descending from the quarter horse.

pinto is just a color. any breed of horse that comes out with spots is known as a pinto, unless they are quarter horses. then they're paints.

Answer 13

A Paint is a breed.  A pinto is only a color.  

A pinto can be any breed

A Paint can only be of Thoroughbred and Quarter breeds and MUST have the color, Tobiano, Overo, and combination of both.  See American Paint Horse Association guidelines on the internet.

Answer 14

You can't tell the difference by looking.  One (Paint Horse) is a breed and may or may not have the color.  A pinto is a color (black and white or brown & white) and can be any breed.

TxPaintHorse - you are right with the Paint Breed, but recently the Paint Breed to be registered does not need the color anymore...only the sire or dam needs to be a registered Paint; color not required.  Sad that the organization has changed this rule but Appaloosa are the same, they don't need color either.  I think these organizations should have stood by the original rules and regs.