Paint vs. Pinto

I figured that I may as well start off with one of my bigger Pet Peeves. Picture above are 2 Paints and 3 Pintos. I tried to pick pretty obvious differences. Who's who? 1, 3, &5 are Pintos. 2 & 4 are Paints.

Actual dialog of a conversation I had:

Gil (we'll just call him that): Nice colt. What breed is he?

Me: He's a Paint.
Gil: I can see that from his color, but is he an Ay-RAB?

Me: Silent scream inside head... No, he's a Paint.

I can't tell you how many different times I've had a conversation that came close to this. Though the Ay-RAB part was quite new to me. Try to keep in mind we're talking about that colt that is pictured (as a yearling) in the first "post". So, I am going to focus on Paint vs. Pinto.

Paint -

Straight from the APHA.com website:

To be eligible for registry, a Paint's sire and dam must be registered with the American Paint Horse Association, the American Quarter Horse Association, or the Jockey Club (Thoroughbreds). At least one parent must be a registered American Paint Horse. To be eligible for the Regular Registry, the horse must also exhibit a minimum amount of white hair over unpigmented (pink) skin.

Which in layman's terms means one parent must be registered APHA, and the other must be registered AQHA, APHA or JC (Jockey Club).

The APHA has 2 different kinds of registry. One is the regular registry which is for horses that have a "natural paint marking" that falls in the correct areas on the horse's body. "Natural paint marking" has a long definition that is available on the apha website at http://www.apha.com/breed/colorreq.html . The other is the Solid Paint Bred registry. This registry is for horses that do not exhibit enough white to be regular registry, but are from the correct bloodlines.

In short, the Paint horse is now a breed, as opposed to a color.

Pinto -

Straight from Ptha.org :

Contrary to the strict limitations of APHA, the Pinto can derive from a very large spectrum of breed and registry crosses. Although PtHA accepts many approved crosses, it does NOT accept animals with Appaloosa, Draft or Mule breeding and/or characteristics.

...the association only requires a minimum of 4 square inches of white hair with underlying pink skin. In addition, this amount is cumulative, as long as the white lies in the qualifying area. Minimum requirements for ponies and miniatures are 3 inches and 2 inches, respectively.

This white marking also must fall into the specific body areas regulated by the PtHA. Now, I'm sure everyone got this... but let me reiterate... PtHA accepts many approved crosses.

Meaning, that if you have a 'colored' horse or pony, it can most likely be registered Pinto. It doesn't matter who it came from, if it's registered, what breed it is, etc. They classify their horses into 'type' and 'size' groups. They also have a breeding stock registry. The qualifications for this are:

A horse that does not meet PtHA color requirements but has either color within two generations OR at least two Pinto characteristics may be eligible for Breeding Stock registry. Pinto characteristics are: blue eyes, high leg white above knee or hock, white hooves, multi-colored/stripped hooves, pink skin, or collective white in eligible zones, but not enough to qualify for color.

So, basically any backyard horse or pony that has 2 Pinto characteristics.

All regular registry Paints can be double registered Pinto, but not all regular registry Pintos can be registered Paint.

I hope this has cleared up any questions. I don't mind explaining the difference to people, but when they argue with me about it...! GRRRR!