Tobiano Horses

What is Tobiano?
Tobiano is probably the most well known and easily identifiable Paint/Pinto pattern. It's considered separate from the other three patterns and is very different in physical appearance.

Tobianos are easily identified by their white legs and solid colored head. This combination is unique because generally leg and face markings are seen on the same horse. If the head does have a white marking it is caused by Sabino, Frame or Splash.

Contrary to popular belief blue eyes are not a characteristic of Tobiano. If a Tobiano looking horse has a one or two blue eyes, it would be beneficial to have a OLWS test done on it to be sure that it does not carry Frame. Tobiano does a good job of "hiding" Frame characteristics and the horse may only have a small star and one blue eye. Splash can also be the cause for blue eyes on otherwise Tobiano looking horses. A facial marking as small as a snip or strip can be an indicatior of Splash or Sabino. Horses that are only Tobiano are much more rare than some may think, most are a combination of Tobiano and one of the other patterns.

The white on the body is arranged in a vertical pattern and will usually cross the horses topline somewhere between the ears and tail. The spots of a Tobiano are a rounded shape with clean, sharp edges. The tail can be two colors but the color will be at the bottom and the white will be at the top. The foal in the photo above is to young to determine if her tail will be one or two colors, but the horse in the photo below is a good example of the two toned tail found in Tobianos.

The heads of Tobianos seems to the be the last part of the body that is covered by white so you may see some Tobianos with white bodies and colored heads. Sponenberg calls this unique pattern the Moroccan pattern (see right) but says that it has nothing to do with Morocco or horses from that country and to further confuse the issue the Moroccan Spotted Horse breed includes horses exhibiting each of the different Pinto patterns. Gower also mentions Moroccan Barbs in her book, and says these are mostly "Medicine Hats" but, Gower's description of a Medicine Hat is different than the one most North American's use. She referrs to Medicine Hats as "color only on the head" and her drawing of a "Medicne Hat" shows a horse like the one in the photo above. North Americans think of Medicine Hats as the unique pattern that is associated with the Overo patterns and is different in that only the top of the head and ears have color, leaving the face from the top of the eyes down, white. Tobianos with this much body white usually have at least one other pattern in addition to Tobiano. One spotting characteristic of Tobiano is color on the flanks and chest, usually called chest or flank "shields". There must be another pattern present to remove the spots in these locations.

Small spots of color commonly called, Ink Spots, Paw Prints, Cat Tracks, etc., are another peculiarity of the Tobiano pattern. These small spots occur in the white patches anywhere on the body of the horse, they are usually small, round and occur in groups so they are easily seen as different from the larger patches of color that makes up the Tobiano pattern. These spots are the same color as the other colored parts of the body. This marking is associated with homozygosity of the Tobiano pattern but not necessarily mean that the horse is homozygous. In the case of the horse to the left, he is homozygous for the Tobiano pattern and as a bonus he is also Sabino, which can be seen from his white lower lip. These spots should not be confused with the Appaloosa pattern mixing with the Pinto pattern(s) and therefore causing a "Pintaloosa".

On some Tobiano horses the pigmented skin extends a short way beyond the patch of color into the white area. The result is a shadow or halo which causes horses to be commonly called shadow paints, ghost paints, ribbons paints or halo paints. These are very distinct when the horses is wet. This effect also occurs in other types of spotting as well.

Another characteristic associated with the Tobiano pattern are ermine spots or distal leg spots. Ermine spots are small to large spots of color in the white close to the hoof. Distal leg spots are small to large spots of color that occur in the white on leg above the ankle, these could just be in spots or paw prints that are occuring on the legs rather than the body.

Ermine spots are not necessarily a true characteristic of Tobiano as they do occur on horses who do not have this pattern.

Another trait of Tobiano that occurs on the leg is spots of color around the chestnuts, on a leg that is white in this area.

Genetic Information
The Tobiano pattern is caused by a dominant gene. Homozygous Tobianos do occur and are gaining population as breeders gain knowledge and insight into the requirements and genetics of this color pattern. To get a homozygous Tobiano both parents must be Tobiano. The amount of white in the coat pattern is not a reliable way of determining whether a horse is homozygous or not as very minimal Tobianos do occur alot more often than people think.

Occasionally horses with the tobiano gene do not have any body spots. These minimally marked horses will have white leg markings of varying size, the head will be dark, unless another pattern is also present. Sometimes this is referred to as a "slipped Tobiano". There are even horses who have only a couple short socks that test homozygous for Tobiano.

This combination is usually thought to be just your basic solid horses with basic white leg markings. The specific combination of extensive leg white and no facial white is consistent with the Tobiano gene and is not consistent with the combination leg and face markings otherwise common in horses. Though these horses are genetically Tobiano they do not look so physically because they are missing the body spots. These are the minimally marked Tobianos and these horses can and do go on to produce Tobiano offspring as reliably as any other horse with the Tobiano gene.