Last Updated on February 28, 2022 by Allison Price
Piebald horses are horses with black patches on their white coats. You can also have a black coat with white patches. You can have different combinations of black and white colors.
Origin of the Word “Piebald”.
Two words are what gave rise to the term Piebald. Pie is derived from “magpie”, a black-and-white bird. Bald is white background. This term was first used in Britain.
The British language uses the terms Piebald and Skewbald to refer to color coat terms. This color pattern is also known as “Pinto” in the United States. American Paint Horse refers to all registered colored horses. Piebald is one example.
It Is a Breed?
Piebald is sometimes mistakenly believed to be a breed. It is not a breed. Piebald refers the horse’s color.
A mutation gene causes the color pattern of the coat to appear. Pieblad is not a term that refers to the horse’s height or other physical characteristics. These characteristics are determined by horse breed.
The Piebald color pattern can be used by many horse breeds, including Gypsy horse and Drum horse. This Piebald pattern can be used by Welsh Cob and Marwari Horse.
Locating Colored Patches
The location of the horse’s white area depends on melanoblasts moving from the neural crest to the paired bilateral areas in the embryo’s skin. When melanoblasts are moved to both sides of a pair, and multiply uniformly in both places, the patterns appear symmetrical. This is rare and the patterns look symmetrical.
Peculiar Characteristics
The Piebald horse has no set color. Black may be the dominant color for some horses. Some horses may be dominant in one color, while others might prefer white. Patterns are spotted by a specific gene. These patterns are asymmetrical. The following categories can be applied to the Piebald Horses, depending on their patterns:
1. Tobiano
The Spanish language is where Tobiano got its name. This coat color pattern is caused by a dominant gene. This color pattern is caused by a dominant gene. It can be seen from birth.
Tobiano horses must have at least one parent who carries the Tobiano gene. The horse’s coat will begin to fade with age if one of the parents passes the gray gene on to their foal.
The white color below the knees and hocks in each leg can identify this pattern. The chest and head may have oval or round-shaped marks. You can arrange the white patches vertically. They can be arranged in a vertical pattern or they may be circular or oval.
The black area may extend down the neck, and look like a shield. The eyes are brown and the head is strong. It gives the impression of a white horse with flecks of color. Black or white could be the primary color.
2. Overo
Overo Spanish for “like an egg” is the term. Dark-colored legs are the hallmark of the Overo pattern. The tail is single-colored. The Overo color pattern is known for having blue eyes. The Overo gene can cause horses to be entirely black with little or no white markings. Horses with the Overo gene may have dark-colored heads and tails.
Some shapes can be dominant, incomplete dominants or polygenics. In some horses, the white spots can look so small that it may appear as if the horse is a solid-colored horse.
Sometimes the color pattern may look like white spots surrounded by black frames. Based on the color of the Overo, it is broken down into sub-patterns such as Sabino and Frame Overo.
3. Frame Overo
The Frame Overois is a very common pattern. The horse’s coat is black with white patches. These patches are horizontal in shape. These patterns are irregular. The patterns are uneven. The horse’s head is usually white with blue eyes.
4. Splashed white
This is an unusual pattern. It looks like the horse has been dipped into white color from its bottom. This color pattern is caused by multiple Splashed White genes.
White is used for the lower body, legs and face. The black and white colors have a clear and precise border. The horse’s upper portion is dark-colored. The white patch is much smaller. It could be a star or a snip and white socks.
5. Sabino
A gene known as SB-1 is responsible for the formation of the Sabino pattern. This gene is not present in all Sabino-pattern horses. Sabino is a common name that refers to a group of white spotting patterns which look similar. Sabino’s white head has markings that extend beyond the eyes.
You may notice that they have white stockings with sharp edges at their feet. These stockings could also be extended and extending up to their legs. They appear to have fallen on either one or both of their sides. You may also find markings underneath the horse’s belly.
6. Tobero
Tobero, also known as Tovero, is the offspring a registered Overo mare and a registered Tobiano mare. Tovero horses can have different color and pattern on their bodies if they have this color pattern. The base coat is typically white.
Their ears have dark spots. Some horses have these pigments on their foreheads and around their eyes. These horses also have distinctive “shields” of black that are covered by white on their chests or faces. You can choose to have either one or both of their blue eyes. They can also have dark spots around the mouth.
These spots can sometimes extend to the sides of your face in some cases. You may find black spots on your chest of different sizes. There are different sizes at the base and tip of the tail.
It can be difficult to identify the genetics behind various patterns. Horses can display a variety of patterns that are not possible to place in one category.