This is to many people the classic Gypsy Horse colour!
Tobiano is a pinto gene. It is dominant which means only one copy of the
gene is needed to get a coloured horse and a tobiano foal must have had a Tobiano
parent. Tobiano simply put white patches on any base colour coat.
Traditionally a black and white is called a Piebald and any other colour
and white a Skewbald. A tri-colour is simply another name for a bay and
white. Tobiano is recognised from other pinto patterns by the fact that the
white patches cross over the horses spine
somewhere between the ears and tail. They usually have white legs and a
solid coloured head. A white blaze with the tobiano pattern probably means
the sabino gene is also present. Without the presence of other pinto genes
the lines will be clean and sharp, not jagged or roaning. As the Gypsy
Horses usually have sabino I have found it nearly impossible to find a
Tobiano showing all the classic tobiano characteristics with no other white
patterns affecting it!
Ink spots or paw prints
are sometimes seen in the white of Tobiano horses. Some
people associate these marks with a homozygous tobiano although this has been proven
to be incorrect. It is thought to more likely be
an effect of sabino as could the ermine spots. Many homozygous tobiano horses
do not have these spots and there have been many heterozygous horses with
spots. There is a test available for Tobiano to check if you wish to know.
A homozygous Tobiano is one with two Tobiano genes. It will look no
different from a heterozygous Tobiano with one gene. A homozygous Tobiano
will always pass on a Tobiano gene to its foals and so will always have
coloured foals. For a horse to be homozygous both parents must also be
Tobiano.
Other common marks are
what are sometimes called ermine spots. They are usually on the hair line
of the hoof or further up the leg around the chestnut. The horse may have a
small amount of black feather under all of his or her white feather. Thus a
horse with a white leg can have a black hoof or striped black and white
hoof. Other patterns besides Tobiano can have these though.
Although I have below mostly tried to use pictures of
horses showing mostly Tobiano characteristics, keep in mind that often
other pinto genes will affect the tobiano when present. For example the
splash gene with tobiano will often reduce the amount of colour on the
chest and add white to the face, sabino can add roaning plus white face
markings and reduce colour in the flanks. However if the white patches
cross the spine this is a good indicator that Tobiano is present. More of this
will be mentioned in the Sabino and Splash sections.
