Pintabian horse

 Hi there! Today I felt like writing some facts about what is a horse breed called Pintabian. Obviously many of You who read this allready know the details, and I may not know so much since I'm still a total beginner with the breed. So please leave a comment and correct my errors so that we will all learn more! 

As said before, in Finland there is no such horse breed as a Pintabian at all. So if a Pintabian foal is born here, it needs to be registered in some other country first, and then here as an import. Or it will be registered in the Finnish association Hippos as an unrecognized equine animal. The same is true with many other horse breeds as well. It makes the registration process long and a bit frustrating. Hippos is found for registering standardbred trotters and the Finnhorse, only some warmblood riding horses and purebred ponies were accepted later. Trotting racing is a big business and a hobby here, so that's the reason why. In Finland there operates a breed association for the Arabian fullblood horse, SAHY ry, but they haven't been interested in co-operating with us Pintabian people. 

Pintabian is a mixed breed. I've heard two different definitions of how a horse can be registered as a Pintabian. Both of them state that there has to be at least 50% pure full Arabian blood, another one adding that the more the better. So in many cases the percentage of Arabian fullblood is mentioned something like 99,79%. In short a Pintabian is exactly like an Arabian horse, but the visible color is tobiano, which is forbidden in the Arabian breed. That pattern comes from a Pinto. In one definition it is mentioned that a Pintabian has to be tobiano, otherwise a horse is not a Pintabian. The other one says that a solid color can also be a Pintabian if the Arabian blood is over 50%. There are many opinions on how it's right. The homeland of the breed is the US. 

In breeding color there's always a favor for the homozygote individual. It means that both parents carry the same allele of the particular gene, in case of Pintabians the tobiano gene, and the foal inherits it from both of them. When the foal has offspring of its own they all are tobiano since the homozygote cannot leave anything else. Another option is of course a heterozygote, which means that the desired allele comes only from one parent and the other gives for example a solid bay color gene to the foal. So when trying to get as high as possible a percentage of Arabian blood from horses that do not have a tobiano gene since it's not allowed in the breed, one needs to have a plan for many generations in order to one day have a homozygote tobiano Pintabian foal. And there's a genetic factor also in adding a homozygote to a homozygote, it usually weakens the other features dramatically. Mainly breeging only homozygotes together the health issues come into play and there's been a debate about for example a thing called lethal white in other breeds. So one needs to add the Arabians in Pintabian for the health as well. 

And of course aside from color there are other features that need to be taken seriously in horse breeding: the health, the character, the size, and so on. That's why in Pintabian breeding especially homozygote proven breeding stallions are golden. The life of a horse breeder isn't only a walk on clouds, since there's always something else, there just can't be a perfect foal even though one aims for it everyday. In America Pintabians are used in shows, hobby riding and western at least. In Finland there are not so many Pintabian individuals that it could be said what they are used for but most of the adults are trained in riding. They can be trained in anything and that's one point to keep in mind in breeding: the character and health of the foals need to be good enough that they can later embrace a life as a hobby horse. We people in Finland are a bit larger than in some warmer countries, so when we want to ride our Pintabians, we need to focus on breeding them big enough too. And by this I don't mean being fat but being larger in structure. 

What I love about Pintabians the most is their character. Of course it depends a lot on the environment, the way the horses are handled daily and the way they live, are they part of a herd or sadly living alone, and so on. Naturally the character is much like the Arabians, since they have so much genetically in common. I love the combination of fire and wisdom. I'd say Pintabians don't need to be educated so much but the relationship between them and their people is crucial. When they trust in their person, they'll do anything without teaching a lot. They also can use their own intelligence to work things out and solve issues. For example we have had many occasions when trying to catch a foal and there's been another foal helping us out without asking by his own body positioning and driving. Sometimes it feels like they understand what I say, and it's always easy to communicate with them when the relationship is good. 

Of course it's a nice bonus when your horse is stunning to watch. The way Pintabians move, it's a love story. But the main point in all horse life is that You feel complete everyday with the horses You have at the moment. To focus on breeding or one breed or aiming towards a goal, it's good, but the most important thing is the feeling one has every day with his own horses. It makes me happy when I can go to the paddock and just sit there listening to my horses eat or snore, and I don't need anything more from them. Their existence is the win for me. The herd dynamics, that they accept me all the way as I am, sometimes tired and sad, sometimes happy and full of ideas. That's the reason why I love this particular horse breed so much. They're always there for me as I am always there for them. And I know it's what horse breed ever is the one for anyone, You'll find Yours by trying. I've found mine and it is a Pintabian for sure.