A Colored Perspective

Blog by: Jennifer Sheriff

Attention Paint Horse Folks:

APHA Convention is upon us, and once again we are battling it out in many discussions revolving around the “Solid” Horse. After reading hundreds, maybe thousands, of comments in reference to Solid Rule Proposals/Permits I would like you to take into consideration and think about some of the following:

All these discussions are about the Solid Paint Horse, seriously? What about the PAINT HORSE? Let’s talk about COLOR for once. You know, that one horse with all the COLOR standing along the fence every time you drive by. You didn’t happen to notice his SOLID partner grazing next to him though, did you? Don’t forget about the APHA bronze statues at the headquarters with four, loud-colored horses.

How many Paint Stallions (overo and tobiano) can you think of? They can’t have a set of Quarter Papers either. Think about it…there’s NOT very many. How many did you come up with? To me, as a Paint Horse breeder, that number is VERY ALARMING. Why is this? Maybe we should focus more time and energy on the COLORED horse and making them worth more? Do we have a special incentive for PAINT STALLIONS ONLY? Sure don’t. Why in the world would we breed to that stallion when we can breed to a minimal overo, double registered OLWS neg. stallion?

When Regular Registry is mentioned, we first think that it means A PAINT HORSE! Well, does it? It could be a cross from two Quarter Horses that just had enough white to qualify. When this horse (we will say mare) is breeding age, where will she go to get bred? Now remember she does have a set of Quarter Horse papers. I will bet she gets bred back to a Quarter Horse stallion and not the single APHA papered overo or tobiano stallion. Is this practice of breeding COLOR into APHA for generations to come? Think about two, five, and  ten years down the road; will the OLWS and color just suddenly appear?

Now, let’s throw in all those color markers that everyone is so hung up on and wants to use to dictate how they breed. How come this double registered mare (dropout) that’s 35% colored has NO COLOR known markers, and she is negative for OWLS, and when bred to a paint (overo) stallion she had a loud colored foal. Had I tested her before I bred her, I probably would have bred her back to a Quarter Horse, since I thought she couldn’t produce color without having any color markers…think about it? To date, color markers are not nearly advanced enough for us to base our breeding practices on, but they are an educational tool. The only thing we’re sure of, and know would the result could be, is OLWS.

Many folks say the Solid horses are worth very little to nothing. Why is that? Is it because we have failed as breeders, owners, and trainers to promote and use them? Why don’t we take them to the shows that have offered FREE CLASSES or cheap fees year after year? The majority of futurities allow solids to show. Was the trailer full? Because I’m sure the show grounds had a stall for that horse and the classes were offered. Do we put the solid mares back into the broodmare band for that overo or tobiano paint stallion? I do, but I imagine I’m one of a very few.

Keep thinking…what about those posts and photos we look at every day on Facebook. Are people bragging about that big, loud-colored mare that just had a cute, solid, sorrel colt with a sock and everyone hits the LOVE button?

What about the loud colored, wildly marked overo, or cool, bald faced, tobiano baby just born? Now why do they get 400 likes and tons of comments? Is it because no two Paint horses are marked alike? Is it because we never know what color or pattern we will get when that mare foals? It is the THRILL of raising a Paint Horse?

No matter what we do as Paint horse owners, breeders, and trainers, the solid horse will never be equal to the colored horse. Paint it anyway you want; that’s a fact. That’s part of the risk we signed up for. We can try to come up with the rule changes and classes that put them together and make them equal but, the colored horse is UNIQUE and SPECIAL, no matter if it ever goes to a horse show or it’s just standing in the pasture or riding down the trail. The colored horse is the reward, and there’s nothing better.

Our duty as an APHA Breeder and member is to protect, preserve, and promote the COLOR. The colored PAINT horse is SPECIAL and it should be.