The American Paint Horse Association (APHA) is a

breed registry A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry and the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeder ...

for the

American Paint Horse The American Paint Horse is a breed of horse that combines both the conformational characteristics of a western stock horse with a pinto spotting pattern of white and dark coat colors. Developed from a base of spotted horses with Quarter Hors ...

. It is currently headquartered in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

.APHA Contact Information
accessed on October 31, 2007 It was founded in 1965 with the merging of two different

color breed A color breed refers to groupings of horses whose registration is based primarily on their coat color, regardless of the horse's actual breed or breed type. Some color breeds only register horses with a desired coat color if they also meet speci ...

registries that had been formed to register

pinto Pinto is a Portuguese language, Portuguese, Spanish language, Spanish, Sephardi Jews, Jewish (Sephardic), and Italian language, Italian surname. It is a high-frequency surname in all List of countries and territories where Portuguese is an officia ...

-colored horses of

Quarter Horse The American Quarter Horse, or Quarter Horse, is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances. Its name is derived from its ability to outrun other horse breeds in races of a quarter mile or less; some have been clocked at ...

bloodlines. One of these organizations was the American Paint Quarter Horse Association (or APQHA) and the other was the American Paint Stock Horse Association (or APSHA).

History

The APQHA was formed in 1961 in Abilene, Texas, mainly to register

cropout A cropout, crop-out or crop out is a horse with body spots, including pinto or leopard complex spotting, or "high white" horse markings, with a sire and dam who both appeared to have been solid-colored. There are several variations in the defini ...

horses from the matings of registered Quarter Horses. They also allowed the registering of non-cropouts ("solids") who had Quarter Horse conformation and bloodlines.Oelke ''The Paint Horse'' p. 33 The APSHA was formed in February 1962. The APSHA registration rules differed from APQHA in that they excluded

gaited An ambling gait or amble is any of several four-beat intermediate horse gaits, all of which are faster than a walk but usually slower than a canter and always slower than a gallop. Horses that amble are sometimes referred to as " gaited", parti ...

horses and mandated that horses that were mainly dark colored must have a minimum of three white spots three inches wide on their body, and that mostly white horses must have a dark spot at least six inches wide on their body.Haynes ''The American Paint Horse'' p. 45-46 Both registries agreed to merge in 1965, although the APHA calls the APSHA its forerunner.Oelke ''The Paint Horse'' p. 36

Coloration

The need for these registries arose because, in the days prior to DNA parentage testing, the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) would not register horses with excessive white markings, sometimes called "

s", thinking that such markings were a sign of non-

purebred Purebreds are " cultivated varieties" of an animal species achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be "pedigreed". Purebreds breed true-to-type which means the ...

breeding and was maintained for several decades because it was also feared that excess white increased the risk of horses producing a foal with

lethal white syndrome Lethal white syndrome (LWS), also called overo lethal white syndrome (OLWS), lethal white overo (LWO), and overo lethal white foal syndrome (OLWFS), is an autosomal genetic disorder most prevalent in the American Paint Horse. Affected foals are bo ...

(LWS). This policy was known as the "white rule." (The AQHA also would not register

Appaloosa The Appaloosa is an American horse breed best known for its colorful spotted coat pattern. There is a wide range of body types within the breed, stemming from the influence of multiple breeds of horses throughout its history. Each horse's colo ...

cremello The cream gene is responsible for a number of horse coat colors. Horses that have the cream gene in addition to a base coat color that is chestnut will become palomino if they are heterozygous, having one copy of the cream gene, or cremello, ...

perlino The cream gene is responsible for a number of horse coat colors. Horses that have the cream gene in addition to a base coat color that is chestnut will become palomino if they are heterozygous, having one copy of the cream gene, or cremello, ...

horses for similar reasons.) This policy arose in part from long observation of the

tobiano Tobiano is a spotted color pattern commonly seen in pinto horses, produced by a dominant gene. The tobiano gene produces white-haired, pink-skinned patches on a base coat color. The coloration is almost always present from birth and does not c ...

spotting pattern, which is a

dominant gene In genetics, dominance is the phenomenon of one variant (allele) of a gene on a chromosome masking or overriding the effect of a different variant of the same gene on the other copy of the chromosome. The first variant is termed dominant and t ...

, and was known to not occur unless one parent is tobiano, a color not recognized in the foundation breeds, such as the

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...

, that were the predecessors of the American Quarter Horse. What was not understood then is that the

overo Overo refers to several genetically unrelated pinto coloration patterns of white-over-dark body markings in horses, and is a term used by the American Paint Horse Association to classify a set of pinto patterns that are not tobiano. ''Overo'' is ...

pattern, found in the Spanish mustang ancestors of the Quarter horse, and sabino pattern, which exists in the Arabian and

, occur as either a

gene complex In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

or a recessive gene; thus two solid-colored horses could produce a spotted foal if both were carriers. It is also known now that lethal white is a recessive, and even two solid-colored horses can carry the LWS gene. Since the advent of DNA parentage testing and a test for LWS has also been developed, the AQHA has repealed its "white rule" and there are now Paint horses of verifiable Quarter Horse bloodlines that are cross-registered with both the APHA and the AQHA. The APHA currently registers horses that exhibit the

(which, under APHA categories, includes sabino),

, and

tovero The Tovero (also known as Tobero)PHAA
Retrieved on 13 January 2009 c ...

spotting patterns, as well as solid colored horses with Paint bloodlines. It also keeps track of each horse's performance and progeny record. It allows registration of Paint to Paint breedings, as well as Paint to Quarter Horse and Paint to

. They allow live cover,

artificial insemination Artificial insemination is the deliberate introduction of sperm into a female's cervix or uterine cavity for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization by means other than sexual intercourse. It is a fertility treatment ...

, shipped cooled semen, frozen semen and embryo transfers.APHA Breeding Guide PDF
accessed on October 31, 2007

Programs

The APHA sanctions

horse show A horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days, sometimes longer ...

s and holds an annual Youth World Championship Paint Horse Show in the early summer, and an annual Open and Amateur World Championship Paint Horse Show every November.APHA Events
accessed on October 31, 2007 They also offer

racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific go ...

Paint Racing
accessed on February 15, 2013 and added money to Paint horses competing in open shows held by the National Snaffle Bit Association and the

National Reining Horse Association The National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to promote the reining horse. History and mission The NRHA was founded in 1966 in Coshocton, Ohio, and later moved its headquarters to Oklahoma City, Ok ...

.APHA Paint Preferred Program
accessed on October 31, 2007 The APHA also has programs such as PAC which is an open show program, in which Paint Horses are rewarded for their performance in other events such as show jumping which is not always included in the APHA hosted shows. They also have a trail program which records and rewards Paint horses and their owners for time spent in saddle

pleasure riding Pleasure riding is a form of equestrianism that encompasses many forms of recreational riding for personal enjoyment, absent elements of competition. In horse show competition, a wide variety of classes are labeled pleasure classes with judging st ...

trail riding Trail riding is riding outdoors on trails, bridle paths, and forest roads, but not on roads regularly used by motorised traffic. A trail ride can be of any length, including a long distance, multi-day trip. It originated with horse riding, and ...

Notes

References

APHA Breeding Guide PDF
accessed on October 31, 2007

accessed on October 31, 2007

accessed on October 31, 2007

accessed on October 31, 2007
APHA Registration Guide PDF
accessed on October 31, 2007 * Haynes, Glynn W. ''The American Paint Horse'' University of Oklahoma Press, Norman OK 1976 * Oelke, Handy ''The Paint Horse: An American Treasure'' Kierdorf Publishing, Germany 1992
Paint Racing
accessed on February 15, 2013

External links

The APHA official website
{{short description, American horse breed registry for Paint Horses Horse breed registries