BREED INFO :
American Paint Horse
American Paint Horse Facts and Information
The American Paint descended from horses introduced by the Spanish conquistadors. Paints became part of the herds of wild horses that roamed the Western plains. Native Americans widely used the Paint, and some even believed this horse to possess magical powers.
The Paint was cherished by cowboys for cattle work because they were nimble and worked hard. American Paint Horses are easy-going, friendly and intelligent.
The Paint has distinctive coloring. Their coat markings fall into two classes- tobiano (white with dark markings) or overo (dark with light markings).
The American Paint Horse is an excellent horse for ranch work, rodeo, trail riding, showing, or simply as a friendly mount for the kids.
American Quarter Horse
The American Quarter Horse is best known today as a show horse, race horse, reining and cutting horse, rodeo competitor, ranch horse, and all-around family horse. Quarter horses compete well in rodeo events such as barrel racing, calf roping and team roping;[citation needed] and gymkhanaor O-Mok-See.[23] Other stock horse events such as cutting and reining are open to all breeds but also dominated by American Quarter Horse. Large purses allow top competitors to earn over a million dollars in some of these events.[citation needed]
The breed is not only well-suited for western riding and cattle work. Many race tracks offer Quarter Horses a wide assortment of pari-mutuel horse racing with purses in the millions.[citation needed] Quarter Horses have also been trained to compete in dressage and can be good jumpers. They are also used for recreational trail riding and in mounted police units.[15]
The American Quarter Horse has also been exported worldwide. European nations such as Germany and Italy have imported large numbers of Quarter Horses. Next to the American Quarter Horse Association (which also encompasses Quarter Horses from Canada), the second largest registry of Quarter Horses is in Brazil, followed by Australia.[24] With the internationalization of the discipline of reining and its acceptance as one of the official seven events of the World Equestrian Games, there is a growing international interest in Quarter Horses. Countries like Japan, Switzerland and Israel that did not have traditional stock horse industries have begun to compete with American Quarter Horses in their own nations and internationally.[citation needed] The American Quarter Horse is the most popular breed in the United States today, and the American Quarter Horse Association is the largest breed registry in the world, with over 5 million American Quarter Horses registered worldwide.[25]
American Appaloosa Horse
The Appaloosa is a horse breed best known for its colorful leopard-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 color pattern is genetically the result of various spotting patterns overlaid on top of one of several recognized base coat colors. The color pattern of the Appaloosa is of interest to those who study equine coat color genetics, as it and several other physical characteristics are linked to the leopard complexmutation (LP). Appaloosas are prone to develop equine recurrent uveitis and congenital stationary night blindness; the latter has been linked to the leopard complex.