These achievements at one of cutting’s biggest shows was a big deal for the Marvins, especially aboard a flashy Paint. Keeper was fourth in the 2018 National Cutting Horse Association Summer Spectacular Open Finals with Marvin’s dad, Tommy, and Marvin won the Derby Non-Pro Championship title on the same night. “Keeper definitely has the heart and the try, and she’s just a gorgeous mare.” Kenli Marvin’s tobiano Paint mare Cinderella Cat has risen to the top ranks of National Cutting Horse Association competition. “I love the uniqueness that comes with the Paint Horse, and I feel like they have a little extra ‘try’ to them,” Marvin says. When Marvin found Keeper’s dam, Miss Instant Choice, at a sale in 2014 with the foal at her side, she knew it was meant to be. The mare’s owner, Kenli Marvin of Barnsdall, Okla., owned a Paint Horse as a child, and that love never left her. While solid-colored Quarter Horses have dominated the cutting pen, Paint Horses, like sorrel tobiano mare Cinderella Cat (aka “Keeper”) have certainly made a splash. But thanks to their one-of-a-kind markings, Paints do it all while standing out from the crowd. In addition to APHA-approved horse show classes and short-distance racing, Paints compete in a variety of disciplines in both English and western tack.īeyond competition, Paints are steady and calm, ready to get to work no matter their job. They can also have cow sense, making them ideal for ranch work. Paint Horses are athletic, excelling in sports where quick moves are required. Toveros carry pattern characteristics of both tobianos and overos. Overos can have facial markings, such as a bald face, an apron face or bonnet face. White markings are usually irregular, splashy or spotted. At least one of an overo’s legs will be dark, and the white of the horse will not usually cross over the horse’s back. Overos are the most common pattern seen on a Paint. The horse’s head usually has a blaze, star, strip or snip on a solid head. Spots are often smoother, like ovals or circles. Tobianos usually have white legs below the knees and hocks, with the darker body color on its sides. Paints are most known for their distinctive coat patterns, which generally fall into three categories.

Each Paint’s markings are as different as fingerprints. Part of the excitement of Paint foals is seeing what markings they will be wearing.

The ideal Paint possesses a stock horse-type build: well-muscled proportions, but with powerful hindquarters, a trim throatlatch and a refined head. Therefore most Paints can be registered as a Pinto, but not all Pintos can be registered as Paints. Pintos are mainly required to have white markings in a qualifying zone. In contrast, the Pinto Horse Association accepts horses with bloodlines of many other breeds outside of Paints, Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds. Photo by Bob LangrishĪ horse that meets the parentage criteria but lacks enough white markings can be registered as a Solid Paint-Bred (formerly known as Breeding Stock), with access to many of the benefits of APHA registration, but carrying a different designation. Offspring of two Quarter Horses, two Thoroughbreds, or a Quarter Horse and a Thoroughbred with the required markings can also be registered Paints, but they need to have submitted parentage and coat pattern DNA information.

Paint horae