The Sabino Pattern and The Myth of the True-Breeding White/Albino Horse

Sabino (or sabino overo) is a pinto pattern of white hairs imposed on any coat color. In its most minimal form, it is often manifested as a blaze and stockings. More boldly marked sabinos will have white splashes on their bellies and sides, often with roany edges, and the most extremely marked sabinos can be all white or nearly so. Marquetry, pictured below left, is an excellent example of moderate form of this pattern, as is Northern Dancer. Note the left hind stocking which seems to come to a point as it rises up Marquetry's leg---this is very typical of the sabino pattern. Also notice the odd white spot on his left knee. Sabinos tend to have odd spots like this one on their bellies as well. The sabino pattern tends to be more loudly expressed on chestnut and chestnut-based colors like palomino.

Click HERE for more information on the myths and facts about "white" horses.

The lovely stallion Marquetry who stands at The Vinery. He is a minimally marked sabino. Note the odd spot on his left front knee and his blaze that extends on to his chin, both typical sabino indicators.(Photo by Tony Leonard)

This is Airdrie Apache, a more boldly marked sabino. He stands at Painted Desert Farm.

This handsome guy is Puchingui, sire of many modern sabino TBs. He is owned by True Colors Farm (I think). (Photo by Dan Trout)

This is The White Fox, an extreme sabino son of Patchen Beauty. His first four dams tail-female are white extreme sabinos. Quite a remarkable family. :-)

 

Frame Overo

Though it is very rare, the frame overo pattern does exist in the Thoroughbred gene pool. (Several suspected frame overo TBs have been tested for LWO and came back positive, so that is concrete evidence of the pattern in the breed.) Frame is almost always seen in conjunction with the sabino pattern which makes for some spectacularly patterned horses. Horses carrying only the overo gene almost always have four dark legs. White legs on a horse also carrying frame overo usually indicates sabino at work as well.
Patchy Lassy, shown here with her 2000 colt Ellusive Quest, is the well-spring of a growing family of overo TBs. She is clearly a sabino herself, and most likely a minimally expressed overo as well. Ellusive Quest also exhibits both the overo and sabino pattern. (Both horses are owned and photographed by Nancy McEachern of Color World Ranch.)
The late, great Racey Remarque, a 1997 black frame overo son of Patchy Lassy. Thankfully, he sired some lovely overo foals before his untimely death. (Owned and photographed by Nancy McEachern of Color World Ranch.)
Is this guy something or what? He is the very handsome Ellusive Quest (as pictured above with Patchy Lassy), a full brother to Racey Remarque. He had a brief racing career, but was retired to stud when his brother died. (Owned and photographed by Nancy McEachern of Color World Ranch.)
Nite Spot is the full brother of Patchy Lassy, pictured above. He stands in Germany at Gestüt Falkenhorst. Like the rest of the family, he carries the frame overo and sabinos genes. Nite Spot has a son named Spot who stands at Hillrise Farm in PA. Spot is very minimally marked, but as far as I know, he is the only overo/sabino offspring of Nite Spot in the US. (Photo by Rebecca Hatchell.)
This is Tri Chrome (shown with trainer Jack Van Berg), a bay overo horse by Blue Gazi born in 1991. Like Patchy Lassy and her family, he appears to carry the sabino gene along with frame overo. Sadly, he was euthanized at a young age after being kicked in the paddock before a race. He was never bred.
This is Blue-Eyed Streaker, a 1993 bay overo/sabino stallion, also a son of Blue Gazi. He used to stand at Diamond G Ranch in TX, but he was sold, and I'm not sure if he is still alive.

Splash White

The splash white overo pattern has only recently been recognized in the Thoroughbred. Though there have been a few isolated reports of potential splash whites, no good examples were found until a mare named Hey What The in New Zealand produced two unique fillies in 2003 and 2004.
This is Hey What The, a 1998 mare by Hey Baba Riba (NZ) out of Nagol Lass (NZ), by Americus (IRE), pictured with her 2004 filly Bubba by Go Corp (NZ). Both horses appear to be buckskin, but there are no indications in their pedigrees as to where the cream dilution came from. I suspect they may just be a sun-faded bays---see the photo of Whatever below for comparison. As far as I know, neither HWT nor Bubba have been tested for cream. (Photo by True Colors Farm)
Here are Hey What The and Bubba again showing off their white tail tips, classic indicators of splash. And though you can't see it in these photos, HWT has a big white belly spot as well. (Photo by True Colors Farm)
This is Hey What The with her 2003 filly Whatever also by Go Corp (NZ). As you can see, she and her dam both sort of look buckskin in this photo, but as she's matured, it's become clear that Whatever is in fact a bay. This leads me to think that HWT is as well, but the jury is still out, so to speak. Whatever was imported to the USA and is owned by True Colors Farm.
A photo of Whatever on the day she arrived in the USA. (Photo by True Colors Farm)

Seeing Spots: Birdcatcher Spots, Chubari Spots (aka Tetrarch Spots), Bend Or Spots, and Manchado

These odd patterns of dark and light spots do occur in other breeds, but they seem to be particularly prolific in the Throughbred, which is, of course, why most of them are named after TBs. The genes responsible for these spots have not yet been identified, so not a great deal is known about them. They are, however, entirely seperate from the genes responsible for Appaloosa coloration.

Birdcatcher spots or ticks are patterns of small white spots on a dark coat. Usually, these spots appear once a horse has reached maturity and eventually disappear. Sometimes, however, they do seem to be permanent. This is Willspynow, a 1991 mare by Well Selected out of Spy Gail, by Father Hogan. This mare's spots are bigger and more highly concentrated than most Birdcatcher spots. (Photo by Barbara Livingston)
Chubari spots (also sometimes called Tetrarch spots) are similar to Birdcatcher spots except that they tend to be much larger. They are usually egg-shaped and egg-sized, as seen here on The Tetrarch. They seem to be tied to the grey color, but they are different from dapples. Dapples can change and fade as the horse ages, but chubari spots don't disappear until the horse has completely greyed out. It is a fairly unusual pattern, and though it does occur on non-grey horses, it is most often seen on greys, most of whom descend from The Tetrarch.
Bend Or spots are random dark spots on a horse's coat. They seem to be tied to the chestnut color. Man O' War, a descendant of Bend Or, is said to have had these spots. Pictured at left is Commendable, the 2000 Belmont winner, who has a Bend Or spot on his right hip. Bend Or spots seem to show up most frequently on chestnuts and chestnut-based colors, like palomino, but they can occur on other colors. (Photo by ?)
This is GP's Krugerrand, a palomino TB who is covered in Bend Or spots. I've never seen a horse with so many!

This pattern is known as manchado or "manchado overo." It has only cropped up in Argentina in a handful of horses from various breeds (Criollo, Hackney, Arab, and TB so far). Because it is only found in Argentina and it has not proven to be hereditable, it is believed to be the result of environmental factors rather than genetic ones. The pattern is NOT related to appaloosa, sabino, or chubari/Tetrarch spots. The horse pictured is a Thoroughbred, Royal Manchado, a 1990 stallion by Royal Castle (ARG) out of Kleymary (ARG), by Manchester (ARG).

The only other picture I have found of a manchado patterned horse is the purebred Arab mare Trabag born in 1946. Like the other known manchados, she did not pass her pattern on to any of her foals.

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