TOBIANO

Tobiano is a white spotted pattern and can be any base color.    They typically have white legs, a colored head (with or without normal white markings), rounded spots with sharp edges, and often have a tail that has both white and dark coloring, but with the white at the top and the colored hairs at the bottom.  The white patterning appears to come from the bottom of the horse and comes up over the back usually between the head and hip.  The flank area is usually dark colored.  There may be little spots in the white parts, known as cat tracks or ink spots.  This is some indication the horse may be homozygous for the tobiano gene (i.e., have two tobiano genes, thereby always throwing spots).  Many tobiano spotted horses also have one or more of the other spotting patterns (sabino, frame overo, splash white).  One or two blue eyes are usually an indication of the overo or splashed white pattern being present.  It is possible for a horse to be a tobiano with no spotting apparent.  Approximately 20% of solid-colored foals out of a spotted parent carry the spotted gene.  A tobiano gene test is available.