At Sundown we love the colors produced by sabino breedings. Both our stallions have the sabino gene and we have had some wonderful results from our breeding program!
Sabino is a very unusual equine colour pattern and can be very hard to distinguish from other coat patterns. It is a fairly rare pattern in North America and it is usually not identified as a separate pinto pattern but is erroneously lumped in with overo. (The overo pattern does not exist in the Paso Fino breed.) Sabino is a distinctive pattern that is sometimes called "flecked roan", calico paint, or roan. Sabino horses will generally have some roaning in their coat and some sabinos may appear to be totally roan; however, they do not have the solid color heads associated with the true roan pattern. The white patches on a sabino horse are quite variable. On some horses they are very distinct and sharp, but on others only a flecking of small spots of white occurs on the background color. Some of the sabino characteristics include: mottled skin, tall socks running high on the hind legs, large blazes, large white under the jaw, roaning, and white spots on the bottom of the barrel. The barrel spots often run along the bottom, though they may also exhibit as irregular patches or speckling of white on the body. These are sometimes described as "splash marks" of white on the undersides of the head, neck, and belly - as though the horse had run through some white paint. Like the other kinds of pinto, sabino can occur on any base colour. Sabino occurs in nearly every breed of horse in minimal form, and is often mistaken for normal white markings. The expression of the sabino gene can range from minimum to maximum, or anywhere in between
Minimum white sabinos usually have at least one white sock that is sometimes very high and may come to a point. The blaze is usually wide and extends over top lip onto bottom lip and may be extensive enough to be considered a bald face. Horses having this minimal expression of the pattern are usually classified as non-spotted.
A fairly typical sabino will have four high white socks (that sweep up to a point at the top), a blaze face with chin markings, a bit of roaning, and some slight spotting or speckling on the barrel. Most people unfamiliar with the sabino gene will not recognize this horse as being a pinto.
Maximum white sabinos are commonly 70-90% white with a dark spot on the head and speckling or spots on the neck, flanks and shoulders or rump. Sometimes the sabino horse is just about totally white with a dark spot on the head that covers the ears and is quite visible. This pattern of sabino is referred to as a "medicine hat". Crop-outs or maximum white sabinos are often the resulting expression of homozygous sabino genes.
Lethal defects have never been witnessed in sabino breeding.
