The Pintabian is any horse with at least 99% Arabian blood, that has an Arabian conformation and a tobiano coat.

Tobi-what?
Tobiano is a pinto pattern that makes large white patches appear on the horse's otherwise solid (patch-less) coat. In-between the white patches there are colored (non-white) patches in the color of the horse's coat. The mane and tail can be white, colored, or mixed.

This eye-catching combination of colors--commonly termed "chrome"--made the tobiano a popular pattern that is sought after by horse breeders. Some breeds--like the famous Paint Horse or various "Spotted" breeds--come naturally in this pattern. Some, however, do not.

A combination of chrome and elegance:
Unfortunately, the Arabian is one of the "do not" breeds, and the only pinto pattern that exist in it is sabino. This put many Arabian fans in a bind, because on one hand, they loved Arabian horses, but on the other, they adored the tobiano pattern.

They solved the issue by crossing pure Arabian horses with tobiano horses, followed by crossing the tobiano offspring back to pure Arabian stock. The result was a new breed that had the elegant conformation of the Arabian but a pinto tobiano coat. They named their creation "Pintabian".

In 1992, the Pintabian Horse Registry Inc. was founded, and the Pintabian received official recognition.

The Pintabian today:
Today, Pintabians serve primarily for pleasure riding, be it in various competitive pleasure disciplines or for recreational riding as trail horses. They are found primarily in the USA, but some are also bred in Europe.

Not an Arabian:
Naturally, Arabian horses don't have a tobiano coat except for sabino, which is why the creation of tobiano Pintabian horses involved crossing purebred Arabians with tobiano horses of other breeds.

The Arabian registry prohibits any introduction of foreign blood, and won't accept into their registry any Arabian horse who has less than 100% pure Arabian blood. This is why Pintabians are not Arabian horses, even though they have 99.9% Arabian blood and the iconic 'Arabian' conformation.

Breeding:
The breeding rules for Pintabians are pretty strict in the sense that they require at least 99% Arabian blood. Crossing Pintabians with other breeds is not desirable, as it dilutes the Pintabian's blood and lowers the Arabian quantity in it.

This is why, in Horse Isle, in order to get a pure Pintabian foal, one parent must be a Pintabian and the other must be a Pintabian or an Arabian.

Conformation:
Pintabian horses have 99% Arabian blood, and therefore have the same conformation as Arabian horses. The only visible difference between the breeds is the Pintabian's tobiano patterning.

As such, Pintabians have a short head with a dished profile, a long and arched neck, a short back, a horizontal croup, and slender legs. The mane is medium or long in length, and the tail is often held up high.

Performance metrics:
The following are the: range, average, (SD), and MOE of performance metrics of ordered Pintabians in Horse Isle (not bred ones). In rare cases, horses might have metrics outside of the range. Breeders can produce horses that are beyond this range.

Speed: 14.7-16.3, 15.5 (0.4), 0.08.
Sprint: 38-52, 44 (3), 0.53.

Accel: 0.84-1.00, 0.93 (0.03), 0.01.
Decel: 0.75-0.89, 0.82 (0.04), 0.01.

Jump: 4.84-5.19, 5.02 (0.06), 0.01.
Pull: 1.40-2.22, 1.76 (0.16), 0.03.

Turning: 41.32-54.59, 47.99 (2.96), 0.58.
Reverse: 2.1-2.8, 2.4 (0.1), 0.03.

Stamina: 37.79-44.44, 41.09 (1.14), 0.22.
Reaction: 0.69-0.78, 0.74 (0.02), 0.00.

Coats & Height:
Colors: usually bay, but more rarely black, dominant-black, brown, chestnut, grey, dun, cream-dilutes, and champagne.
* the colors of pearl and silver-dapple don't occur naturally in this breed but can be bred into it.

Additionals: flaxen, linebacked, rabicano, sooty, all rare patterns. The coat is always tobiano.
* the patterns of frame-overo and splashed-white don't occur naturally in this breed but can be bred into it.

Height: 14.2hh to 15.2hh.