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Description
SO. A lot of people have problems making their pintos look like real pintos. I made this tutorial to help out. THIS IMAGE GOES ALONG WITH TEXT FOUND HERE. To make the most sense of the graphic, read on!

DISCLAIMER: There is a lot of variation in pintos and it's hard to say that a pattern will never happen. BUT, there are common patterns of patterns (sorry) that occur, and if you stick to these basic, common patterns then the chance that your horse is realistic will increase dramatically! I have not dealt with TOVERO or SPLASH overo in this tutorial, to simplify things. EVEN in tovero and splash, though, you will (very very likely) NOT see the patterns listed as "inaccurate." While some of these patterns MIX both frame overo and tobiano, they are mixed in a way that does not tend to occur in real life.

TOBIANO
I like to think of tobiano horses as "color on white." The color will have the bulging edges, while the white will have the caved in edges. Obviously, if you are doing a minimal tobiano, you will probably want to do the color first. BUT, overall, it helps to think of the color as the blob, and the white as the more refined part.

Edges: The edges of the color on a tobiano's spots will usually be smooth and round. The white will be the pointy part! In a tovero, the color and white can take on the appearance of a tobiano pattern, but the edges can be more jagged.

FRAME OVERO
I think of frame overos as white on color. Typically, the white on the frame overo will start as a small spot on the horse's belly, side of barrel, or side of neck. From there, the white can expand upwards and outwards. BUT, the white on a frame overo will rarely (not never) cross the back. In splash overos, the white crosses the back more frequently (if the splash is large). Keep in mind that in splash overos the white STILL starts from the belly and moves up (I see many horses with only white backs and the white forms itself like an overo--but this will probably only happen in tobianos).

Edges: The edges of the white on a frame overo will be more jagged than on a tobiano. The white will still tend to be the concave, pointy color and the color will tend to be more round and look like it's "eating away" at the white. In overos, it is more common to see little "swiss cheese holes" cut out of the white (forgot to make an example of this). In tobianos, the dots of color on white are known as "paw prints" and tend to cluster in little groups, rather than in overo where it looks as though the white just got too close to another part of white, leaving a colored gap. You probably won't see many round colored spots completely isolated in white on an overo. The swiss cheese hole appearance usually is more like a peninsula-- attached to color on one side. The isolated spots you see will probably have more squared off, triangular, or jagged edges.

INACCURATE PINTOS
I gathered some examples from DA of pinto patterns that made me go "what?" Here, I'll try to explain as best I can what is inaccurate about these patterns and how they can be made more accurate. I was planning on illustrating this, and I still might but we'll seeee.

1 - Top Left
This horse combines typical overo and tobiano patterns in a strange way. The spot on the neck appears to be an overo spot, while the large middle white is more tobiano-esque. The white spot beside the belly spot could occur in either pattern. The spot on the hind end is also more overo, as it has a bit of color in the middle.

What would I do? I would probably convert it to a tobiano. To do so, I would extend the neck spot up to that it began from the horse's neck. I would make the black outline more convex. The spot on the hind end would be made to have typically tobiano edges as well. The black spot in the middle could either be converted into paw print spots or removed. I would incorporate the small white dot into the larger belly spot.

2 - Bottom Left
This horse almost looks like a reverse tovero! You will almost to never see a horse with a solid head and white ears. White ears will only occur when a horse has a lot of white. The white chest is also rare, as typically the chest on minimal overos or tobianos is colored. I like to think of the chest "shield" as one of the last spots to "go away" when covered by white. Meaning, the horse will have to have a lot of white before the chest color turns white. The spot on the back is very typically tobiano, however, the edges are inverted. The belly spot is very frame overo, but again, the edges do not scream frame. The spot on the hind is also tobiano and could work as is, but less round edges (pointier/squarer white) would make it even clearer.

What would I do? This one is hard, mostly because there's no very simple fix. First, you'd have to decide tobiano or overo. I'd probably go tobiano on this one. 1. Color the face black. 2. Fill in the chest black. 3. Connect the white on the withers to the white on the barrel. 4. Fix the edges.

3 - Middle
This horse is interesting because it is kind of a reverse overo, but can easily be converted into a tovero. The "overo" effect is coming from the shape of the edges of the color, which are inverted and should be reversed.

What would I do? I would make the edges of the color convex Blobbier! I never though I would say blobbier-- most pintos I see are TOO blobby! Anyway, this horse will have a kind of unusual tovero pattern as the black on the neck is atypical, but I'm not sure that it would be impossible to find a horse like this.

4 - Top Right
Again, we have the white ears on colored horse. I like to call this guy the "fantasy pinto." You won't see swirly lines like on this guy's withers. You also will probably not see triangular, sharp, pointy things like on his legs. If the legs have markings like this on them, they will either be attached to white from the bottom or from the top-- the white won't just appear as a pattern on the legs in a tobiano. The black-in-white on the withers is also unlikely, although there may be paw print marks in there. I don't want to say the black in the withers is impossible, but again, highly highly unlikely.

What would I do? I'd just turn this into a minimal tobiano. 1. Color the ears black, 2. Fill in the legs, 3. Chop off the swirl and make it a simple point, 4. Fill the withers in with white.

5 - Bottom Right
Hmmmammamam. I don't know what's going on here, but it looks like an inverted splash overo or reverse frame. The white on the chest is the same issue as #2. The way the black is concave implies overo, however, an overo's back will rarely be white like that. The spot on the hip is overo-esque and the spot on the neck is tobiano-esque.

What would I do? This one's hard because it could almost go either way. If you invert the colors and make the white black/black white, then remove the hip spot, you have a decent frame overo. If you leave the colors, filling in the chest black and making the outlines of the black convex/blobby could make a decent tobiano. If you go to tobiano, the back and hip spot would probably have to be connected.

THINGS TO REMEMBER:
Overo will USUALLY not cross the back.
Minimal overo will start at the belly, neck, or hip (not considering legs here)
Splash overo also starts with white at the bottom of the horse, moving upwards.
Tobiano with medium to max white will USUALLY have a colored head, chest, and hip (which can extend to side of barrel).
Minimal tobiano will USUALLY have either a neck, wither or butt spot that start on the horse's back. They tend to end in a "point" or squared off edge

PHEW. That was a lot. Hope it helped, please do ask questions!

EDITED TO ADD SOME FUN THINGS. Once you get good at pinto patterns, you can "pick out" which parts are overo and which are tobiano etc. It will almost always be VERY CLEAR. Here are some examples of LESS CLEAR horses! I thought they would help illustrate some exceptions to the "rules that aren't really rules" that this tutorial gives. Interesting to note, I only found these by searching things like "unique pinto markings" or "cool paint horse."

Foal on left - [link]
This guy has really interesting combo of markings, but can you see how it still kind of fits the guidelines? This guy probably has both frame and splash over and likely tobiano as well. You can see how there might be splash by the pointy black area on his back.

[link]
Just to show that things like this DO happen sometimes, but again, are very rare.

[link]
This is one of the most un-guideline fitting horse I could fine. Basically, it does have areas where the white bulges out rather than the color. This might be caused by the splash gene. Interesting to note, even though there is white on this guy's face, his ears are still dark! Ears are almost always dark when around dark!!

Description
SO. A lot of people have problems making their pintos look like real pintos. I made this tutorial to help out. THIS IMAGE GOES ALONG WITH TEXT FOUND HERE. To make the most sense of the graphic, read on!

DISCLAIMER: There is a lot of variation in pintos and it's hard to say that a pattern will never happen. BUT, there are common patterns of patterns (sorry) that occur, and if you stick to these basic, common patterns then the chance that your horse is realistic will increase dramatically! I have not dealt with TOVERO or SPLASH overo in this tutorial, to simplify things. EVEN in tovero and splash, though, you will (very very likely) NOT see the patterns listed as "inaccurate." While some of these patterns MIX both frame overo and tobiano, they are mixed in a way that does not tend to occur in real life.

TOBIANO
I like to think of tobiano horses as "color on white." The color will have the bulging edges, while the white will have the caved in edges. Obviously, if you are doing a minimal tobiano, you will probably want to do the color first. BUT, overall, it helps to think of the color as the blob, and the white as the more refined part.

Edges: The edges of the color on a tobiano's spots will usually be smooth and round. The white will be the pointy part! In a tovero, the color and white can take on the appearance of a tobiano pattern, but the edges can be more jagged.

FRAME OVERO
I think of frame overos as white on color. Typically, the white on the frame overo will start as a small spot on the horse's belly, side of barrel, or side of neck. From there, the white can expand upwards and outwards. BUT, the white on a frame overo will rarely (not never) cross the back. In splash overos, the white crosses the back more frequently (if the splash is large). Keep in mind that in splash overos the white STILL starts from the belly and moves up (I see many horses with only white backs and the white forms itself like an overo--but this will probably only happen in tobianos).

Edges: The edges of the white on a frame overo will be more jagged than on a tobiano. The white will still tend to be the concave, pointy color and the color will tend to be more round and look like it's "eating away" at the white. In overos, it is more common to see little "swiss cheese holes" cut out of the white (forgot to make an example of this). In tobianos, the dots of color on white are known as "paw prints" and tend to cluster in little groups, rather than in overo where it looks as though the white just got too close to another part of white, leaving a colored gap. You probably won't see many round colored spots completely isolated in white on an overo. The swiss cheese hole appearance usually is more like a peninsula-- attached to color on one side. The isolated spots you see will probably have more squared off, triangular, or jagged edges.

INACCURATE PINTOS
I gathered some examples from DA of pinto patterns that made me go "what?" Here, I'll try to explain as best I can what is inaccurate about these patterns and how they can be made more accurate. I was planning on illustrating this, and I still might but we'll seeee.

1 - Top Left
This horse combines typical overo and tobiano patterns in a strange way. The spot on the neck appears to be an overo spot, while the large middle white is more tobiano-esque. The white spot beside the belly spot could occur in either pattern. The spot on the hind end is also more overo, as it has a bit of color in the middle.

What would I do? I would probably convert it to a tobiano. To do so, I would extend the neck spot up to that it began from the horse's neck. I would make the black outline more convex. The spot on the hind end would be made to have typically tobiano edges as well. The black spot in the middle could either be converted into paw print spots or removed. I would incorporate the small white dot into the larger belly spot.

2 - Bottom Left
This horse almost looks like a reverse tovero! You will almost to never see a horse with a solid head and white ears. White ears will only occur when a horse has a lot of white. The white chest is also rare, as typically the chest on minimal overos or tobianos is colored. I like to think of the chest "shield" as one of the last spots to "go away" when covered by white. Meaning, the horse will have to have a lot of white before the chest color turns white. The spot on the back is very typically tobiano, however, the edges are inverted. The belly spot is very frame overo, but again, the edges do not scream frame. The spot on the hind is also tobiano and could work as is, but less round edges (pointier/squarer white) would make it even clearer.

What would I do? This one is hard, mostly because there's no very simple fix. First, you'd have to decide tobiano or overo. I'd probably go tobiano on this one. 1. Color the face black. 2. Fill in the chest black. 3. Connect the white on the withers to the white on the barrel. 4. Fix the edges.

3 - Middle
This horse is interesting because it is kind of a reverse overo, but can easily be converted into a tovero. The "overo" effect is coming from the shape of the edges of the color, which are inverted and should be reversed.

What would I do? I would make the edges of the color convex Blobbier! I never though I would say blobbier-- most pintos I see are TOO blobby! Anyway, this horse will have a kind of unusual tovero pattern as the black on the neck is atypical, but I'm not sure that it would be impossible to find a horse like this.

4 - Top Right
Again, we have the white ears on colored horse. I like to call this guy the "fantasy pinto." You won't see swirly lines like on this guy's withers. You also will probably not see triangular, sharp, pointy things like on his legs. If the legs have markings like this on them, they will either be attached to white from the bottom or from the top-- the white won't just appear as a pattern on the legs in a tobiano. The black-in-white on the withers is also unlikely, although there may be paw print marks in there. I don't want to say the black in the withers is impossible, but again, highly highly unlikely.

What would I do? I'd just turn this into a minimal tobiano. 1. Color the ears black, 2. Fill in the legs, 3. Chop off the swirl and make it a simple point, 4. Fill the withers in with white.

5 - Bottom Right
Hmmmammamam. I don't know what's going on here, but it looks like an inverted splash overo or reverse frame. The white on the chest is the same issue as #2. The way the black is concave implies overo, however, an overo's back will rarely be white like that. The spot on the hip is overo-esque and the spot on the neck is tobiano-esque.

What would I do? This one's hard because it could almost go either way. If you invert the colors and make the white black/black white, then remove the hip spot, you have a decent frame overo. If you leave the colors, filling in the chest black and making the outlines of the black convex/blobby could make a decent tobiano. If you go to tobiano, the back and hip spot would probably have to be connected.

THINGS TO REMEMBER:
Overo will USUALLY not cross the back.
Minimal overo will start at the belly, neck, or hip (not considering legs here)
Splash overo also starts with white at the bottom of the horse, moving upwards.
Tobiano with medium to max white will USUALLY have a colored head, chest, and hip (which can extend to side of barrel).
Minimal tobiano will USUALLY have either a neck, wither or butt spot that start on the horse's back. They tend to end in a "point" or squared off edge

PHEW. That was a lot. Hope it helped, please do ask questions!

EDITED TO ADD SOME FUN THINGS. Once you get good at pinto patterns, you can "pick out" which parts are overo and which are tobiano etc. It will almost always be VERY CLEAR. Here are some examples of LESS CLEAR horses! I thought they would help illustrate some exceptions to the "rules that aren't really rules" that this tutorial gives. Interesting to note, I only found these by searching things like "unique pinto markings" or "cool paint horse."

Foal on left - [link]
This guy has really interesting combo of markings, but can you see how it still kind of fits the guidelines? This guy probably has both frame and splash over and likely tobiano as well. You can see how there might be splash by the pointy black area on his back.

[link]
Just to show that things like this DO happen sometimes, but again, are very rare.

[link]
This is one of the most un-guideline fitting horse I could fine. Basically, it does have areas where the white bulges out rather than the color. This might be caused by the splash gene. Interesting to note, even though there is white on this guy's face, his ears are still dark! Ears are almost always dark when around dark!!