So what is going on genetically in this piebald cob?

Here are some pics of my sister's piebald cob, any ideas what's going on genetically? Just finding reading about the colour stuff so interesting, would be cool to find out what our affectionately nicknamed 'jumping cow' has going on. (His name is Buffalo, so it's even funnier)

What breed is he?

Don't have a clue. He's out of Ireland, so could be anything! He's a fairly compact lad though, about 15.2hh.

Edit: his passport has him down as breed unknown too, so no help there...

Well he definitely has tobiano. I also want to say splash and frame.

Tobiano is easy - you can see the way the white moves across the spine, and down the horse to the legs, especially on his front end. The white is also coming up his legs to try to meet it.

Splash mostly because of how neat his leg white is across the top, and the uneven face markings. Splash loves more white on one side of the face than the other, so it moves the white in that direction.

Frame is a little more sketchy in this guy. I can see indicators in the way the face white is trying to spread above his eyes, frame loves to do that. I can also see some of the white is moving along his barrel horizontally, rather than in the vertical fashion associated with tobiano. These both indicate frame to me.

Thanks very much! Yeah, I might have hazarded a guess at tobiano even with my limited knowledge, but I figured with his face markings and the blue eye he must have something else going on (don't know how well the blue shows up in the pics?). Thanks for the breakdown! I love your explanations, they make it look so easy...

No worries

I couldn't see a blue eye, so I will explain that a bit further. At this time, it is thought that blue eyes are caused by splash and by frame. So with either or both of them there, that is where that came from

Yeah, I realised when I looked back that you can't see it too well... it's black lined, so never comes out too well in photos thanks to that! But that explains it... thanks!!

In photo 4 he is naughty! Or is he doing a very advanced dressage move?

Haha, my sister might claim it's airs above the ground, but I'm not convinced! When she first got him he was awful for bucking (and he can buck huuuge, I don't know how she stays on half the time) as his saddle had been way too small and his back had stiffened. However after nine months of good work he's settled right down and only bucks when he's overexcited, or when my sis tries to show him.... its like he knows :P. But he's come on great guns, and my sis absolutely loves him - and he can jump 3'6" from a trot with no effort, so he's a talented lad!

Minstrel- that is a very nice looking pony!

Chiilaa- do you know what causes merled eyes?