Confused about discrimination of pintos

Why is it that pintos are often discriminated against and not judged fairly in the hunter division? What are you all's thoughts on this?

I have a friend who is a H/J judge, and I actually asked her about discrimnation.....in general, because I have a draft cross. She really got annoyed and told me there WAS no discrimination, that it was a fact of how they jumped. They don't round as much, etc.....I am not convinced.

Yeah, it's confusing, because the color of a horse has nothing do do with its abilities :/ I know sooooo many great hunters that are pinto.

I showed an appy for years in hunter shows. When we had a good round we got good ribbons.

It is highly unlikely there is truly discrimination. It is just a good excuse for people to say it was not their fault they did not place as well as they wanted to.

Not getting a ribbon means there were just 8 (or 6 or 10 depending on how many places that show gives) that had a better trip than you. Not that the judge does not like spots/paints/palominos/QHs/or any other breed.

Your horse might simply not be as fancy as the others. Or your horse just did not do as well as the others.

Some breeds, because of their breed, are starting back a peg. But not because of the judge discriminating but because their breed historically does not move/jump in the preferred hunter fashion.


I have seen it time and time again. Some kid comes out of the ring on a horse that did not get its leads and chipped at half the jumps and it is the judge discriminating because of their horse being a <pick breed>, not because their round was not good enough.

Excellent post, Always.

If your horse isn't pinning, there's obviously something wrong about your round that you're not seeing. I highly doubt that the judges are prejudiced against your particular horse just because it has spots.

Instead of whingeing about how 'unfair' and 'discriminating' the judges are, maybe you should have someone video your rounds, so you can see for yourself why you didn't place as high as you think you deserved.

Just at observation, at the risk of being flamed...and one of the reasons I asked my friend this question.
If there is no discrimination, why does it seem (my personal observation and impression) that if you go to some of the A hunter shows the vast majority of the hunters are bays, typically with minimal white? Just a question, and food for thought.

Look at endurance - many of those horses are gray Arabs. It's just happenstance - not discrimination.

Blood lines play a large part. Highbrow bred AQHA's are big in the cutting pen right now. I believe 85% of them are red duns.

Frank, because it's tradition. Truly, that's the reason, not nefarious hatred of colored horses. And since it's tradition, everyone continues to perpetuate it.

I know a leopard Appaloosa gelding who cleans up in the hunter division. He's fairly loudly spotted, too. He's also a lovely mover and jumper. The judges don't seem to have a problem placing him because of his coloring.

Exactly, SR.

I know a very loudly marked pinto pony that won pretty much every US class she ever went in. Even with heavy competition at rated hunter shows. She moved amazingly. She deserved to win and she did.

I see pintos win in hunters all the time because their round was better, nothing to do with color.

I big reason why you see a lot of solid horses in hunters is because popular breeds for hunters come in only solid colors (unless they are cross bred with something) for example TBs and hanoverians are not pinto.

I do not believe in color discrimination and I have a pinto. We used to win a lot, esp in dressage.