photo from http://www.geocities.com/Baja/Outback/2936/SplashedW.html
This Splashed White Cutting Horse, Gunnar, is a champion reining horse - and he's stone deaf!


Here's another famous Splash horse, Gamblin' Man

Splashed White shares a number of characteristics with the other Overo patterns, including ample facial white, white lower legs, and body white that starts on the belly and extends upward. It can sometimes resemble Tobiano as well, but is usually more of a reverse Tobiano pattern, with color over the topline and white below.

With experience, your eye will learn to recognize the differences.

SABINO                     vs.                 SPLASH
Face white on sabino can be extensive	Splash looks like the head dunked into a pail of white paint
The white patterns of Sabino are lacy and irregular	Splash is bold, smooth-edged
FRAME                vs                    SPLASH
This BLM mustang shows  body spotting is typical of Frame - the tall jagged stockings and the wide face white suggest perhaps also sabino This mare is this sort of a Medicine Hat type "tovero." Maybe extreme sabino? Her son (two pix up) is a lacy sabino with some frame characteristics	www.pmufoalquest.com This PMU foal illustrates how the white pattern on a Splash horse is bolder, less lacy, jagged but smoother-edged than either Frame or Sabino. This foal's dark legs are inconsistent with pure Splash - may be Frame, or a combination of the two.
TOBIANO                vs                    SPLASH
Tobiano's white areas are rounded, with white crossing over the topline. Both Tobiano and Splash usually have white legs	With Splash the white starts at the belly and pours upward, staying below the topline except above the withers - sometimes resembling a reverse Tobiano

Splash, or Splashed White, is one of the Overo Family of white patterns. The other Overo patterns are Sabino & Frame.

Robin, a Splash mare owned by Marcia Grahn

Splash Traits:

• Minimal to Moderate Splash
  
  photo: www.pmufoalquest.com
  (example: this FoalQuest foal): legs and head look as if they have been dipped into white paint; Large blaze or apron on face; At least some white on legs.
• Loud Splash (example: Gamblin' Man, above left): look as if they waded out into deep white paint, splashed it up around their sides, and then dunked their head, bottom of the neck and sometimes ears in for a drink.
• Smooth edges to white areas
• One or two blue eyes are common but not necessary

Horses with the Splash pattern usually have white legs (exception: Minimal Splash may not). White on the body may range from extremely minimal, perhaps a spot on the belly or face, to extensive "spotting" that is like a reverse tobiano (in Tobiano the white spreads from the topline down; In Splashed White, it goes from the bottom up.)

The head is usually extensively and sometimes completely white with just the ears having color.

The line between the white and color is very sharp and distinct as with Tobiano.

Blue eyes are very common.

There may be a genetic connection between the Splash pattern and deafness, although by no means are all splash horses hearing-impaired.

However, since horses primarily respond to body language rather than verbal commands, deafness is not necessarily a handicap. Deaf horses can be trained very effectively, and can perform as well as hearing horses.

Splash mini horse, from Dell Terra Minis

Splash PMU mares and foals

This BLM mustang has the "framed" white along the neck, with the lipstick of sabino and the bold, "belly-up" white indicating maybe splash as well.

The American Paint Horse Association
defines Splash as "the least common of the spotting patterns in horses, although it is increasing in frequency as breeders use more and more splashed white horses in their breeding programs. It occurs sporadically in a number of widely divergent breeds, such as Welsh Ponies, Finnish Draft Horses, Icelandic Horses and Paints.

The pattern usually makes the horse look as though it has been dipped in white paint. On a dark horse, the effect can be that of an ice cream cone dipped in chocolate. The legs are usually white, as are the bottom portions of the body. The head is also usually white, and the eyes are frequently blue."  http://www.apha.com/breed/geneticeq5.html

Thanks to Nicole MacP
 for these descriptions of Splashed White:

"Splash white, in it's minimal form, tends to include a blaze (the blaze will often have more white on the nose than on the forehead-this is often called a "bottom heavy" blaze) and some white on the feet. It's unknown exactly how minimal splash can get...

A splash white pinto typically has four white legs, a lot of white on the face, and often has a two toned tail (the white tends to be on the ends of the tail hairs).

The body white starts on the belly, and seems to work its way straight up the body, in jagged shapes with smooth, not lacy, edges.

The effect of a splash white pinto is likened to the horse being, literally, dunked into a vat of white paint.

Splash can be very extensive, up to and including putting white on the ears. It can be as extreme as an all white horse, with only color on the ears. I don't know of any totally white horses *known* to only have the splash gene, although totally white horses may have the splash gene *in addition* to another pinto gene or two...

Here's a great introductory site... Be sure and check out all the links!

http://www.coloredhorses.com/PPnew.html

Or just look at the splash pages to get a "feel" for it!
http://www.coloredhorses.com/Splashminis.html
http://www.coloredhorses.com/Splashpaints.html

Hope that helps!"

- Nicole MacP