Ink spots/paw prints question

I always thought they were the same thing......

It is jsut 2 terms to describe the same thing

I think they are the same. Wasn't there some old wives tale that they meant the horse was homozygous?

Sponenberg says this:

[i]Ink spots are small, colored or roan spots that occur in the white patches. They are usually small and round, can occur in groups, and are therefore distinct from the other colored patches on most paint-type horses. Ink spots are the expected background body color of the horse on which they occur. On some tobianos the white areas have smudgy roan patches in them, and the colored areas might also have roan patches as well. These are called paw prints, cat tracks, or bear paws.[/i]

This stuff never ceases to be confusing! These spots don't even look like cat paws. They look like the horse should be in the John Dillinger movie. ;)

Thanks!

Sometimes I swear it's only confusing because Sponenberg makes it that way. :roll: He is using two terms that have *always* been synonymous with each other and saying they are different. At least he is explaining how he sees them as different, but his explanation is clear as mud and leaves me thinking he is describing identical things.

Hey, just cos he wrote a book does not make him God...he got it wrong that time, it happens!!
That's why I love this place, we question [i]everything!!![/i]

Recently I learned on this forum that spots like this on the white areas - probably caused by a white restricting allel - are called distal spots unless they are on the coronet, then they are called ermine spots... :HB :D :bounce
Sooooo...is "distal spots" a third synonym for the same pattern? :?: :o :shock:

IMO distals are only on the legs. There is no name for spots not on the legs (like the spots on my mare's face) to my knowledge. These spots are somewhat different however due to being directly related to the tobiano pattern and sometimes indicating a tobiano's zygosity. They don't quite look the same either.

It was a minimal-marked Tobiano that I remember... :? there was a white stripe right in front of the withers and in the white spot have been the colored spots...can't find the pic now :BH