Hugus Alfalfa & Arab Pintos has been breeding Arabian horses since 1983. We are located in western Wyoming and our farm contains over 300 acres. We produce alfalfa hay on 230 acres and operate an Arabian horse breeding program on the balance. The elevation is over 5500 feet, the winters are cold and the horses are hearty.

We have a great appreciation for the beauty, intelligence, personality and stamina of the Arabian horse and also enjoy the unique white patterns produced by the Tobiano and Sabino Overo genes.

Pattern genes are independent of the color genes. A white pattern is not a color - but the absence of color pigment. There is pink skin under a white hair coat and black skin under a colored coat, whether it be Bay, Chestnut, Black or Gray. Gray is a color we avoid since the combination can yield a color / pattern combination with minimal contrast.

Utilization of the Tobiano and Sabino Overo genes requires two distinctly different breeding programs:

Tobiano

The Tobiano pattern gene does not exist in the purebred Arabian gene pool, so it must be obtained from another breed. Initially a purebred Arabian is crossed with a non-Arabian Tobiano horse until a spotted foal is produced. Our breeding program continues to cross these horses back to purebred Arabians to increase the degree of Arabian blood. Most of our horses in this breeding program have over 95% Arabian blood.

Our Tobiano horses are registered with the Pinto Horse Association of America and with the International Arabian Horse Association. The IAHA registers foals when only one parent is registered with the Arabian Horse Registry of America and is often referred to as the Half-Arab registry. Actually these horses are only Half-Arabian when the non-AHRA parent has no Arabian blood. The actual Arabian blood could range from 50% up to, but not including, 100%.

The Tobiano gene is dominant, so a foal will be spotted if either parent contributes it. In our program the gene cannot be contributed by both parents since one parent is always a purebred Arabian. Some breeders cross IAHA horses to IAHA horses. While this increases the odds of producing a spotted foal, it fails to increase the degree of Arabian blood and produces foals which are not eligible for registration in the IAHA – both requirements in our program.

The Tobiano gene does not dilute as the degree of Arabian blood increases. Presence of the Tobiano gene will produce a Tobiano pattern regardless of whether the Half-Arab horse is 50% Arabian or 99% Arabian. Conversely, a foal with no Tobiano pattern does not carry the Tobiano gene even though either or both parents had the Tobiano pattern.

About half of our Half-Arabian foals do not have a Tobiano pattern and cannot contribute anything to our breeding program. These individuals are very economical to purchase and are usually sold by the time they are weaned.

Sabino Overo

The Sabino Overo gene does exist in some purebred Arabians. In 1986 we started collecting horses registered with the Arabian Horse Registry of America that exhibited body white (providing they met our quality standards). Most of these horses had only a small belly spot. While this pattern is not particularly common among purebred Arabians, we discovered it is not extremely rare. Some have argued the worth of a spot that required one to crawl under the horse to see, but we believed some foals produced from these horses would have more white.

Most of the foals resulting from these minimally marked horses were also minimally marked. Some required careful examination of the belly area to locate a spot, but others have rewarded all of our efforts. The first such foal passed all of the blood typing tests required by the Arabian Horse Registry of America, but we were informed he was a first, and that the legitimacy of his registration papers would likely be challenged by some. Further confirmation of parentage and DNA testing were required before "the guardians of the breed" issued the registration certificate.

These purebred Arabian horses are registered with the Arabian Horse Registry of America and with the Pinto Horse Association of America, providing the white pattern meets their criteria for size and location.

We believe we have the largest collection of registered purebred Arabian horses in the United States which have white spots that are not connected to face or leg white.

Tovero

The Tovero pattern results when both Tobiano and Sabino Overo genes are present and traits of each are exhibited.

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