Tovero Horse Information

Tovero refers to a color pattern in horses, not a specific breed. Horses, ponies, donkeys and mules can come in the tovero pinto pattern. Pintos are equines that have large patches of white and other colors on their coats. Other names for the tovero pattern are "medicine hat" and "war bonnet" because that is what some Native American tribes called it.

  1. Identification

    • Tovero horses or ponies usually have a mostly white body, but their ears and the space between their ears are another color. The dark color may dip down the forehead or the top part of the neck. This gives the effect that the horse is wearing a bonnet or hat. Sometimes tovero horses have blue eyes or one eye brown and one eye blue. Otherwise, they just have the usual brown eyes, according to the American Paint Horse Association. They may also have some dark patches on the chest, belly or hindquarters.

    Breeds

    • Any breed characterized by pinto patterns can theoretically produce horses with the tovero pattern. These breeds include the American paint horse, mustang, gypsy vanner, Chincoteague pony, pintabian, Spanish barb, Falabella, American miniature horse, Shetland pony, Icelandic, American saddlebred, American Indian horse, paso fino and any crosses of those breeds.

    Legend

    • Some Native American tribes such as the Sioux, Comanche, Blackfoot and Kiowa thought horses with the tovero pattern brought great luck to their riders and their tribes. These horses were thought to be invulnerable to weapons. They were not horses to be ridden by just anyone in the tribe, but only by medicine men or the highest-ranking chiefs, according to Equiworld.

    Breeding

    • The tovero pattern is a rare pinto pattern, even from breeds that commonly produce pinto patterns. Even crossing a tovero stallion with a tovero mare is no guarantee that the foal will be tovero. However, according to the International Registry of Colored Horses LLC, such a cross results in a rare chance that the foal will be born with the lethal white gene. "Lethal whites" are white foals that die shortly after birth because they lack the ability to defecate. Crossing a tovero with a frame overo (another pinto pattern) results in a lethal white in one out every four foals.

    Fun Fact

    • The most famous book about a tovero is "Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion" (1972), later retitled "San Domingo: The Medicine Hat Stallion." This was written by Marguerite Henry, the author of "Misty of Chincoteague." This grim children's book was later turned into a 1977 television movie called "Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion."