Horse breeds · from TrotleyAmerican Paint Horse weight and height, and the carrier tests behind the coat
Paint Horses share the Quarter Horse build and several of its inherited conditions, and the coat pattern adds one more: lethal white overo, which a horse that looks solid or lightly marked can still carry.
Short answer
A Paint Horse stands 14.2 to 15.2 hands and weighs about what a Quarter Horse does, 1,000 to 1,300 pounds.
eXtension gives 14.2 to 15.2 hands (58 to 62 inches) and describes a body very similar to the American Quarter Horse. Virginia Cooperative Extension lists 14.2 to 16 hands. Neither gives a Paint weight, so the best available estimate is Virginia’s Quarter Horse figure of 1,000 to 1,300 pounds (454 to 590 kg).
eXtension Horses and Virginia Cooperative Extension (the weight is the Quarter Horse figure)
| Source | Height | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| eXtension Horses | 14.2 to 15.2 hands | Not given |
| Virginia Cooperative Extension | 14.2 to 16 hands | Not given |
| Virginia Cooperative Extension, Quarter Horse for comparison | About 15 hands | 1,000 to 1,300 lb |
No source we opened gives a weight range for Paints, so the Quarter Horse range is an estimate.
Where the weight estimate comes from
The American Paint Horse Association describes the breed as a stock type animal of Paint, Quarter Horse or Thoroughbred lineage, and registers a horse only if both parents are registered with the association, the AQHA or the Jockey Club. With that pedigree, borrowing the Quarter Horse figure is reasonable, but a Paint with more Thoroughbred in the pedigree may sit lighter. A scale or a tape on your own horse settles it.
Daily hay for a 1,150 pound American Paint Horse
With no Paint specific range, the arithmetic uses 1,150 pounds, the middle of Virginia’s Quarter Horse range. Replace it with your horse’s own weight.
Merck’s starting point for a healthy adult is 2 to 2.5% of body weight in feed dry matter a day, at least half of it forage, and 1.5% for an obese horse, with a warning that severe restriction can be harmful. These figures are our arithmetic from 1,150 lb, counting hay as 90% dry matter (Merck gives 88 to 90%).
- 1.5% of body weight: 17 lb (8 kg) of dry matter, about 19 lb (9 kg) of hay
- 2% of body weight: 23 lb (10 kg) of dry matter, about 26 lb (12 kg) of hay
- 2.5% of body weight: 29 lb (13 kg) of dry matter, about 32 lb (14 kg) of hay
A weight tape example for an American Paint Horse
The horse weight calculator uses the adult equation in the Merck Veterinary Manual: heart girth squared times body length, in inches, divided by 330, gives pounds. A heart girth of 74 inches and a body length of 69 inches gives 74 x 74 = 5,476, times 69 = 377,844, divided by 330 = about 1,145 lb (519 kg). Those measurements are our illustration of the formula, not a real horse.
Merck notes the equation slightly underestimates real weight and that a scale is the only exact method, so measure the same way each time to keep the trend reliable.
Lethal white overo
The UC Davis Center for Equine Health describes lethal white overo as a recessive disease reported mainly in Paints. Foals with two copies of the mutation are born all white with an underdeveloped intestinal tract, show colic within about 12 hours and do not survive. Horses with one copy are healthy and can pass it on, and a DNA test finds the mutation. Appearance is not a reliable guide, because the frame overo pattern varies from almost none to almost all white, and some horses that look solid have produced affected foals. The mutation has also been found in Thoroughbreds, Quarter Horses, Appaloosas and American Miniature Horses.
Quarter Horse conditions that Paints share
UC Davis puts the carrier frequency of GBED, a fatal foal disease, at 7.1% in Paint Horses, and advises testing sires and dams before breeding. It reports malignant hyperthermia, a reaction to anesthesia drugs, in Quarter Horses and Paints, HERDA, the skin tearing condition, in Paints and other horses with Quarter Horse lineage, and PSSM1, a muscle disease, as more common in Paints, Quarter Horses and Appaloosas. Talk to your vet before any general anesthesia about whether testing makes sense.
What the pattern names mean
The association sorts patterns into overo, tobiano, tovero and solid. Overo is a general term for patterns caused by one or more of more than 30 white spotting genes other than tobiano, including frame overo, splashed white and sabino. Tobiano is a dominant pattern, and a foal needs a tobiano or tovero parent to inherit it. Tovero describes a horse with tobiano and one or more overo genes. UC Davis ties lethal white overo to the frame overo pattern, so the pattern name tells a breeder which test to ask about.
Body condition
Merck lists Quarter Horses among the easy keepers and advises a score of 4 to 6 on the 9 point Henneke scale. In the University of Minnesota’s measurements, 14% of stock horses, ponies and Arabians scored 7 or more. Log the tape estimate and the score together each month.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an American Paint Horse weigh?
No extension source we opened gives a Paint weight. eXtension describes a body very similar to the Quarter Horse, for which Virginia Cooperative Extension gives 1,000 to 1,300 pounds (454 to 590 kg).
How much does a Paint Horse eat a day?
For a 1,150 pound horse, 2% of body weight is 23 pounds of dry matter, about 26 pounds of hay, and 2.5% is 29 pounds, about 32 pounds of hay. Merck gives 2 to 2.5% as the usual range. These figures are our arithmetic.
Can a Paint Horse carry a 200 pound rider?
The University of Minnesota gives about 20% of ideal bodyweight, rider and tack included, as a comfortable load for an average adult light riding horse. For 1,150 pounds that is about 230 pounds, so a 200 pound rider with 25 pounds of tack is just inside it.
Should I test a Paint Horse for lethal white overo?
UC Davis says a DNA test detects the mutation and that looks cannot rule it out, since horses with little visible white have produced affected foals. Breeders of overo patterned Paints and their relatives should ask their vet about the test before a mating.
Sources
- eXtension Horses, Light Horse Breed: American Paint Horse
- Virginia Cooperative Extension, Horseless Horse Project Unit 2 (4H-931)
- American Paint Horse Association, The Breed
- UC Davis Center for Equine Health, Lethal white overo syndrome
- UC Davis Center for Equine Health, GBED
- UC Davis Center for Equine Health, Malignant hyperthermia
- UC Davis Center for Equine Health, HERDA
- UC Davis Center for Equine Health, Polysaccharide storage myopathy
- UC Davis Center for Equine Health, UC Davis horse tests
- Merck Veterinary Manual, Feeding Practices in Horses and Other Equids
- Merck Veterinary Manual, Nutritional Requirements of Horses and Other Equids
- University of Minnesota Extension, Estimating actual and ideal bodyweight of adult horses
- University of Minnesota Extension, Guidelines for weight-carrying capacity of horses
Checked on October 2, 2026.
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See TrotleyMore in Horse breeds
- American Quarter HorseMost Quarter Horses weigh 1,000 to 1,300 pounds and stand 14.2 to 15.2 hands.
- AppaloosaMost Appaloosas weigh 950 to 1,250 pounds and stand 14 to 16 hands.
- ThoroughbredA typical Thoroughbred weighs about 1,000 pounds and stands about 16 hands.
- MorganA Morgan weighs 900 to 1,100 pounds and stands 14.2 to 15.2 hands.
- American SaddlebredAn American Saddlebred weighs 1,000 to 1,200 pounds and stands about 15 to 16.3 hands.
- ArabianAn Arabian usually weighs 800 to 1,000 pounds and stands 14.2 to 15.2 hands.
- Horse weight calculatorFree tool: Estimate a horse’s weight from heart girth and body length with the formulas in the Merck Veterinary Manual, for adults, yearlings and weanlings.
