Deafness is not commonly recognized in horses but many different animal species are born deaf and horses are no exception. A study was recently performed on deaf horses by the veterinarians at UC Davis and published in the AVMA Journal on American Paint horses and it was found that a specific group of paint horses may be born deaf. It is important to know if a horse is deaf because certainly training with regular techniques may not be effective and the trainer may feel the horse is just not able to learn. However, when trained with visual cues, many of these horses perform quite well as long as the trainer knows they are deaf.

There are three types of coat color patterns in American Paint horses including tobiano, tovero, and overo. All of the deaf paint horses in the study had an overo coat pattern that was either frame splashed white or splashed white. Fortunately, splashed white is not that common in paint horses and not all overo splashed white horses are deaf. However, horses with white spotting on the face and legs as well as blue eye coloration were consistent features in the deaf horses. This is the same as in cats and dogs as in these species animals with white coat color and blue eyes can also be deaf.

It is important to consider this fact if you are purchasing a paint horse. There is a test called a BAER test that is available at most of the veterinary colleges that can be used to determine if an animal is deaf. Certainly if a horse is deaf, then breeding is not a good idea as deafness in this breed is a genetic problem.