Balddumborat's Paint Pony Headcanon

Since I introduced Bruiser in the latest chapter of Life Could Be a Dream, it is only fair to include the headcanon he was adopted from here on my blogospace. The following is copied from Balddumborat's Paint Pony adoption info space. All credit to BDR

If you're planning to adopt, please follow my paint pony guidelines. While I do not claim 'paint' as my own creation, the paints I make have their own traits and rules. People can make paints based on this headcanon, but please give me credit.

Unicorns: Sign of pure paint is with spots on the horn. Pure unicorns have cloven hooves. In very rare cases, some families have managed to breed in the old traditional ‘lion’ tail, which is the most desired trait as it comes from ancient unicorns. (A lot of ‘lion tail’ attempts have left shorter tails with only hair coming out on the underside and tip)

Common occupations: Fashion, gemstones, enchantment, finance, law

Pegasi: Pure paints have markings on their wings, no exception. Pegasi have feathered shoulders and feather down around their hooves. A rare but desired trait is feathers coming from/surrounding the tail at the base. This can range from a few feathers to full tail feathers draping over the equine tail.

Common occupations: Design, housing, business, weather, crafting

Earth: Pure earth ponies have longer fur on the chest, face, and legs. However, they can trim their fetlocks and facial fur if they want. They tend to leave the chest fluff because it shows their purity. Most desired rare trait is fur tufts on the ears, the longer the better. (It can range from short like a maine coon cat to as long as a caracal’s ear tufts)

Common occupations: Agriculture, business, cuisine, industry

All 3 races have a rare desired trait that they all aim for: Secondary spots/splotches of a different color. IE: A white pony with gray spots AND blue spots.

Paint Unicorns and Pegasi families feel they are superior to other ponies and even rival and compete with one another. Paint Earth Ponies are looked down on by the two, but they tend to suck up to the unicorns and pegasi. They use ‘pinto’ as an insult to any non-purebreds. Pegasi/Unicorns tend to call Earth paints pintos.They keep to their own breeds/colors/species.

All three look down on mutts. They may be paints, but they aren’t pure in their eyes. Mutt paints can be seen by having mixed traits or no special traits. Example, unicorn without cloven hooves, earth pony with feather shoulders.

However, mutts are STILL considered paints, so they are still held higher than non-paint ponies.
Pintos who are not paints are often referred to as dirt-stained, mud-marked, or blemished.

Some very stubborn families may even insist on specific desired traits such as eye color, spot color, or certain face patterns. It’s not uncommon for cousins or other relatives to breed in order to keep pure in these cases, but they keep it under wraps and very hush-hush with their wealth.

Remember, ‘paint’ is not a color, a paint horse can only be a paint by lineage. All paints are pintos, but not all pintos are paints.

As Bruiser is still a colt, he doesn't display all of the traits of a typical paint pony, but he was raised in a family with that type of attitude described above.