In contrast to the American Paint Horse industry, which traditionally has been dominated by halter and pleasure horses, the evolution in Europe has been a different one. The European Paint Horse industry has been founded and dominated by Germany, influenced to a considerable degree by Hardy Oelke, to whom the Paint Horse always was nothing but a Quarter Horse with chrome and to whom performance bloodlines were more important than color. He bred Paints featuring the lineage of such Quarter Horse greats as Mr Gun Smoke, Colonel Freckles, King Fritz and Docs Lynx.