In fact, until relatively recently, the breed was mostly black or brown horses, but in the last hundred years it's been selected for chestnut because of buyer preferences. It's not clear in this article - http://www.haflingerhorses.com/history.htm - but from the way it is written the most dominant current seems to be chestnut with flaxen mane and tail. Or as they describe it, "The trend toward a very bleached out blonde chestnut color is unhappily the result of breeders' efforts to leave the black and brown genetics out of the gene pool."
Palomino is a distinct genetic variation that is a dilution of other colors which changes the distribution of melanin in the hair shaft and causes a very metallic appearance. While the Haflinger chestnuts with flaxen manes and tails are striking, their body does not have that metallic sheen.
Here is a real palomino - notice how much more intense the body color is:
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