For those of you who are wondering what is a Paso Fino or a gaited horse, here is some information and pics:
History and Origin of the Breed
The Paso Fino has a proud past and is one of the oldest native breeds of horse in the Western Hemisphere. In 1492, Columbus discovered a continent without horses. On his second voyage from Spain, he brought a select group of mares and stallions from the provinces of Andalusia and Cordela, and settled them at Santo Domingo. These horses were a mixture of Barb, Andalusian and Spanish Jennet. The Spanish Jennet not only possessed an extremely comfortable saddle gait, but also was able to pass the gait on to its offspring. The result of the blending of these horses was horses with an incredibly smooth gait, which would evolve into the Paso Fino breed.
How did the Paso Finos come to the United States?
The first paso finos in the United States were imported from Puerto Rico by members of the armed services who were stationed in Puerto Rico and purchased paso finos while living there. Rather than sell these amazing horses when they left, they brought them back with them and this stock provided some of the first paso finos bred in the United States. Later a rancher went to Colombia and purchased quite a number of Colombian paso fino horses to work his cattle. This added the second strain of paso fino and while the two strains are still bred to retain their purity, they are also mixed to produce the best of both in this country.
The gait
The Paso Fino is a four-beat lateral gait, the birthright of every Paso Fino. Newborn foals struggle to their feet and take their first faltering steps in gait. The Paso Fino can walk freely, and many of them can perform a collected canter of a relaxed lope as well. It is essentially a broken pace: it is lateral, not diagonal. The cadence of the 1,2,3,4, beat is rhythmic with equal time intervals between hoof beat. There is very little up and down movement in either the croup or the shoulder of the horse. The gait is performed at three speeds with the collection decreasing as speed increases. Paso Fino means "Fine Step".
The three forms are :
PASO FINO Sometimes called "Fino - Fino" the classic show ring gait. It demonstrates rapid, steady, unbroken rhythm of the hooves with every slow forward speed. Performed with the horse balanced and collected.
PASO CORTO A more relaxed form of the gait that is commonly referred to as the natural Paso gait. Paso Corto is the ideal trail and pleasure gait, executed with only medium collection and light contact on the bit. Most Paso Fino horses prefer this gait to walking.
PASO LARGO The speed form of the gait. The same 1,2,3,4 rhythm must be maintained and the rider should appear motionless in the saddle as he should be at all speeds of the gait.
The Paso Fino is a versatile horse able to adapt to a variety of climates and purposes. Its aficionados claim that the Paso Fino is the smoothest riding horse in the world because of its natural, even, four beat gait that can be performed at varying speeds. A Paso Fino can, of course, walk in a free manner and may have a delightful canter
Some Paso Fino horses
If you want to see how they gait, the link below has some videos of Paso Finos trained for shows. Scroll down and you'll see the links to the videos.
http://www.pasopedigree.com/
Topic: Taking Chances, by E. L. Van Hine and L.H. Nicoll (Read 3166550 times)