Paso Finos and Their Beautiful Horse Gait
Horse riding on a trail ride is one of the most enjoyable things you can do to experience mother nature, but riding horses are not all the same. I discovered that the Paso Fino horse breed is one of the best horses to take out riding. The smoothness of its ride is enjoyable to a level that could be compared to remembering your first real kiss. It gave me a feeling of elation when experience this horse, and it is primarily for one reason, its steady gait.
In case you don’t know, a horse’s gait is the way that it moves. In determining a horse’s gait, you look at the pattern, speed, positions, and the sequence of steps that a horse takes while it is moving. The Paso Fino is special in the fact that it has a unique pattern of foot movements that give it a very smooth ride. You won’t see this horse bounding its rider up-and-down as it moves.
You can hear the individual hooves in Paso’s 1-2-3-4 gait as the horse moves. It kind of reminds me of the riderless horse that rides at the funerals of presidents when they die. Granted it is different, but in my mind it has a stately feel to it. When riding a Paso Fino horse, it almost makes me feel like royalty.
Called an “ambling” gait, the Paso’s gait is a intermediate gait that is quicker than a walk but slower than a canter. The foot movement is also lateral. Lateral motion is where the front & hind feet on the same side of the horse moves in sequence.
In the Paso Fino gait, there are essentially three speeds to its gait. From slowest to fastest, there is the paso fino, paso corto, and paso largo. There is also another Paso gait referred to as the Paso Llano and is found in the Peruvian Paso.
There are many Paso Fino completitions that demonstrates the wonderful gait honed in Paso Fino horse training. If you’ve never seen it before, be sure to get on Youtube and search for “Paso Fino.” You will see many examples of the championship quality gaits of these horses. To many, the gait looks like a well orchestrated hat dance by the horse… all I can say is simply amazing.
Even if you’re not looking to get started in Paso Fino competitions and are just looking for a good horse to ride, the Paso Fino makes an excellent horse to buy and enjoy it for your own pleasure. If you like to go on trial rides, you can’t beat the beautifully smooth and steady horse gait of this horse breed. Have fun and go ride a Paso!