The Paso Fino Horse Gait Makes For A Fun Trail Ride

Posted by Peter Salinas on July 2, 2009 under Hobbies | Be the First to Comment

Because of my love of horses, I really appreciate horses that give me a great ride. When I first learned about the Paso Fino, it made a huge difference in my concept of a good horse ride. A Paso trail ride can be only likened to floating on cloud 9 in my book. One of the reasons is the Paso’s natural gait.

A horse’s gait is the way that it moves. When you determine a horses gait, you look at a number of factors including speed, foot pattern, and foot sequencing during the movement. This can vary from the walk to the full gallop, but what we are interested in when determining a good horse for trail riding is one that goes at a speed that is somewhere in between. The Paso’s unique pattern of foot movements makes the ride very smooth and there is not a lot of up and down motion for the rider.

The cadence of the Paso’s 1-2-3-4 gait is distinctive as the horse effortlessly glides to its destination. It is almost like military precision when it takes its strides. I liken it to the riderless horse of presidential funerals. To be riding a horse that moves like this is akin to feeling like royalty.

Called an “ambling” gait, the Paso’s gait is a intermediate gait that is faster than a walk but slower than a canter. As its feet walk, you will see that they move in what is called a “lateral” movement where the front and back feet move in sequence to one another.

In the Paso Fino gait, there are names for the 3 speeds to its ambling gait. From slowest to fastest, there is the paso fino, paso corto, and paso largo. There is also another one referred to as the Paso Llano and is unique to the Peruvian Paso.

There are many competitions that display the excellence in Paso Fino 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… and I guess you could say that is true. All I can say is simply amazing.

Even if you’re not looking to get started with a performance Paso Fino and just need 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!