Commodity Futures Trader

Riding a horse on a trail ride is one of the most pleasurable activities you can do to experience the great outdoors, but horses are not all the same. I discovered that the Paso Fino horse is one of the best horses to take out riding. Its ride is pleasurable to a level that could be compared to eating ice cream on a hot summer day as a young child. It gave me a feeling of pure joy when I rode 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.

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.

The Paso Fino gait is known as an “ambling” gait. The term “ambling” gait refers to an intermediate gait of a horse. Ambling gaits are faster than a walk slower than a canter. This movement in the Paso Fino is lateral. Lateral movement is where the front and hind feet on the same side of the horse moves in sequence.

In the Paso Fino gait, there are names for the 3 speeds to its gait. Listed from slowest to fastest, there is the paso fino, paso corto, and paso largo. There is also another one called the Paso Llano and is found in the Peruvian Paso.

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

Even if you’re not trying 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!

Tweet This Post