Meridian Meadows Stories, by Dave Jones

1. Paso Colombiano, Fino, Trocha …And All That Stuff!
By Dave Jones, Monticello, Florida (First In A New Historical Series)
Credit: Paso Fino Horse World magazine, September 1996

When I read all the articles by various Paso owners who “have the answers”, I sorta snicker, for I’ve been through all this “razz-ma-tazz” a long time ago. I started learning about Pasos back in 1965, Colombian Pasos, that is. If I debunk, don’t judge me harshly, for what I say is true, though I must admit with somewhat skeptical eyes. I had no Paso tradition in my background so I judged them against other breeds I’d worked with. We moved to Florida in 1964 and I started a training farm near Tallahassee. My neighbor back then was Gene Phipps and we became acquainted. Before long, I was visited by Colin Phipps, Gene’s brother. At that time, Colin Phipps owned a cattle ranch in tropical northern Columbia, located on the Rio Cauca. He became acquainted with the Paso on his ranch and liked what he saw. He asked a Colombian friend and fellow “Sin Verguenzan”(‘without shame’ or ‘dirty old men’) to search out and buy a stallion and eight mares for importation to Florida. Colin wanted them for use on the Phipps plantation located near Tallahassee. Nine nice Pasos were located, purchased, dipped for ticks and stalled for a month at Club Hipico in Medellin. Then they were flown to the Miami quarantine facility. After they passed the importation requirements, they were vanned to Tallahassee.

Pas, My First Paso
Soon the first Pasos arrived, Colin decided to ride the stallion, who was a namesake of the Medellin group, “Sin Verguenza”. The horse ran away, dumped Colin and injured its side on a fence post. Dr. Grady Young, of nearby Thomasville, Georgia, was called to treat the horse. After Sin Verguenza healed up, Colin hauled him over for me to gentle. It was actually the first time I’d heard the word, “Paso” and I called him “Pas”. The name Sin Verguenza (Seen Beargooenza) was too big a chunk for me to handle. Well, hell, he was just a horse, so I tacked him. When I toted my ol’ tack out in my bronc pen, Pas went “bananas”. I had to hobble and sideline him before he’d let me get near him with my saddle. With his legs restrained, ol’ Pas had to stand and I climbed all over him. When I could get on him without hobbles, I gave it a shot. Wow! What a horse! He’d hit about 12 miles per hour in that slick smooth gait and I started liking Pasos pronto! All went well if I kept my hand down. You’re probably shocked to find out that I smoke cigarettes. My usual practice was to light up, climb on and go, but Pas would ‘scatter’ when I reached up to remove my cigarette. Of course, it’d be stuck to my lips and the speed we went made it burn down fast. I could grab it and be riding a stampede or try to spit it out. I burned myself quite a few times before he taught me to go smokeless when riding him! Anyhow, I had Sin Verguenza for three months and he was pretty safe for anyone to ride. Colin brought me most of the other Pasos and I learned quite a bit about them from practical experience. There were La Cauca, Fantasma, Canela, Juana, and four more I can’t remember. One thing amused me then, more so now. The various Paso organizations brag about how pristine pure their bloodlines are. Colin didn’t know much about existing breed organizations, so he contacted the Peruvian Paso Association and they registered those first nine Colombian Pasos as Peruvians! Later, of course, they were registered with the PFHA (then the PFOBA) as were the other Pasos to come along later.

Meridian Meadows Begins!
Colin Phipps owned a lot of land on Meridian Road in Tallahassee. The Leon Egg Farm rented land from him and the neighbors were upset and lawsuits were threatened. No wonder, huge latrine flies were everywhere! Colin gave the egg folks notice to evacuate. He wanted to start some sort of business and talked to me about raising, training and selling Colombian Pasos. I’d have to go to Colombia several times and this intrigued me enough to take him up on his proposition. I’d leased my training barn and had to tell the owner I was leaving. He wasn’t too pleased, but I’d made money for him (15% of my gross), so we were soon to part company. Things had been moving right along at Meridian Meadows. My house was being built. The barn was started. Pastures were cleared, planted, and fenced. The barn, a Butler building, had 40 12x12 stalls. A 60x120 covered arena was at one end of the horse barn. We had four outside arena of various sizes, from 40x40, on up. A nine stall quarantine barn was built down by my house. Every stall had a roomy outside run. All in all, it was quite an operation.

Now...Off to Colombia!
Well, it was time to look for some horses. Our first Colombian trip was timed so that we could watch show Pasos at a week long agricultural exposition in Medellin. For this ol’ cowboy, it was like visiting another world! The first day there, I tried to be a hero. A horse was tearing along about 12 feet in front of a little guy who looked as though he was trying to get him stopped. I grabbed the horse and held him for the man. All I got in return was a dirty look. I guess he was practicing Bella Forma and I messed him up. Later, I noticed that a lot of folks galloped along in back of their horses. Another Sin Verguenzan, Jaime Molena, was searching out good Pasos for sale for us. He was our companion at the show and told me what to look for. I noticed that the horses were being saddled while the judges looked on and I asked Jaime about it…“The Colombian Paso is, first and foremost, a pleasure horse and must be a pleasure to handle as well as ride. A horse that won’t stand for saddling and mounting is no pleasure and would be eliminated immediately.” It took some time to get all the horses ready, so each class took a long time. After the rider mounted, he went to the rail and worked his horse along with many others. At first, the class looked like pandemonium, but I soon sorted everything out. Aguardiente helped a lot.

Oh! That Aguardiente!
Colin, Jaime, Abalardo and I were sitting in the first class section. Don Jaime ordered some drinks. I was thirsty and downed the clear liquid in one go. My mouth, throat and stomach grew very warm and I felt my face flush from the great heat. Jaime and Abalardo looked at me with new found respect, for they’d seldom seen a man toss a water glass filled with Antioguia Aguardiente right down in one motion. They ordered another glass for me. Almost immediately, the arena “goings on” made sense and I looked the field over with a shrewd mind and ultra keen eye. I watched a horse wind its way between two judges who kept walking closer and closer together. When the horse cleared the two men who were now about three feet apart, I joined the Colombians with my shouts of “bravo!”. As I worked on my second glass of aguardiente, my knowledge of how to judge Colombian Pasos became highest quality and I picked the winner right along with the judges. Once, I disagreed with Jaime and Abalardo, and smugly noted that my pick won the class. My recollection of that first night of the show became a bit fuzzy, but we had the better part of a week to get it down pat. Meanwhile, I had a few horses to look at. Colin and I were driven to some places around Medellin to look at horses Don Jaime had located. A trainer-showman caught my eye at the show. Don Alfredo Gallegos seemed to jibe more with my idea of good horsemanship than others, so I was pleased that we were to visit his facility. Some of the horses he rode seemed fairly happy, for their ears were forward and their tails flowed, rather than being tucked tight. I noticed that “Maestro” Gallegos rode his trotters about the same as he’d ride his Pasos. They were highly collected though, as I said before, he didn’t use as much muscle as some other riders. There was nothing for sale at his barn for a reasonable price however, so it was back to the show. Classes were so long they were boring. When the Pasos worked around the men who walked slowly towards each other, they often broke gait. Once in a while, a judge was knocked around by a horse. As a horseman, I can appreciate the really good stuff. There was one horse in particular that seemed to have “fluid drive”. He would accelerate from Fino to Largo, then back down again while his rider sat as still as a statue. He did this on the concrete strip so the smoothness of the footfall could be heard and appreciated. Once in a while, pandemonium broke loose in the stands. Fights would erupt, to be quelled by the wonderfully efficient police. One reason for the brawling was aguardiente, which was pedaled in the grand stands. I’d never seen such fervor at a horse show in the United States. The Medellin show, children stood on the shoulders of their parents to better see the arena. People would cheer with earsplitting noise when their favorite was working before the judges.

Paso Colombiano, Paso Fino and Trocha
Of course, I was interested in the various gaits and asked about them. The Paso Fino was the short rapid gait we’ve all come to know. Purity seemed to be the prime consideration. About ten percent of the score was conformation. The major consideration was supposed to be gait with, say, 20 percent of the score to brio, the fiery appearance the horse presented. Paso Colombiano was a fast gait with a lot of action. Many Colombians told me that “Oro Negro” personified this gait, for he was much like a well-oiled machine. He was at this show though he wasn’t judged. When a horse was so good he automatically won, he was declared “out of competition” or Fuera de Concurso. He would show, but it was strictly an exhibition. The Trocha gait mystified me, for there seemed to be Paso Colombianos and trotters in the arena at the same time. I asked Jaime about it. Don Jaime said, “Well, Trocha means road and the Trocha is a road gait. If you want to go somewhere fast, you’d ride your Trochador and leave your Paso Fino in the barn.” One evening, we sipped our aguardiente, chatted and casually watched the show. Nearby, and old mountaineer unsheathed his machete and took a whack at his table. He drew a lot of attention as he whacked the table to splinters and slugged down big gulps of the fiery “antioguia aguardiente”. The policia militaria came running from all directions. As they surrounded the drunken hillbilly, they moved in quickly and efficiently, machine guns at the ready. Don Jaime said “Hurry up, let’s get out of here right now!” …and we did!

To be continued... part 2