The Smoothest Ride ... Tips, Articles, and Stories For The Paso Fino Horse Enthusiast
The
American Dream Horse
... The Paso Fino
By Lynn Gallup
What does the American dream evoke in your mind? Owning a nice car or home? What about your recreational pleasures? A boat, or as many children may have dreamed of growing up, of wanting their very own horse.
All pets or domestic animals have some type of power -- that unites the family and helps children to understand life, death, and responsibility, even providing emotional and physical companionship. The horse offers even more; in addition to educational benefits, the horse can be ridden. But not all horses are alike or suitable. The sporting event horse, such as used for racing, polo, and jumping -- all demand special care, space, training, expenses, and rider expertise. These special demands do not make these horses suitable for a family horse. The ideal family horse is affordable, easy to feed, resilent, comfortable, versatile, and gentle -- a horse suitable for youth to handle.
Well there is a very special breed of horse conquering North America - the Paso Fino. The Paso Fino is a proud breed with a natural smooth ride that comes from equine ancestors dating to the days of Christpher Columbus's second voyage to the Americas in 1493. This breed's colorful history reflects itself in the warm, charismatic touch of the Latin culture. The primary countries of origin for the Paso Fino breed are Puerto Rico, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. The name "Paso Fino" comes from the Spanish words "fine step" or delicate walk. The Paso Fino, a versatile animal gives North American owners and families -- a horse of comfort and style, a horse for all ages, and a horse for a variety of recreational pursuits.
All across North America, people are experiencing the joy and pride of accomplishment that comes from riding a Paso Fino horse. To concentrate on one type of rider in particular that benefits form the gentleness and smoothness of the Paso Fino in particular is the physically challenged rider. Physical therapy is exchanged in the doctor's office for riding lessons. The physically challenged rider's self esteem is restored through the horse acting as a source of love and reassurance. Ambition coupled with self-control is renewed through horseback riding. Better coordination and concentration carries over in pride and self-confidence.
Along with the physically challenged are people with back or physical problems that may benefit from riding a Paso Fino because there is no up and down movement; there is no bounce against the saddle...just a very smooth ride. The Paso Fino is the horse reccommended by chiropractors because of the lack of continous impact along the person's dorsal spine when they ride.
Why many Paso Fino owners say you have to have more than one...just like potato chips is the benefit of the Paso Fino's value for recreational pursuits. The pure relaxing benefit of a smooth riding Paso Fino through a woodland trail on a crisp fall day with the leaves changing color or across a field of wildflowers on a beautiful spring day can hardly be measured. The investment in such a pleasure type horse is returned over and over in carefree outings that is a real stress-buster to the daily grind of a job. Since the Paso Fino is extremely versatile and sturdy, they are used in parade exhibitions, such as the Rose Bowl Parade, in endurance riding competitions, and field dog hunt trials.
Besides their main use as pleasure riding horses, their secondary use is for horse show exhibition purposes. The different regional areas of North America have show classes for youth, amateur and professional riders. Even senior citizens love to show off their Paso Fino horses and riding skills in the amateur owner classes. The senior riders find this breed of horse a welcome addition to retirement.
As Paso Fino owners will almost always grin when they see a new person ride a Paso Fino for the first time and watch a smile creep upon that person's face. It happened to that owner at one time previously too, that very first ride on a Paso Fino that sold them on the breed with the smooth ride. Paso Fino horses are relatively easy to care for. Being a hardy horse originating from countries where nutrition programs are not like today's available researched feed formulas, and due to their smaller stature, less body weight and more efficient metabolism than some other horse breeds, a mature Paso Fino horse does not generally require alot of feed. There are many "easy keepers"within the breed. Training costs can be kept minimal for a pleasure horse because the gait is natural. In fact, many amateur owners and even children do the training of their own Paso Finos, often raising them from a foal or young horse to training them for riding when the horses are around three years of age.
Now that you are a little bit more familiar with this special breed of horse - the Paso Fino, you may dream of riding and owning one of your very own. Imagine all the companionship, the feeling of pride from ownership, and the joy of riding this splendid horse - the Paso Fino - the horse with the cadillac ride. There are many Paso Fino horse farms across North America that welcome visitors to see ther horses; Paso Fino owners love to show off their horses! On the web, you can visit www.pfha.org for a listing of Paso Fino farms and regional organizations with contact info.
Email Lynn Gallup at lynngallup@gracewoodpasos.com with any questions or for more information about the Paso Fino "dream horse".
Lynn Gallup was introduced to the Paso Fino breed in 1975, while owning a Half-Arabian at the time. She began actively showing them in the Atlantic and Piedmont regional Paso Fino shows in the mid-70’s. Today, she owns Gracewood Farm Paso Finos in New Hill, North Carolina, where she continues to train her own horses she breeds as an amateur-owner. The “Training Tips” are learned from hands on experience and attending numerous clinics over the years involved with horses. Lynn’s website “The Smoothest Ride” went online in 1997, and offers helpful and informative tips, articles, and stories for the Paso Fino horse enthusiast. URL: www.smoothride4u.com.