Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

i posted some of this info earlier, but there have been more questions since then.  i will try to answer some of them and try to give specific info.  yes, paso finos do well in endurance.  they were bred for it.  they are not limited to ld rides. i didnt get to do any 50+ mile rides with starbuck, because he wasnt old enough until june of 2002, and by then my wife was doing ld rides with him and made me ride that darn mustang.  if they are properly conditioned, they dont take any longer to pulse down than other horses, 5 to 10 minutes was typical for starbuck. i tried three different paso finos in ld rides, and all three of them did very well.  yes, they can go long distances doing the four beat gait that they are born with.   paso finos are very sure footed, and usually have good, hard hooves. they can gait uphill, downhill, on the side of a hill, you name it.  they do very well in deep sand, because of the triple suspension.  while some larger, heavier, trotting horses seem to bog down in deep sand,  the paso fino just glides across it.  some of them do trot occasionally, usually when they are tired.   some paso fino horses dont do a four beat gait, but strictly trot, but it is not common in the breed.   

i rode my paso gelding starbuck in the 2002 season.  linda mentioned winning the paso fino association endurance horse of the year award for two years, i think it was 2000 and 2001.   starbuck won it in 2002, and also the competitive trail horse of the year award.  my friend cathy barnes and her paso fino gelding, tsar, won the endurance award for 2003.  the two of them were on the cover of endurance news about two months ago. tsar got the best condition award at far out forest 30 miler last month.  starbuck's(h33129) ride results and tsar's(h33065) ride results are on the aerc website.  i dont know about linda or her horse's records. 

the best way to study a horse's gait, any kind of horse, is to watch slow motion video.  that will show you what is really going on.  if you have a trained eye, you can tell a lot by watching live action, but slow motion video is hard to beat.   i have ridden several different types of gaited horses, but not all of them.  i would like to try them all just to say i did it.  i have ridden paso finos, peruvian pasos, colombian trote/galope, rocky mountain, kentucky mountain, tennessee walkers, and mangalarga marchadores from brazil.  well, thats enough for now.   if anyone wants more info on this subject, you may email me, whytrotfarmsatyahoodotcom.         ed kilpatrick