Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

In a message dated 11/23/2004 10:41:05 PM Central Standard Time, laneyh@xxxxxxxx writes:

> Are there Paso Fino bloodlines that are particularly good for endurance?


I'm not all that familiar with Paso bloodlines.  But fron what I know, there are two major types of Paso Finos - the Colombian bloodlines and the Puerto Rican bloodlines.  The PR Pasos *tend* to be a little stouter, with more bone and substance than the Colombians, which tend to be finer boned, etc.  My husband's horse is 3/4 PR bloodlines.  When we were shopping for his horse, we had a really hard time finding a Paso with decent-sized feet...most of the ones around here have tiny little feet (again, the Colombian influence).

Pasos as a breed tend to vary a LOT in their gait...some are bred for a very "tight" gait, and are what are referred to as fino horses.  These are the ones you see at shows that have a very rapid footfall, are often shown gaiting down a wooden ramp to amplify their footfall, and make little forward progress in spite of taking lots of rapid steps.  They are fascinating to watch, and I've ridden one - it was pretty cool.  But obviously, these are not distance horse material.  Others have a more extended gait.  The corto is comparable to the trot of non-gaited horses.  The largo is a very extended gait, much faster.  One bloodline that is famous for a good fast largo is Coral LaCE - he was a stallion who had a very fast largo, and his offspring often win the largo race championships.  My husband is thinking about getting a second horse, and wants a Coral LaCE horse.  He's eyeing some Coral LaCE grandsons (geldings) in Florida.  I'm not real familiar with other bloodlines that produce good extended gaits.  My husband's horse can gait pretty fast, but he can trot like the wind...and boy is he smooth, even at a trot or canter.  Hope this helps a little.

Dawn in East Texas