I have a new client that breeds/sells nice Paso Fino horses-she mainly aims them at trails and endurance riders. As someone who doesn’t actively ride Paso Finos regularly, I am intrigued as to what endurance and trail riders look for in a Paso, etc. Is there a big market for them in this area of riding?
Don’t know where you are but in the SE region there aren’t many Pasos in endurance - 90%+ Arabs or ArabXs. The people I know who ride Pasos in endurance are more the LD or slow 50 types rather than serious “wanna be top 10” competitors - not that there’s anything wrong with that!
I agree, I think a lot of breeds and horses are touted by their breeders as EXCELLENT for Endurance. But those breeders don’t actually compete in endurance rides (50 miles minimum) and are often really wrong. Of course, there are individuals that are the exceptions. Some gaited horses don’t move up and down but move with a good forward reach. There are Walkers that do well in endurance and others that are finishers, near the back. I do know pleasure trail riders that LOVE their Pasos as they are wonderful pleasure trail horses. But 10-15 miles isn’t endurance.
A good friend has a Rocky Mtn Horse that does CTRs really well and is a gem of a horse. And you know they have great reputation as riding horses.
Bonnie
Definitely not a breed I’d recommend for the long distance rides. I’m sure they’re comfortable for trail rides in general and that there are exceptions, but as a general rule, I’ll have to go with ‘nay’.
I agree that the regular line of show paso’s are not good for speed or distance. But if you want a paso fino for endurance, look at the Coral line. They are being used in endurance quite successfully. They tend to be fast and smooth. right up there with the arabians for capability. Coral himself was ridden 100 miles once, by a drunk, no shoes, almost killed him because his feet wore down too far, but he survived with careful treatment. I have one of his grandsons and he can do 25 miles on rough trails with ease. (no shoes, his feet are exceptionally hard) With some regular conditioning I know I could do 50-100 mile endurance rides with him. Coral LaCE was one of two foundation sires for the single footing horse association, (along with Falcon Rowdy, a standard bred-paso fino cross)
Compare my paso “Taconeo” beside any of the ones you see at shows and you’d think they were different breeds. My Tac is tall, slim and long legged.
with a stride like an arabian, except he’s a heap of a lot more fun to ride I think, even though his gait isn’t perfect, there isn’t any big trot to bounce. Just a little more jiggle than he should have if he were gaiting perfect. I discovered his dam was a trocha horse so that explains his gait imperfection.
(trocha is halfway between 4 beat gait and 2 beat trot)
facebook group devoted to the Coral line at https://www.facebook.com/groups/112080298811424/
Oh and their disposition is generally so perfect it’s hard to figure out how it could get any better. My gelding is quite energetic and yet controls quite llightly a web halter on trails.
My old Paso was of the Coral LaCE lines, and he was awesome. I did a couple of 25’s with him, and he was awesome. At the end of the 25’s, he was strong as heck and didn’t look like he’d been ridden. If I had the time to condition him for longer, he very easily could have done it, and done it well. He would have loved it if I’d let him go as fast as he wanted. I once clocked him in largo at 17mph. And he was SMOOOOTH.
Now, he was NOT an easy horse. He was HOT, forward, and could be spooky. He loved to trail ride, wanted to be in front always (with careful training, would go in the back, but it was always an argument), and he was very, very sensitive to any aid. If you thought about doing something, you got it. Not for an inexperienced rider at all. He did not forgive mistakes.
My current horse is paso fino/arab cross. Nice, nice guy. Easy to ride, smooth trot (no gait), forgiving, kind, easy to rate, a little lazy sometimes, and not afraid of much. He’ll be good at distance once I’m ready to do it again, but won’t likely be a hotshot in the lead kind of guy.
I love my paso’s…
There is a women who has completed multiple Tevis rides with her Paso, and I know a few others who do 50s. There are certain non-show (not now anyway) bloodlines that can hold up and have a nice extended gait. They are getting harder to find though.
ETA: I have Favorito Que Tal lines that were bred to work cattle over rough terrain in Colombia. He and Coral are “old-style” and are not like the super hot show Pasos you see today.
All my first hand experiences with Paso’s have been that they were spooky freaks but I am willing to concede that their owners liked that about them and brought it out in them. My husband just about won’t even shoe them b/c they’re so jumpy and he’s the calmest horse presence and patient as the day is long. He’s nearly as strong as they are so is able to hold onto a leg and get the job done but he cringes when he hears that breed…
We borrowed one once that was a real cute little horse that loped at the exact same speed that our other horses walked up the mountain! LOL He loped all the way in and out of a pack trip just as tidy as you please!
People get in over their heads with them. They can be very forward and the vast majority now come from the much hotter show lines. The joke is that the only way to tell our pleasure classes from our performance classes is to look at what the riders are wearing. A lot of these horses are trail horses too, but not the kind that would do well in endurance.
I can guarantee your husband would not have any trouble shoeing my mare. She will stand for hot shoeing and the only problem he might have is the strain on his back from stooping so low because she’s only 14hh. My mare can be forward under saddle because she loves to move out, but she is not spooky. I know where to get nice Pasos because my friend has been breeding them her way for 40 years instead of following show trends. The Paso that does Tevis is related to my mare. We lost a lot of genetic diversity due to show trends in the 80s. It’s almost impossible now to find a Paso that doesn’t go back to a certain Fino stallion from back then.
reubent and gotgait have it right. Some pasos are hot and spooky (mine, for instance, sigh) but some are nice and calm. I have no doubt some would be great in endurance. My horse gets so “up” out on the trail I don’t think he could do it, but he does love trail riding. And truer words were never spoken re: the (nonexistent) difference these days between pleasure and performance.
i ride a paso cross at the barn–pretty spooky (but short–last time she did a sideways teleportation and left me hanging off her side, i simply stepped down onto the ground. :lol:) and very forward. she’s like riding a sewing machine. i’m totally bushed when i get off her. but some of the younger folks like her. 
My thought is that any horse without medical issues who is in regular work can do an LD. The big question is, how many people know Pasos that are succeeding at 50+ miles? I see some nice Pasos on our local hunter paces, and they do well, but that’s only 10-12 miles. Other than the one bloodline that has been brought up here, do we see them regularly enough at the longer distances to RECOMMEND them as endurance horses? I’m sure there are exceptions, but what is the general rule?
I guess the question is how bad do you want to win? Pasos are a minority in endurance, but I’m under the impression that it’s 99% Arabs that win anyway. There’s no reason a conditioned Coral or Que Tal line Paso couldn’t finish well in some of the shorter rides. I don’t think they can really compete at the Tevis type rides, but, like I said, I do know of one. I think she finished top 30, but I can’t remember.
They are a blast when you get one that can extend into their flying gait, and you can ride that Cadillac all day. :yes:
If the goal is to win an endurance race, a proven endurance arabian is the way to go. There are a few paso fino’s being ridden on the longer rides, and finishing. but I haven’t heard of any wins or best conditions yet. (although I’m not keeping updated on what they’re doing very well) There are some reporting on the coral facebook group on their endurance rides. That’s all I’ve been seeing about it lately.
But if to enjoy the ride is more important, and being different is acceptable. Pick one carefully and try it. They usually start at about $2500 for untrained young horses. I happened to find one for that much already trained. I have heard they are very easy to train. I can see that with my Taconeo. He’s energetic and rarin to go and yet seems to be quite happy doing just what I tell him to do.
I’ve seen many non-Arab breeds succeed on the endurance trail. Among them are standardbreds, Morgans, and TWH’s. Sure, the Arabs still dominate, but there are other breeds that excel at endurance. I just haven’t met any Pasos who fall into that category.
Whoever said Paso Finos are for the casual over 50 type is soooo wrong!!!
I have trained a number of them and they are very hot with excellent stamina. We would ride out for hours and they are still just as happy to move out and do more! The show lines will have the classic fino gait, but more “trail” types produce a largo gait. They are extremely comfortable to ride.
Several of my friends have lame retired Pasos. I don’t know if the issue is poor breeding or improper conditioning. Whatever’s going on, I think I know more lame retired ones than actively ridden ones. I sincerely doubt the breed’s progenitors were as fragile, as they would have been useless for ranch work, but something is very wrong with examples of the breed in my area.
Something is wrong with the inbreeding that’s been done in the show lines, something is also wrong in a lot of the training that is done. Break outside those issues, and bloodlines, to the ones that are not so popular in the show ring. And you will find better horses for general purpose use. I just got home from attending a paso fino show, (serving as gate swinger) and I see the lack of training, lack of body/position control and the predominant tight gait and super hot nervous types. I could tell about how that kind of horse became popular in the show system, and the practical do everything paso fino got kicked out. I visited with one of the people directly involved some years ago, it happened when the paso fino breed in the USA was relatively small in numbers, and some big players had a lot of influence with judges to get their horses winning and the others eliminated. Combined with some nasty behind the scenes dirty work to discourage their competition from even attending the shows. (Which most people didn’t know about except those to whom it happened, which happened to be the ones I got acquainted with in my search for the ideal trail horse)
I stopped to see a for sale paso fino once, turned out to be one of the most nervous horses I’ve ever seen, almost deathly scared of it’s own shadow. Made that way by selective breeding for the hot temperament and tight gait.
But because of the relative perceived value of a show winner, that type became prominent in the breed, and the other kind that was good for the trail was not propagated so heavily.
Some of them are foundered early on by riding them on hard surfaces. If the horse doesn’t “make it”, it’s then sold on to an unsuspecting newbie as a pleasure horse. Yeah right.
[QUOTE=carp;7131514]
Whatever’s going on, I think I know more lame retired ones than actively ridden ones…but something is very wrong with examples of the breed in my area.[/QUOTE]
I am noticing a similar trend here. I see way more companion-only PF’s than any other kind. Some are retired due to lameness. Some are not ridden due to sanity issues.
Unfortunately this has been the case with almost every one I’ve met. Jumpy, easily spooked, and uncomfortably nervous in their own skin.
I did see two LOVELY PF’s on a hunter pace in June. They seemed brave enough and the riders looked plenty comfortable. I didn’t see them hold still for a second though. They wouldn’t even pause for a drink of water… which would be problematic on the endurance trail!
