Myth? or True?

[Minouri]

People have told me that if I decide to get another Paso one day to make sure he's on the small side. They say the bigger the Paso the less smooth they tend to be. Is there any truth to that?

What is the height of the average Paso....I know what the breed description is....just curious what most people are actually riding. My boy is 13.3.

[Barbwire]

That's HOGWASH!

My Amante is almost 15 hands and very smooth. I always thought he was smooth, but I had not ridden many Pasos, so I didn't have much to compare him to. I knew for sure he was smoother than most when Michael Bruce told me he was "very" smooth. Now there's a man that has ridden a lot of Pasos, so it must be true :D .

[Terri]

I don't think height is the determining factor. Rio is 14.2 hands and just "floats" along in gait, very smooth. Mico is 14 hands, his legs move quickly like little machines. He too is smooth, but in a different way. I have heard alot of the Coral children and grandchildren are on the taller side and are known for how smooth they are. I think though the taller horses "tend" not to be the fino horses. Am I wrong?

[halfmoonfino]

What they might be referring to is breeding. Some people argue that PPR (Pure Puerto Rican) Paso Finos are smoother than Columbians. PPR's also tend to be on the smaller side (13hh-14hh). So I would say that "smaller Pasos being smoother" is a myth ,but that breeding may have something to do with it. Of course you must remember that each horse is an individual with respect to its breeding, conformation, and disposition. All these things are a factor in determining the smoothness of a gait. Pitty is 13hh and a PPR, and yes, he is very smooth. But I wouldn't necessarrily claim that he is smoother than a Columbian! I'm sure there are plenty of horses out there, Columbian or PPr, that are smoother than he is, and some that are bumpier. Just remember to think logically about what you hear. What could size REALLY have to do with smoothness? As Barbara said, THAT'S HOGWASH!

[Barbwire]

Prometido de Selecta, Amante's sire, is close to 15 hands and is promoted as "born to fino", so tall Pasos can fino with the best of them.

[Terri]

Well, I guess I could be wrong sometimes. But what I meant when I used the word "tend" is that I was my understanding that in general, the Fino horses were on average smaller than the Pleasure/trail Pasos. But what do I know, that is just what I've been told.

[Minouri]

Thanks for the info. It didn't make much sense to me when I heard it, but I figured maybe it could do with people breeding for size rather than smoothness. Now I know :bsmile

[ErinC]

just try as many as you can , to see and learn

ask Terri , I told her a year ago, and back then she did not want to listen to me, you HAVE TO TRY all of them they are ALL so different.
NEVER NEVER NEVER think something, try everything!

Terri will I am sure admit now that after trying a few, and trusting me on a few issues that she has seen the light!

[CarolU]

Well, I guess I could be wrong sometimes. But what I meant when I used the word "tend" is that I was my understanding that in general, the Fino horses were on average smaller than the Pleasure/trail Pasos. But what do I know, that is just what I've been told.

Terri, while I 'might' agree with the 'tend' part of that, many Fino horses are very small. But what it seems to assume is that the Fino horses are smoother then the Trail/Pleasure horses. What I have found is just the opposite. There is an AWFUL LOT of bouncing going on in our show ring! A lot of short-stepped horses are pretty bouncy, and other then in Classical Fino, I don't think judges even look at croup quitness in judging gait anymore...they just look at speed of footfall. This BREED FOR SPEED mentality seems to be taking over our breed, and smoothness and consistency are being lost.

The "World's Smoothest Pleasure Horse" still exists in our breed. Many "Pleasure" breeders still breed for this trait.

I think for a SMOOOOOOOTH ride, I'd go look at the old lines. They are our foundation for a very good reason.

[stella]

Size has little to do with smoothness......although yes, many fino horses TODAY tend to be smaller than 15-20 years ago, as small ones "appear" to take smaller steps (its relative, really-coup d'oeil).
I have to agree with Carol.

[SandyMM]

There is an AWFUL LOT of bouncing going on in our show ring!

That is fact.... but it isn't just limited to Pasos. I watched a Missouri Foxtrotter demo last year. The 'show horse' was more animated and much bumpier than the less animated and _much_ smoother pleasure horse.

[motorgypsy]

Think of it this way - if the gait of the horse has "float" - vertical motion - it will be more noticeable in a larger horse. I rode a tall TW stallion who was very smooth but had a huge amount of float. You can also have a paso fino with no float and no bounce but who is a foot slammer so every impact can be felt throughout your body. You can hear it on the fino board but you probably won't see it. Our smoothest is not our smallest nor our largest.

Oh - one misconception - that PPR's are small and smaller than Colombian paso finos. Our PPR mare is tall and massive and Barb Preiss's PPR Corito de Vez is very tall and fairly heavy, Cale's Helado Oro, a PPR, is big QH built type boy. There are many many very large and tall PPR paso finos. There does seem to be a line of PPR's that is quite small but there are very small and delicately built Colombians also. We are lucky to have a good variety of size and build in the paso fino. I think actually there is a bigger size variation in the relatively small gene pool of the PPR than there is in the larger gene pool of Colombians because the Colombian show psao fino tends to be smaller.