Can a Paso Fino keep up with a Tennessee Walking Horse?

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Hello, Iam new here. My name is Payton. And I ride Tennessee Walking Horses.

Basically I trail ride, but I have recently taken up an interest in endurance riding. Yesterday I found a Paso Fino for sale that has been trained for endurance. But if I go on a trail ride with my friends, who also ride TWH,can a Paso Fino keep up with the TWH? Maybe a better question is can the TWH keep up with the Paso Fino? :question

[Pasogirlz]

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Depends on both the TWH and Paso, but I'd say yes. My Mom and her paso friends ride together w/a TWH gal and they gait along fine together. ;-) If the paso is suited for endurance, I'd venture to say it has a pretty nice ground covering corto and largo. I know we have clocked my Moms largo mare at 18 mph and she wasn't even opened up, just clipping along at a steady pace. Some of these largo lines can really put the wind in your hair. 8-)

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Thanks so much for your help! Me and my dad just didn't know if I could ride w/ the TWH. :tongue And thank-you for the welcome! :D

[SandyMM]

Welcome! We have several riders here who do endurance on their Pasos!

[DebJ]

I agree with Lori, depends on the horse. I have a Paso Fino and my husband has a Tenn. Walker, and we usually do just fine. Although mine is a little faster at times, but then again his horse can be a bit lazy :lol:
But we trail ride and we have no problems. We can gait side by side, but then I get a "mean" streak and open her up at her Largo and leave them behind LOL
We trail ride with a Quarter horse sometimes and he has trouble keeping up. We have a few Stop and stand lessons on those trail rides.
But over all I think you would be fine.

[pasofantasy]

Welcome! You may fall in love with the paso fino!

It might be the other way around since that one's been trained for endurance. My husband often rides with a friend with TWs. One time, the TW had hand gallop to try to catch the paso and it's slow in comparison to some of our other pasos.

A friend sold a paso to a lady for a child's horse and a companion to her TW. It turned out just the opposite; now the TW is the companion horse. She rides her paso fino now! Her paso fino doesn't eat as much either.

[Pasogirlz]

You gotta tell us how your test ride goes if you go to look at this horse. I bet you will be pleasantly surprised at just how fast they can move out in gait. 8-) You will be smiling so big you will have to scrape the bugs off your teeth. hee hee. ;-)

[Edurne]

I rode with Tennessee Walkers for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and Primero had NO problem keeping up with the couple of horses who did stride out for a while. I didn't even ask for a super extended largo. The TW rider looked like he was having fun going at his top speed.

[ErinC]

I am sure you will have no problem.

I am pretty confident mine could keep up!

we are always in the front, and never have a catch up issue.

( I do have to canter to keep up with Terries Largo horse from time to time, but that will end when Pillo is on the trails!! )

good luck, and enjoy!

O ya , WELCOME....

where are you from? and what are the lins on this horse you are going to look at??? that has ALOT to do with it? some folks here can tell from looking at lines!!!??

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You gotta tell us how your test ride goes if you go to look at this horse. I bet you will be pleasantly surprised at just how fast they can move out in gait. 8-) You will be smiling so big you will have to scrape the bugs off your teeth. hee hee. ;-)

Oh I will!

Thank-you all for your help!

[endurancelover]

I am sure you will have no problem.

I am pretty confident mine could keep up!

we are always in the front, and never have a catch up issue.

( I do have to canter to keep up with Terries Largo horse from time to time, but that will end when Pillo is on the trails!! )

good luck, and enjoy!

O ya , WELCOME....

where are you from? and what are the lins on this horse you are going to look at??? that has ALOT to do with it? some folks here can tell from looking at lines!!!??

Sorry ErinC we must have posted at the same time.

Iam in Tennessee. And the horses sire is El Mito de la Luisa, and his dam is Peccata Minuta Sin Par.

[Linda Y]

So that is Maravilloso de CF?
I agree that you will have to try the horse. I have one that can put a whuppin on a TWH on the trail, but my mare has to constantly gait to keep up with QHs! Totally depends on the Paso.

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So that is Maravilloso de CF?

Yes that is him! I forgot to put his name :duh

[Tami Pinell]

So you are in the great state of Tennessee - you'll have to look me up and lets go trail riding! Just went on one yesterday and saw a walker and an appy... they were doing rather nicely! LOL
I'm in North Eastern Tennessee......
Welcome!!

[cowboy ed]

howdy, payton! welcome to the BB!
you shouldnt have any problem riding TWHs and paso finos together. they compliment each other quite well.

we usually do a week long trail ride at buffalo river in tennessee each year. we ride the paso finos with our walking horse friends, and they all do just fine together.

i have also done endurance riding for the last five or six years. it is a ton of fun!

[echo]

Welcome! I rode with a walker yesterday, and have ridden with two others. Walkers and Pasos seem to be very well suited to ride together. I have one Paso that can leave anything in the dust, but besides him, the Walkers keep up just fine. You notice the difference on hills and bends. Paso Finos are so sure-footed, with their legs under them, that they can pick their way over some interesting terrain very easily. My Walker friends slow significantly when the terrain gets uneven. Most Pasos have a walk that is faster than other breeds, but the Walkers have a comperable walk. Ride with QH's and you will have to stop and wait for them. I rode with a Russian Arab once. That horse could stride out like nobody's business. That was the only horse that I've ridden with that walked faster than our Pasos.

[hast]

When I went to Tennessee for a week long trail ride a few years ago the "fast ride" all had TWHs (and one racking horse) and they all knew each other from previous rides. The first morning they all circled around me and my smaller Paso while we waited to get the signal to start. After some muttering among themselves, one finally told me I had a good looking horse, "It's just too bad they're not as fast as they look" he continued. I just replied that he was fast enough for me. :D
The other gaited riders and horses were all from Tennessee and were used to climb mountains, but my Florida horse easily kept them all behind when I let him keep the pace he wanted.
The last day a couple of the old timers came over and asked if he was for sale ;-) When my reply was no they asked what training tips I had for them. LOL :lol:

[motorgypsy]

We also have trail ridden with TW's and one of our mares is fino line and does have to gait to keep up with that big TW walk but she has no problem keeping up or leading the pack in gait. The other will leave anything in the dust. We also do 25 milers LD endurance with no problems on our paso finos but they aren't all suited for endurance. Look at the suspensories and the feet and the angles. You don't want a very flexy suspensory horse for endurance and you want good conformation so you don't have a break down because things just don't hit right. You also don't want a really hyper go go go horse. You need one who enjoys going fast but will let you know when they are tired. One with good brains, agility and and natural endurance. There are a lot of paso finos who are very good at endurance but don't expect them all to be because like any breed, individual differ.

Welcome to a most awesome breed with a lot of really great people!!!

[CarolU]

I agree with the othes. I have riden for years with a friend and her TWH and ride routinely with several friends with MFTs...my horses keep up fine (actually, they keep up with me fine), unless I ride a short-strided horse. I have two that have a hard time keeping up with my others. One thankfully has a nice canter, and the other stays home- she goes into a flying pace that is horrendous and her canter is worse.

[pasofantasy]

I already wrote about them riding together on the trail. We like doing parades. Our late, Ray, rode with TW in parades a couple times when our friends were riding and no other pasos were in it. They won as a group, but people took notice of the paso. Being in Florida, they knew what it was.

[DebbieS]

Welcome to the bb!!

Can't wait to hear about your test ride!!

I would love to have other gaited horses to ride with. We have 2 (Paso Fino and a Peruvian Paso/QH) and ride with mostly QHs, which we have to stop and wait for until 1-2 hours into the ride, then ours will slow down to a nice walk and stay with everyone else.

[SarahR]

I ride a Paso Fino and my husband a TWH. Our TWH is both faster and more surefooted, but I think it really depends on the individual horse. My horse has a much smoother walk than the TWH, who bobs his head and goes into a 'camel walk' that is sorta uncomfortable. We ride with QH people so I am glad my horse has a nice walk, even if she walks twice as fast as their QH's. We came back from a pack trip this weekend with me leading, and I thought I was going pretty slow with her but had to stop and wait every few minutes. When we got back our QH friends were saying I 'set a grueling pace'....and I was trying to go slow :)

[sporthorse]

I have not met a TWH that could keep up with our paso finos yetbut heard there are some. the ones that have done best are not all over 16hh tall. and were racking horses,as well.

[Cathy]

I've done several LD endurance rides with TWs. A good friend of mine has a huge 16+ hand palomino gelding. We call him big lick bobbi. He can fly! I did my first endurance ride on my new paso with her. I gotta tell ya I spent most of the ride looking at his backside. This is not the norm though. He is a seasoned endurance horse and does all gaits including a ground covering trot. For the record we did finish the ride together. I've never had a problem with other TWs especially when I was competing on Tsar my other Paso.

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Sorry for not updating ya'll!

Looks like I want be getting the paso after all. My dad found a spotted racking horse who is 16.2 hands, and bought him for me as a suprise :D. He has a great disposition and gaits, but I still think that Paso Finos are great horses, maybe when I get older(Iam 14) I will get me one :D

I hope ya'll have many wonderful times w/ your horses!

[SarahR]

Have fun with your new horse! What a nice suprise :) I think all gaited horses are wonderful :)

[motorgypsy]

Congratulations! Enjoy!

[ASB.Immortality]

I am going to have to say it just all depends on the horse. I have seen TWHs that couldn't keep up with QHs. And a Paso or two like that also. I pleasure ride a speed/show racking horse. I haven't had much that could stay up with him in his day. He is old (16) but can still give some a run for their money. :D

[sporthorse]

yes Cathy thanks for the reminder/and Jonathan Shortland's TWH also can do the distance. I looked at Tsars rear plenty and he is a good example of a mid range - full range of gait type paso that when conditioned any horse would have trouble keeping with.They (Cathy & Tsar) had some first and second place finishes & top BC score(s) so to spotted saddle horse owner listen since Cathy is a real good example of someone to use for a mentor.She knows the value of conditioning and setting a regimine for the individual horses,she treats each of her mounts with the differant approaches retaining the kind of finishes that satisfy the horse rider relationship on the given day.Some days one can ride like the wind and somedays the elements warn for safe finishes. Lindsay has pointed out that Cathy and the seasoned riders can help us so much. Be like a sponge. endurance riders are great folks!The paso fino ones can help gaited horse riders and like TWHBobbie's owner Karen helped me and so many others.

[Cathy]

The Shortland's are a perfect example of Paso verses TWH. For quite a few years Sheila rode this tiny Paso 12-13 hands. Sheila is petite so that wasn't an issue. Her husband rode and still rides a big TWH. They trained together and competed together. They are some of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. Sheila has retired her Paso now and rides a Saddlebred (I think). BIG HORSES CONFUSE ME :lol: