The moment your Paso Fino(s) made you the most proud.

[CarolU]

I figured this forum needed a new thread.

My favorite moment was tacking Zar up at the State Fair. A class of Special Needs children came through with all their chairs, and braces, and canes. She lowered her head and let all of them touch and pet her, surrounding her. She was just an angel, and not a single *snort* or werid look from her. I was VERY proud of her. Even had other exhibitors come up and tell me they were glad it was my horse and not their horse..who would have probably been afraid and harmed some of the kids.

Sometimes it's the little things.

[Brigitte]

I don't know, they always do their special things, sometimes it's just a wonderful ride sometimes they're just so sweet. I couldn't pick out a specific moment

[tinomino]

Every day I am proud to have Tino. He may be a pain sometimes but he really is a good boy and I love him more than I thought I ever could love a horse. And that's saying a lot since I love horses almost more than breathing. :lol: He has brought me so far since I started riding him. I know so many cool people now and I love this breed so much. I have always loved horses that stand out but there is just something about a Paso that is so different and amazing, you can't help but love them.

[PASOFAN]

Well, when my uncle came to my barn to ride, his horses always act up, but my two boys were perfect!

I heard thru my aunt that my uncle said (he is a very quite man) that he thought my boys were great and he wished he had such good horses.. And that I was doing great with them..

I was so proud that day because my uncle never says much and never compliments many..

:D

[Laura S]

Last summer when I really started riding my gelding Mario out on the trails around my house just exploring. I was a little worried because I was learning where the trails where, etc. We were riding alone and I am a terrible worry wart sometimes. We were riding around the edge of a grown corn field looking for a trail that would connect us to a bunch of other trails when all of a sudden a flock of about 8 very LARGE turkeys flew up right in front of us (like within 2 feet). It scared the cra!p out of me, I jumped and almost fell out of the saddle! Mario didn't move a muscle. From then on I knew I would always be safe riding that horse and I love him to pieces!

[Cielo]

I have to reply because this post came so quick after a great moment!
I was kicked by a clients mare while we were getting ready to breed her and it put me out of commission for 2 months! It seemed like a lifetime but I know it could have been worse. At first doctors were talking surgery and months of rehabilitation but worst of all no riding or training for at least 3 months. :( After many doctors appointments and physical therapy at home and with the doctor I am walking with no crutches and on the 2 month anniversary I rode my first gelding I got when I was 8, now 16 years have gone by and I felt like I was 8 again riding him. (With the clearance of doctors I can only ride for pleasure no training the babies.) I could not have been more proud of him of the way he behaved and how thankful I am he is my boy. And I dont think I will take riding him especially for granted EVER again. :D

[Pasogirlz]

http://bestsmileys.com/welcome/9.gif

Welcome Cielo. Glad you came out of hiding to tell us about your wonderful horse.

[Brigitte]

Welcome!

[Blameitonbrio]

A couple of years ago, Grayson made it to the NC State Championship 4-H show with Spanky. Spanky was truly a backyard Paso, and I had serious doubts about taking him to this 4-H show. Most of the horses there were well trained show horses. Spanky was a 19-year-old trail horse. I cannot remember the classes, but he placed last or close to last in each. We were very outclassed having had no Paso training experience or knowledge. However, in one class, another Paso (said by the owner to be training for performance) was acting up, and Spanky placed above that horse because of his good manners! I was so proud of Grayson and that little horse. It must have been hard to try and compete against horses and riders who were more specifically trained by Paso trainers. I couldn't have been prouder had they won the blue.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/8994ca04.jpg

[dana]

hey! cielo, welcome and keep on riding! i keep telling hubby it reallys IS a therapy thing! Grin!

blameitonbrio! What a Picture! it should really be on the front of PFHW with that grin on her face!

i have to tell my proudest moment.
if you can imagine the stern german riding master, well, that is where i keep totoa over the winter months. kurt raises Lipizzan's.
he knew totoa for a whole YEAR before i rode with him on the trail. all he ever saw (totoa was an abuse case before the Donoso's got ahold of her) was a bad attitude and ears pinned FLAT to her head.

the first time we went out to ride, Totoa floored him! he was riding a half Lip and 1/2 Arab cross of about 1200lbs.
enter all of 900 pounds of totoa and GAITED no less!

we headed out the driveway in just a headset and did she set the pace! i watched kurt as he took his long legged gelding and set the spurs to him to keep up with us. she was not gaiting yet! (he had not seen it all!)
she did a flat footed walk and walked the legs off this gelding. we got half way around a 14 mile loop and he finally looked at me and said (you would have to know kurt by this point-compiments do not come easy)
"i don't think i have ever seen this mare in a good mood in the year since she has beeen here, but you know what? this mare is a working line and she is never happier than when she is out on the trail"

might of made me puff up a little.

[Jasfino]

My dad and my gelding Jasper.. who I started from the ground up. It was a great feeling... :D



http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y175/Jasfino/dadandjasper027.jpg

[Barbwire]

Amante has made me tearfully proud on so many occasions, I simply cannot narrow it down to one. However, I do know when I was proudest of my breed. It was at The Parade. :D

[pasorider]

First of all, welcome Cielo, where are you in La.?

Well, I was truely proud of my gelding, Sueno del Cielo, a few years ago at the Cross Country Trail ride in Eminence, Mo. We had been out on an organized fast gaited ride and were coming back to camp when a woman on a Spotted Saddle horse stud asked the trail boss if she could go ahead and open her horse up, he said yes and that anyone else that wanted to could go around and head back to camp. Well, I told my husband I wanted to let my horse open up and headed around the trail boss. The woman on the spotted saddle horse and another man and woman on Walking horses had already headed down the road and I let my horse Largo, boy, did we fly!! We passed the 2 Walking horses like they were standing still, then overtook the stud who started running when we went by and still couldn't keep up. When I got to the gate and stopped to wait for my husband the woman on the stud stopped and said " What the He$$ is that? I couldn't even see his legs when you flew by!!" It was so much fun to show off like that!

Also, yesterday at the campground, I was walking back to the turnout where my mare and foal were, when I noticed one of the girls from the office in a golf cart giving some visitors a tour of the camp. The people were petting my foal, Viseaux and they said he was on the other side of the field when they pulled up, came running as fast as he could when he saw them, slid to a stop in front of the fence and let them pet and rub on him till they had to go. They were so impressed, getting to pet a baby and the fact that he came running when he saw them pull up. He is so friendly, and also so full of himself. There is a woman that camps here that said she HAS to get a Paso Fino. She has been watching the other horses out here, 55 of them to be exact, mostly QH's, and she says that my Pasos just have that look at me attitude and so outclass the others that she has to have one.

[baileyholc]

Welcome to the board Tinomino & Cielo we are glad to have you.

As for my proudest moment. I would have to say, and I don't own my paso yet, is when Boyd posts the up dates on Noche Bueno. Oh, forgot to say, I am going to get to ride Noche this weekend. I can't wait. :razz:

[Edurne]

Welcome Cielo.

Yesterday I guess I was very proud of Primero when I was told of compliments paid to him by the trainer/jockey I was babysitting during "training". He said that "that little guy is really game.... he just keeps on going". another trainer who was at the farm to look at the 2yr olds, saw him and did not believe he was 20 years old.

I was proud because it has taken three years to start getting compliments from a crowd that "did not like him" when they met their first gaited pony.

[Cielo]

:notworthy Thanks for the warm welcome! :oops:

Pasorider I am in Norwood, LA near Clinton. Not too far from Independence! I am roughly 45mins N of Baton Rouge and about 1.5 hours from Covington.

[GeorgeGuns]

Welcome Cielo!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At a Carlos Tobon Clinic April 2002.

I took Bri up there because whilehis groundwork was going well, I knew we would need some support for the first ride. That Friday evening I had my turn to tell my story (Carlos hears from everyone the night before) When I explained that Bri had dumped a big guy, and seemed to have gotten into the habit of scaring his previous previous owner, Carlos announced cheerfully that we would go first. Oh joy, and we got some ribbing for that.

Saturday: everyone expected a rodeo, including me. Carlos worked with Bri for a few minutes, then turned to me and said "Okay, get on please" I am told the look on my face was "prescious" 8-) Bri was perfect. We rode on lunge for a few minutes and then Carlos go on him, tried out a few things, and told me that he believed Bri had a great start and remembers a lot of it well.

Sunday: we worked in the round pen, around the pole (gawd I was a clutz), then I got on him. No lunge this time. I got to feel that smooth little gait of his... Someone announced "hey look, Coreen got her Paso Grin!" and someone else hollered "And BRI is SMILING TOO!!!" I have a photo of that ride, but my scanner is broken.

and now I have to type between big sobs...

Forward to the next biggie: Bri goes down with his illness last summer. As ill as he was, even worse with the relapse, not knowing where his feet or legs even were... He knew the vets were there to help him, and for them he very carefully took one little step at a time to get into a safer area (away from the wall in case he fell), he stood as best he could for his neuro exam, (you have to understand he hates vets, or did) and too his medecine like a good boy. During the relapse which was so horible, he refused to stay down if he fell, didn't cave in to the Valium he was given (he was supposed to be pretty well immobilized and down with me holding his head up, yeah right) to help keep him still for his IV medication. Vets told me that with the severity of his symptoms, a lesser horse would have given up, they could easily see the fight in my laddie.

He still has his days, and I don't know if he will ever be fully recovered, I don't know if he will be able to get up on a mare, doubt if he will ever get ridden, but he still rules here, its his farm.

Moochie Man, I love you so. No horse will ever make me as proud as you have with your very heart.

[ErinC]

wish I could think of just one, but standing here ,,,I think of so so so many.... and a big smile comes over my face!
with 3 here, I have a proud moment every day, I think my horses are the best horses in the world!

I love them to death.

[Minouri]

I know I've shared my proudest moment on this board before. During a trail ride with a bunch of dressage friends (all on huge horses) a horse broke loose and headed across a field toward the road. I jumped on Scooter before fully tacking up (saddle but only halter with lead line on one side) and headed across the field after the horse. I imagined turning and blocking the horse from making it to the road...but halfway there in a full gallop I lost confidence that I could even stop Scooter....

A true testiment to how Pasos are intelligent animals....he ran to the gate and stopped dead. Maybe he had some penning in his history....I don't know. But we turned that big horse back toward the field where it ran itself around till it just started munching grass.

I like to think that on that day he knew what I wanted and we shared a common goal. Instead of "riding" him.....we were partners that day.

I also enjoyed the praise everyone gave him later. I tried not to look too shocked that he did it....lol We used to get ribbed often for his size (surrounded by all of those warmbloods)...but no one teased us after that day.

[Red Ryder]

At the Nashville Christmas parade when Pooh, with no que from me, lowered his head into the little girls lap so she could pet him.

[cowboy ed]

i guess my most proud paso fino moment took place one summer a few years back when we were doing the buffalo river trail ride in tennessee. its a great ride, btw. one of those week long pay one price, hookups for the trailers, stalls for the horses, guided rides or ride on your own, three meals in the chow hall, music and dancing every night.

well, anyway, i met a guy named mike, from mississippi, who rode the trails in our group a lot. he said he had never ridden a paso fino, but he always wanted to. i was riding my gelding starbuck. i think starbuck was about 7 years old at the time. he is one of those horses that can do just about anything you want to do. trail riding, competitive trail, endurance, speed events, chase cows, pull a buggy, you name it, he can do it. oh, did i mention? i did shows with him too! and parades.

i told mike that he could ride starbuck when we got back to camp. when he got on him, mike asked me, "ok, what do i need to do so he will do that fancy step?" how do i make him turn? how do i make him stop? or go faster?"
i just grinned and said,"you know how to ride a horse, so just sit there. starbuck will do that "fancy step" on his own. as for turning, think about what you want him to do, and he will do it. he will feel your weight shift, and he will go that way. if you want him to stop, just relax and ease back on the rein. if you want to go faster, just squeeze a little bit with your legs and he will do it.

he rode starbuck around for about 20 minutes, and came back with that big, silly grin on his face. he said, "mister, i have ridden just about every kind of horse you can find in the southeast. walking horses, racking horses, rocky mountain, kentucky mountain, quarterhorses, big horses, little horses, you name it. this is the finest horse i have ever been on in my life! he did everything you said he would! you could name your price for a horse like this!"

[Brigitte]

he rode starbuck around for about 20 minutes, and came back with that big, silly grin on his face. he said, "mister, i have ridden just about every kind of horse you can find in the southeast. walking horses, racking horses, rocky mountain, kentucky mountain, quarterhorses, big horses, little horses, you name it. this is the finest horse i have ever been on in my life! he did everything you said he would! you could name your price for a horse like this!"

gotta love those pasos :D

[Minouri]

I really enjoyed reading these posts :)