HISTORY OF THE PASO FINO HORSE   

From the Spanish provinces of Cordela and Andalusia, Columbus gathered twenty stallions and five brood mares for his second voyage to the New World.  This was seven hundred years after the Moors invaded Spain bringing Arabian Horses and many Barbs that we credit as more than a little responsible for the history of their masters. These horses of the conquerors, crossed with native stock, including the proud Andalusian breed that dated back to the Middle Ages, produced the excellent Spanish horses that influenced European breeds from the famed Lippizan to the English Thoroughbred.  One of the main strains to develop was the Spanish Jennet, which was noted for its comfortable saddle gait and the ability to pass this gait on to its offspring. These were the horses that accompanied Columbus on his journey.

Surviving almost unbelievably difficult shipping conditions, the horses of Columbus’ voyage of 1493 were taken to Santa Domingo - now the Dominican Republic - where they became the foundation stock of remount stations for the Conquistadors.  The progeny of these hardy animals spread through the Caribbean as the Spanish took more and more territory.  Horses were taken to Puerto Rico by Martin de Salazar in 1509: Diego de Velasquez invaded Cuba with eight horses and mares in 1511: 1514 saw horses at the Isthmus and in 1518 Cortez took seventeen, including one foal born aboard ship, to Mexico.  By 1550 many large horse-raising centers were established throughout the Caribbean.

Different types of horses began to emerge.  The blood of the Spanish Jennet proved strong indeed, and in several regions, horses with smooth riding gaits became prized breeding animals. Even though through the years other breeds have been introduced to the original breeding programs, mainly in attempts to increase the size, their influence has been negligible, and many modern individuals strongly resemble their ancient prototypes.  They belong to a breed known by the name of its natural gait - Paso Fino, the horse with the Fine Step.

In the various areas where the paso gait was prized, slightly different forms of the gait gained preference.  In Colombia, the Paso horses were used on large ranches over rugged terrain and both speed and working ability were desired in addition to comfort and style.  In Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, the gait preferred by the country people was a loose reined, relaxed sobre paso, and by the sporting types: a fast paso largo. In all countries, owners of large plantations kept strings of stallions allowed to do only the very collected form of the gait, referred today as the Paso Fino.