Paso Fino Origins
The Paso Fino is a horse with a proud heritage. With breed origins in the Spanish Barb, the Andalusian, and the (now extinct) Spanish Jennet, los caballo de paso fino means the horse with the fine step. Paso Finos move with a style and elegance that captures everyone’s attention. Brought to the Americas by Christopher Columbus over 500 years ago, Paso Finos are among the ancestors of the noble American wild mustangs.
The Paso Fino Difference
All Paso Fino horses naturally gait, unlike other breeds that need to be taught to gait. All horses will tend to break gait and do whatever is easier at the moment. Riders must learn to balance themselves and the horse, and learn to put the horse in the proper collected form to put them in the gait and maintain the gait over distance.
All our horses perform the Paso gait along the fino-corto-largo spectrum, and are smooth in the walk, trot, and canter. This translates into an especially smooth ride on the mountain trails we ride and train on.
Why does the Paso Fino make such a great trail horse?
Paso Finos are known for their brio; their great spirit. They are gentle on the ground, but full of energy, drive, and stamina. The breed standard calls for a horse that is extremely willing, enjoys human companionship, and strives to please. Already known for being spirited and responsive under tack, sensible and gentle at hand, our training regimen at the Smooth Paso Fino Ranch takes these natural traits and turns each horse into an ideal trail companion. We follow Clinton Anderson’s Downunder horsemanship techniques to accentuate the horses’ natural sensitivity to command, and to desensitize them to extraneous stimuli. You don’t want an oversensitive horse that spooks at every little thing and dumps you off a cliff! But neither do you want a plodding, dull-witted trail horse, boring to ride and desensitized to all but the roughest hand. Our Paso Finos are trained to take their smooth, balanced gait onto the challenging mountain trails of Colorado. Our horses are alert and responsive, and always fun to ride.
Our Horses
But why are your horses so expensive?
Why spend $10,000 on a trail horse? Well. As both Garrett and Natalie can tell you from decades of experience in Emergency Room medicine (Garrett’s ‘other’ job title is MD, Natalie is a registered ER nurse), some of the most expensive ER visits are trauma visits - and unfortunately plenty of those traumas are caused by horses. A ‘traditionally’ trained horse is often left with ‘holes’ in their training. Maybe they’ve been allowed to develop a bad habit or two. We’ve all heard doting horse owners say “she’s just got issues”, to refer to undesirable behaviors. Maybe she loads or unloads from the trailer by balking, then bolting. Maybe he shies from yellow plastic bags. Whatever that bad habit is, it’s from a hole in the horse’s training, and that hole can have devastating consequences for the rider. Our horses don’t have holes, and therefore won’t cost you a literal arm or leg, or a $50,000 ER bill. You do the math.
Trained using Clinton Anderson’s Downunder horsemanship techniques, our horses are trail-ready and a pleasure to ride in any condition.
Intrigued? Contact us for questions, and to find out what horses are available now!