The
Paso Fino - the original mount of the
Spanish Conquistadors has proud ties to a glorious past and the prospect of an even
greater future. The
Paso Fino is the
oldest true
native breed of
horse in the
Western Hemisphere.
Nearly 500 years ago, on his second voyage from Spain, Columbus brought a select group of mares and stallions from the provinces of
Andalusia and Cordela and settled them at Santa Domingo. These horses were a mixture of Barb, Andalusian and Spanish Jennet.
The Spanish Jennet not only possessed an extremely comfortable saddle gait, but was able to pass the gait on to its offspring. The result of the blending of these horses was to become known as the Paso Fino breed - Los Caballos de Paso Fino (the horse with the fine step).
They became the foundation stock for remount stations of the Conquistadors. As Spanish settlers came to the New World, they brought more Spanish horses. During the nearly 500 years that Paso horses have been selectively bred and perfected in the Western Hemisphere, they have been called upon to perform a diverse role, first in the conquest of and then in the exploration and development of the
Americas.
I run my own paso fino site with it's own articles but felt that the article at pasofinos.com was very well written and describes my feeling towards these horses as well as many others.