The Paso Fino is a naturally gaited light horse breed dating back to horses imported to the Caribbean from Spain. Pasos are prized for their smooth, natural, four-beat, lateral ambling gait; they are used in many disciplines, but are especially popular for trail riding. In the United States two main groups of horses are popularly called "Paso Fino": One, also known as the Paso Fino Puro Puertorriqueño, originated in Puerto Rico. The other, often called the Colombian Paso Fino or Colombian Criollo Horse, developed in Colombia. Though from similar Spanish ancestors, the two groups developed independently of one another in their home nations.
History
The Paso Fino name means 'fine step'. The Paso Fino is a blend of the Barb, Spanish Jennet, and Andalusian horse and was bred by Spanish land owners in Puerto Rico and Colombia to be used in the plantations because of their endurance and comfortable ride. All Pasos share their heritage with the Peruvian Paso, the American Mustangs, and other descendants of Colonial Spanish Horses. Puerto Rican and Colombian horses, as well as Paso Finos from Cuba and other tropical countries, have been interbred frequently in the United States to produce the modern American Paso Fino show horse.
On the second voyage of Christopher Columbus from Spain to the Americas in 1493, he disembarked with his soldiers, 20 horses and 5 mares on the island of Borinquen at the bay of Aguada (today Añasco), and gave the region the name San Juan Bautista. Soon after, in May 1509, the first governor of the island, Juan Ponce de León, brought horses to Puerto Rico from his hacienda, El Higuey, located on the neighboring island of La Española (now Hispaniola).
Puerto Rican Paso Fino
The Puerto Rican Paso Fino was developed on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico over a 500-year colonial period. Island geography and the desires of a people for hardy, sure-footed, comfortable horses led to the independent development of the breed. Frenchman Andres Pedro Ledru, in a notation about horse races held on 17 July 1797, wrote that the speed of these horses was admirable, "they have no trot or gallop, but a type of pace (Andadura). A gait so precipitated that the eye can't follow the movement of the legs." As early as 1849, Paso Fino competitions were held in Puerto Rico, with prizes for winners, for the purpose of improving local horses. In 1882 the first racetrack was built, and in every race meet, there were Paso Fino and Andadura categories.
According to a 2022 study, the Puerto Rican Paso Fino originated from the local Criollo horses that were a product of many years of admixture between different Iberian horse breeds originally brought to the island by the Spanish settlers, with some genetic similarities to the Caspian horse of Iran; the Tuva horse of Russia; and the New Forest Pony of the United Kingdom, the last one possibly indicating Narragansett Pacer influence. These early Paso Fino horses carried with them a "gait-keeper" mutation that first increased in the Puerto Rican Criollo population, as they were bred for centuries for the smooth ride, long before the Paso Fino breed was established on the island. In fact, the Criollo horses in Puerto Rico still carry a genomic signature of selection around the "gait-keeper" locus today. Consequently, the Paso Finos, where the mutation is present at 100%, must have originated as a local breed from the population of local non-purebred horses on this island, where they were later selected for other characteristics to improve gait and appearance.
According to Ramirez de Arellano, when the United States invaded Puerto Rico in 1898, the Paso Fino played a first-order role in transportation and agricultural work. Manchado, a notable horse of the time owned by Don Nicolás Quiñones Cabezudo of Caguas, was said to be "so fine that it gaited at liberty without its rider in the town square when asked".
In 1927 the most influential sire in the modern Puerto Rican Paso Fino breed, Dulce Sueño, was born in Guayama. In 1943, the Federation of the Sport of Paso Fino Horses of Puerto Rico and a breed registry were established. Copita Don Q, a Dulce Sueño grandson, was the winner of the first annual Federation contest in 1943. In an agricultural almanac published in 1947, Gustavo A Ramirez de Arellano wrote, "at present the descendants of the famous stallion 'Dulce Sueño' are the ones who have most obtained titles and trophies from the association of owners of saddle horses."