Paso Fino Afficianados Gather For Seasonal Celebration Of The Breed Noted for stamina, smooth gait and beauty In a roomy stable with an enclosed arena at Shady Creek Ranch, just north of Brunswick, Tennessee, fans of “Los Caballos de Paso Fino" n the horses with the fine walk n gathered to celebrate both the Christmas season and the breed they all love. Shady Creek owners Norman and Debbie Timbs hosted more than 60 guests, including officers and members of the Tennessee Valley Paso Fino Horse Association, a division of the national Paso Fino Horse Association, Inc., at the December 9 event. Norman Timbs is the current president of the organization. After filling their plates at an expansive, outdoor buffet (it was a fairly mild, sunny afternoon in the Mid-South), guests could choose between browsing through Paso Fino tack and supplies being displayed by Doug Ford’s Casa Dosa Tack or heading inside for an afternoon of camaraderie, door prize drawings, music, horseshoe throwing and, most importantly, a nearly-continual demonstration of the Paso Fino provided by David Alvarez, trainer at Shady Creek Ranch, and Paso Fino breeder and trainer Beth Uelsmann, of El Tomaria Farms in Benton, Missouri. Shady Creek Ranch is a full-service facility, offering breeding and shipped semen, horse and rider training, as well as sales of the “fine stepping” horses. The Paso Fino is billed as the “the world’s smoothest riding equine” because of its unique, evenly-spaced four-beat lateral gait, in which each foot contacts the ground independently at precise intervals, creating a rapid, unbroken rhythm. The horses range from 13 to 15.2 hands with 13.3 to 14.2 being typical, and weigh from 700 to 1100 pounds. They may not reach full size until the fifth year, and come in all the equine colors, either with or without white markings. Mary Beth Roland, secretary of the TVPFHA, said the horses perform admirable in a number of disciplines. “We trail ride our show horses. Some people work cattle with them. They’re good at team penning, good barrel racers, and real good at working with cattle. They’re just a great all around horse. They are really well-balanced, more centered...Because of their smooth gait, they make good endurance horses...They’re highly spirited but there’s no meanness; they’re very people-loving.” For those not familiar with the breed, a necessary piece of equipment at any Paso Fino arena is the “fino board,” a concrete or plywood strip in the center of the ring which permits observers to hear the cadence of the horse with remarkable clarity. Shady Creek has two arenas, indoor and outdoor, and each has the sounding board. The facility, an expansion of Timbs’ home/ranch a couple of miles away, consists of twenty acres with indoor stabling for some 50 animals. Shady Creek has four major breeding stallions, one of which is a son of Cappucino, the number one Paso Fino stallion in the world. Timbs says his stallion is one of the top ten horses sired by Cappucino, and is a two-time national champion. He says examining the bloodline of a breeding mare is critical to determining which stallion she should be bred to, and that what type of offspring a person wants is also a factor. “You want a high-strung horse or do you want a laid-back trail horse? You look at that and the background to determine the best horse for that mare.” Watching fellow breeder and trainer Beth Uelsmann work a horse in Shady Creek’s outdoor arena, Timbs explains that there are three gaits common to the breed: the “Fino,” which uses extremely rapid but short steps, resulting in very slow forward speed; the “Corto,” with its moderate forward speed and medium stride; and “Largo,” which uses the longest stride, and varies in forward speed depending on the animal’s natural stride and cadence. He also notes there are three “styles,” as well: a pleasure horse, a performance horse, and a “fino” horse. “The fino horse takes about three hundred steps across that board.” The Paso Fino's history in the western hemisphere began around 1500 A.D. ago, when Spanish Conquistadors bred Andalusians, Spanish Barbs from North Africa, and Spanish Jennets (now extinct as a breed)." The new breed, noted for its stamina, smooth gait and beauty, gained widespread popularity in Puerto Rico, Colombia, and later, in many other Latin American countries. They are believed to have arrived in North America when Spanish soldiers journeyed here. The American mustang still bears traces of those Spanish horses, and the Nez Perce Indian tribe are thought to have mixed some of the stock into the well-known Appaloosa. But the Paso Fino really gained popularity in North America after WWII, when American servicemen, who had been stationed in Puerto Rico during the war, began importing them from the island in the mid-1940s. In the 1960’s, importers began bringing them in large numbers from Colombia. In the Mid South, Paso Finos have increased to the point where they are one the groups with the largest representation at the annual Tennessee Horse Council’s Volunteer Horse Fair, held each March at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. The Tennessee Valley Paso Fino Horse Association adopted its charter in May, 1983, and held its first show at MTSU in 1984. Their next show, an annual event, is scheduled for April 20-22, 2007 at the Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, with free admission for spectators. The organization holds another annual show in late August, which also takes place at Murfreesboro. For more information about Shady Creek Ranch, call Norman Timbs at 901-377-1430 or 901-828-3619. For more information on Paso Finos, visit the Tennessee Valley Paso Fino Horse Association’s web site at www.tvpfha.com, or the Paso Fino Horse Association’s site at www.pfha.org.