# Please critique this Paso Fino



## SunnyDraco

I am very new to the forum, and I have been trying to help a family friend sell her Paso Fino gelding for quite a while. The owner doesn't know a lot about Paso Finos, she has been learning what people have told her over the last seven or eight years she has owned him. Now her daughter that had gotten her to buy the gelding in the first place (worked at the horse rescue they bought him from) is now married, has little kids of her own, and moved out of state.

I know that the owner knows NOTHING at all about conformation of any breed of horse. Mine knowledge of basic conformation is pretty much limited to arabs and quarter horses.

I am really hoping that I can get some helpful critique here on her gelding's conformation. 

He was born April 1998, and is a purebred registered Paso Fino. I am not sure exactly when the pictures were taken, but I would guess that they were from the summer of 2010.














































His back just seems odd to me, but as I have said, I know so little about the Paso Fino breed. That may be how their back should look, but then again...:?

But, oh how I do wish I would be given better pictures than these when I am trying to help someone sell a horse (writing up the ad after I pull out all the details about the horse I can from their owner). I guess that is what happens when I don't do it myself, not that I get a sinlge penny for doing it though... LOL!

If you can let me know of any major conformational faults or something that is wrong for his build as a Paso Fino, please let me know


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## Pyrrhic

It's hard, if not impossible to critique conformation without him standing square on level ground. He looks a nice sort, but lacking muscle and top line which make him look ewe necked and hollow backed.


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## SunnyDraco

Pyrrhic said:


> It's hard, if not impossible to critique conformation without him standing square on level ground. He looks a nice sort, but lacking muscle and top line which make him look ewe necked and hollow backed.


What kind of work would be required to get him more filled out?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Pyrrhic

I'm guessing he's not in much work?

I would start riding him and encouraging him to stretch long and low which will stretch his back muscles. Make sure he is warmed up and ask him for large, sweeping figures of eight until he is relaxed and softened. Then ask for a collection, encouraging him forward into the bridle but also containing the energy and hold for a couple of strides then extend back into the long and low position.

You need to get him working from his hindquarters and become more balanced, which concentric circles, figures of eight, serpentines, lateral work shoulder in, etc will all help with.

When he is working well is those exercises, introduce pole work and then raised pole work. There are so, so many exercises you can do with poles. Again, make sure he is stretching long and low on a contact. 

Also make sure that he is being fed appropriately to help with muscle development.


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## tinyliny

He looks very typical of Paso Finos that I have seen. I bet he's an easy keeper, right? He is a bit chubby, but that is the way they often are. His back is flat and does lack muscle but the flat back is normal. Since they gait, they will tend to utilize their neck a lot more than non gaited breeds and their back a bit less (it tends to stay more rigid). Working up and down hills and over trot poles and cavaletti will help to build the topline. Having them stretch down , if possible, is helpful , too, but once you start gaiting, they cannot do that.

The only conformational fault I can see is that the neck is a bit sunk down in it's under part. I mean, where it leaves the shoulders, it bulges downward a tiny bit. This probably is the curve of the neck bones themselve (the neck is shaped like a snake, kind of, with two "C" curves and this one bulges out/downward a bit. )

The face if very pretty and though he seems a bit light of bone, he looks nicely built to me.


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## SunnyDraco

Yes, he is an easy keeper. His owner rides him a couple times a week if the weather is nice, almost always in an arena. I doubt that she knows how to really to get him to tuck his neck, push him into the bit, collect, or prevent him from gaiting. 

And every gaited horse I have seen just seemed to have a completely different build and structure in comparison to non-gaited horses.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## blue eyed pony

Is it just me or is anyone else seeing over at the knee, sickle hocked, large in the head, long cannons and roach backed, AS WELL as the incorrectly muscled neck?

I am not a gaited horse person so I am judging this horse purely on what is considered correct for MOST breeds of that build.


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## Cacowgirl

I have a Paso Fino-they are not going to look like a QH! The whole point to having a gaited horse is to enjoy their gait, ,but that might just be my opinion,& I'm not trying to tell anyone else how to ride their horse. Hope the right buyer comes along & can appreciate him for what he is.


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## SunnyDraco

blue eyed pony said:


> Is it just me or is anyone else seeing over at the knee, sickle hocked, large in the head, long cannons and roach backed, AS WELL as the incorrectly muscled neck?
> 
> I am not a gaited horse person so I am judging this horse purely on what is considered correct for MOST breeds of that build.



I am not a gaited horse person either, but I have seen a few gaited horses, and their body structure is quite different from non gaited horses. I also know that they make saddles especially for the gaited breeds. Although I don't know if this is for fitting a typical back found on gaited horses or for some other reason. Met a young Paso Fino about a year ago that had a large lump on her spine (about where the back of a saddle would sit) as well as having a roach back. Although the lump was more likely an injury caused from being ridden in an average western saddle.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Cacowgirl

My little mare has a short back, so I only ride her in my Aussie Saddle, & hse does great w/that. It does look like the OP's pictures show that the saddle may be a bit too long for him.


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## tinyliny

this is an image of a Paso taken from the web. This one is conformed better, but you can still see some of the breed specific characteristics.


Don't know why that copied in so huge! Sorry.


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## SunnyDraco

tinyliny said:


> this is an image of a Paso taken from the web. This one is conformed better, but you can still see some of the breed specific characteristics.
> 
> 
> Don't know why that copied in so huge! Sorry.


Not sure that is actually better, it has some weird lumps that disrupt a smooth line (a sudden bulge on the top of the neck and a strange looking dip right above the tail). Is it a Paso Fino or a Peruvian Paso? They are completely different breeds with their own very different characteristics.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Pyrrhic

The bump at its' tail is a muscle build-up from using a crupper too much, not a conformational issue.


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## equiniphile

I'd love to see more pictures of him squared up. My Paso could pass for a QH, but he still has the defining characteristics of the Paso Fino. Is it possible you can take a picture of him from the side?


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## SunnyDraco

Pyrrhic said:


> The bump at its' tail is a muscle build-up from using a crupper too much, not a conformational issue.


I have used cruppers before, and I can only imagine that kind of rump shape being caused by seriously tight cruppers that pull the tail itself up. Causing permanent damage to the horse. The actual purpose of a crupper is to prevent the saddle from sliding forward, just like a chest collar's purpose is to keep the saddle from sliding back. Not super loose, but not tight fitting either. Use of tack shouldn't cause deformities, only the improperly fitting and used ones do.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## SunnyDraco

equiniphile said:


> I'd love to see more pictures of him squared up. My Paso could pass for a QH, but he still has the defining characteristics of the Paso Fino. Is it possible you can take a picture of him from the side?


Your boy is cute 
I can ask his owner if she could take some more pictures. I really wish that I could just fly out to Tennessee I do it myself, LOL! But, I may end up trying to explain squaring up, on level ground, with the camera directly centered and such all while talking on the phone. Could lead to some interesting results. Have yet to get my mom to do it right and she has owned horses almost her entire life, and was her school photographer back in the day 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Pyrrhic

SunnyDraco said:


> I have used cruppers before, and I can only imagine that kind of rump shape being caused by seriously tight cruppers that pull the tail itself up. Causing permanent damage to the horse. The actual purpose of a crupper is to prevent the saddle from sliding forward, just like a chest collar's purpose is to keep the saddle from sliding back. Not super loose, but not tight fitting either. Use of tack shouldn't cause deformities, only the improperly fitting and used ones do.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I realise that a crupper used correctly is fine, but that lump on the horse is made from a crupper. I have seen two horses in the UK with the exact same thing, and is was badly used cruppers over a long period of time.
One that I saw was much word than the one above, very shocking.


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## Casey02

dont mean to be mean, but are you *not* riding that horse with a saddle pad????


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## SunnyDraco

Casey02 said:


> dont mean to be mean, but are you *not* riding that horse with a saddle pad????


Not my horse, not my tack. I really don't know any more about his tack they use other than he bit reins bit a snaffle bit. LOL! It could be a bareback pad or a gaited saddle (never actually seen one in person, but I know they exist) for all know. Never seen the horse in person, he belongs to a friend of my mom's (they have been friends for longer than I have lived) and I live across the country. So you can say all the "mean" things you want and I will just laugh because the owner has only the actual horse ownership experience of the time she has owned her Paso Fino. LOL! Which is why she also doesn't ride well, I don't think she has ever received proper riding lessons 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Casey02

i wasnt trying to be mean at all! I just was a little worried for the horse is all. Even if it is a gaited saddle you still use a saddle pad. It is deffinalty a saddle not a bareback pad


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## Horsegears

Fairly typical of breed. They naturally have a leaner muscle type that is endurance oriented so don't expect muscle growth like a Quarter Horse. Slightly upright blade. The rear cannons do appeart to be a little off line although that may be the surface.


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