Until the early Eighteenth Century, when shock-absorbing springs for carriages were invented and stone-paved roads to drive the carriages on were built, anyone who wished to travel had to sit on a horse's back. In England, Europe and Scandinavia, the trotters were dismissed as "bone-shakers", fit only for packwork and for servants to ride. The desired riding horses was the "palfrey", any gentle mare or gelding which could perform one of the lateral gaits. We do not know exactly which of the gaits these horses performed, since any lateral gait was referred to as "ambling", but most likely the individual palfreys performed each of them at one time or another.

During the Middle ages, the palfreys bred in Spain were considered the finest and most beautiful in the world. They were called Spanish Jennets and when Spanish nobelmen first settled in South America and the Caribbean Islands, they took many of these prized horses with them. Today, the descendents of those early Spanish Jennets are known as Paso Finos and Peruvian Pasos.

The Paso Fino is widely bred in Puerto Rico, Columbia and the United States. ALthough some outside blood was occasionally added- usually Arabian, Morgan or American Saddlebred- to gain size and substance, the modern Paso Fino is a close representation of the old Spanish Jennet and still can be thought of as one of the world's most coveted palfreys.

Of the gaited breeds in the world today, one of the oldest is the Icelandic Horse. When the Vikings settled Iceland in the Ninth Century, they brought with them ambling horses from Britain and created their own sturdy type of palfrey which could stand up to extreme cold, rugged terrain and hard work. The Icelandic Horse was, and still is, truly five-gaited; it is shown at the flat walk, trot, canter and stepping pace (tolt); raced under saddle at the pace (flugskeid, or flying pace) and some can perform the rack (also called the tolt). This island nation has been closed to outside horses for nearly 1000 years, and so today's Icelandic Horses are still much like those of the Viking days.

The palfreys and Jennets of the Old World largely disappeared with the advent of good carriages and roads. The carriages were more comfortable for travel, and powerful, showy trotters were preferred over the small ambling palfreys for work in harness. Fortunately a number of gentle gaited horses were taken to North America by the early English colonists, who had need of good riding horses in a roadless frontier land. The palfrey of New England became known as the Narragansett Pacer and was used for both riding and driving. The Narragansett Pacer is the ancestor of the Tennessee Walker and American Saddlebred.

Much confusion always has existed about how to define and judge the lateral gaits. The names tend to be used loosely and interchangeably, because it is difficult to see exactly what a horse is doing with each foot as he steps along. Each gait will, of course, have a different look to it, depending upon the amount of speed, the amount of collection, the length of stride, the breed of horse, and the skill of the horse performing it, but it is only the specific pattern of footfalls which defines a gait, not the general appearance of the horse in motion or the subjective opinion of the observer.

Adding to the confusion are show ring trends and fashions. A quieter horse with precise and correct gaits is going to be overshadowed by a fast, exciting, wild-going horse that thrills the crowd and wins the class. Naturally it is the crowd-pleaser that will become the model for the breed and be studied on slow-motion tapes-even though he may well be slurring and hopping his way through his gaits and setting a misleading example for those those try to emulate him.

The RUNNING WALK of the Tennessee Walking Horse is a broken pace characterized by overstride and accompanied by a deep head nod. Overstride means that the hind hoof is placed on the ground in front of the print left by the fore on the same side. The pattern in which the hooves are set down is near hind, near fore, off hind, and off fore. Various books put maximum overstride at 18" inches and 24".

The RACK is to the broken pace what the racing gallop is to the canter. It is performed at great speed with only one foot on the ground at any one time, which is why it is sometimes called the SINGLEFOOT. There is a complete moment of suspension-all four feet are off the ground-between each footfall. The true rack is spectacular, but it is tiring for the horse and rarely seen. Upon close examination, it can be seen that most racking horses are actually performing a fast stepping pace.

The TOLT of the Icelandic horse is an evenly-spaced four-beat lateral gait. The horse tends to left the front legs very high. The Icelandic also does the PACE which is a two-beat gait where front and hind legs on the same side are moving together. This is a powerful gait where the horse moves at great speed with all feet off the ground momentarily. Icelandics are raced at the the pace in competition.

The PASO LLANO is an evenly spaced lateral gait performed by the Peruvian Paso. It is performed with "termino". Termino is a rolling of the front limbs to the outside during extension. Termino originate in the shoulders and be associated with a free fluid movement of the shoulders and be executed with good extension. The SOBREANDANDO is also performed by the Peruvian Paso. It is also a four-beat lateral gait but not evenly spaced. It is closer to the pace and generally faster than the paso llano.

The FOXTROT of the Missouri Foxtrotter is a four beat diagonal gait. The sequence of footfalls is right hind, left front, left hind, right front. It is not evenly spaced.

PASO FINO is an evenly-spaced four beat lateral gait executed with full collection and at slow speed in the show ring. It is performed mainly for show. The hosrses are ridden over the "fino strip", plywood set into the ground, so the judges can listen for absolute regularity of footfall which would be hard to detect visually.

PASO CORTO is an evenly-spaced for beat lateral gait of the Paso Fino that is performed with mild natural collection and a medium speed.

PASO LARGO is the speed gait of the Paso Fino. It is still a four-beat evenly spaced lateral gait but performed with extension. All of the above Paso Fino gaits are equal in smoothness.

There are two diagonally paired four-beat gaits associated with the Paso Fino, the TROCHA and the PASITROTE. They differ from each other in that the Pasitrote is executed with less speed of footfall and a more relaxed style of execution - it is an energy conserving gait. All Paso Finos that can execute an evenly-spaced gait are likely to do the Pasitrote when tired, when going on a relaxed rein over long distances, when traveling in deep footing or when learning to go to ground in the process of learning to go on the bit. Columbian Trocha horses are not able to execute the isochronal (occuring at equal intervals of time) Paso gaits. Both the Trocha and the Pasitrote are more smooth than the trot.

What is it about the uneven cadence (not isochronal) of the Trocha and Pasitrote that causes the ride to be less smooth? It is a function of the unequal time on the lateral and diagonal bipedal supports. The time interals between the striking of the diagonal hooves are preceptibly shorter than the time intervals between the striking of the lateral hooves. As a result, the horse spends more time on the diagonal supports than on the lateral supports. And here we get closer to finding the secret of why this ride is less smooth. During each time of diagonal bipedal support, there are moments during which both non-supporting diagonal legs are simultaneously rising and then falling. They are not alsays moving in identically opposed vertical directions. This results in the horse's center of gravity shifting up and down and the rider being propelled out of the saddle at instances when both hooves are rising simultaneously.

In order for a gait to be really smooth the duration of time spent on the lateral bipedal supports (two feet on the same side) is perceptibly equal to the time spent on the diagonal bipedal supports. The other requirement is that when the horse is on either its lateral or diagonal bipedal supports, the two non-supporting hooves are moving in identically oppossed directions. For each hoof that is lowering to strike the ground, there is a hoof that is simultaneously rising off the ground. As the hoof that is rising reaches its highest point, the hoof that is falling has struck the ground. This ensures that the center if gravity of the horse is not rising or falling and that therefore the rider is not being propelled up and out of the saddle and falling back into it.

The remarkable smoothness of the evenly-spaced lateral gait remains at any and all forward speeds. The same cannot be said of the diagonally-paired four-beat gaits or the laterally-paired four-beat gaits. These non-isochronal gaits become more bumpy as the horse's stride is lengthened. The absolutely even footfall and the non-supporting hooves moving in identically opposed vertical directions is whatgives the Paso's gait unequaled smoothness at all speeds.

The Paso Fino can also do an IMPERFECT PACE or STEPPING PACE which is an unevenly-spaced four-beat lateral gait. If you see a Paso Fino performing and imperfect pace, which generally is the Paso's defense against an unreasonable demand made by the rider, you may find that the unreasonable demand is that the horse is being forced into an artificial headset and neck carriage by the rider. Naturally achieved collection is important in creating a smooth perfect gait. This is prbably one reason Paso Finos are ridden and trained in a natural manner without the use of devices such as draw reins or martingales.