Just How Ancient is the Peruvian Paso Breed?

We know from reading Dr. Deb Bennett’s seminal work “Conquerors, The Roots of New World Horsemanship” that the first horses were brought to Peru in 1531 AD by Francisco Pizarro and Hernando De Soto during the Spanish conquest of Peru. Those first horses were brought from Spanish stud farms in Panama and Nicaragua. The early Peruvian horses were imported primarily from the Province of Andalusia and were primarily of Andalusian, Spanish Jennet and African Barb blood lines. The horses thrived in Peru and over the centuries their breeders have been careful to preserve their inherent qualities, especially their ambling gait.

Almost five hundred years is a pretty old breed. However, horses have been domesticated much longer than that. In May of this year Becky and I traveled to Greece to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. There we visited Olympia, the site of the first Olympic Games held in 776 BC. In fact those games were held continuously every four years at Olympia for over 1000 years. The games there were ended in 393 AD by Imperial decree of Theodosius I, the emperor of Byzantium.

At some point in the history of the games at Olympia horse racing and chariot racing were added as contests. It was common for the winner of an event to celebrate his victory by commissioning a commemorative statue or figurine and offering it for display at Olympia. One such bronze figurine has survived the millennium and is now on display at the Museum of Olympia. This figurine is one horse of a four horse chariot team which was cast in bronze. While at the Museum, I took several pictures of this now famous little bronze. The figurine is now simply known as “The Horse of Olympia”. Once I returned home it seemed to me that there were certain features of this artist’s stylized rendition of this chariot horse which reminded me of our own Peruvian Paso horses, especially WF Prodigio. So Kaitlin Kaiser and I took pictures of WF Prodigio and they are presented here along with the corresponding pictures I took of the “Horse of Olympia” for your consideration. See what you think. The “Horse of Olympia” is dated by the Museum as 470 BC, nearly 2,500 years ago! Now that is truly ancient!!

How to Read a Peruvian Paso Pedigree

Peruvian Paso pedigrees contain some information that is not contained in some other breed’s pedigrees. That information is denoted by the use of two symbols. First, an asterisk (*) before the horse’s name indicates that the horse was imported rather than bred here in the United States. Second, a plus sign (+) following the horse’s name means that the horse is a National Laureado Champion of Champions. In the Peruvian Paso breed a horse who wins either a Champion or Champion of Champion title three times in the same division at the same show is awarded the title “Laureado” and may not compete again in that division at that show. The title Laureado is considered a great honor. Horses are awarded the title Laureado for Regional Shows as well as for the National Show, however, only those who are Laureado at the National Show level carry the + behind their names.

“To canter or not to canter?” that is the question.

Becky and I have been showing our horses since shortly after we bought our first registered Peruvian Paso Horse in 1990. When we first started showing our horses we were told that it was best to never canter your horse under saddle and to only ride your horse in walk or gait. That way, when you asked the horse for an extended gait, or the sobreandando, in the show ring it would stay in gait and not break to the canter. As a result most of our horses have not been taught to canter under saddle. However, both BBC Sirocco and WF Prodigio have a tendency to break to canter when asked for the extended gait even though WF Prodigio has never been taught to canter under saddle and BBC Sirocco has done only limited canter work under saddle, primarily on long stretches of canal or farm roads.

After the Southwest Classic Multi-Breed Show in May of 2010, we decided to teach our horses to canter under saddle. This was a natural because both of their current riders, Morgan Conner and Kaitlin “Katie” Kaiser have shown horses for years in gymkhanas. Morgan Conner is currently teaching BBC Sirocco to canter and to do various “barrel” (we are using large cones) and pole patterns. Katie Kaiser is currently teaching WF Prodigio the same things. Of course we are also doing the same patterns at the walk and in gait to reinforce the difference for the horses. It is too early to tell if it will help or hurt the horses in the shows, but one thing is abundantly clear at this point, the horses really enjoy the cantering. Our next Mutli-Breed Show is in September. It will be interesting to see how this work affects the way the horses perform.

If you have an opinion on this subject based on your experience that you would like to share with us please send us an email at caballosdebbc@msn.com.

About a year ago we decided to teach two of our horses to canter under saddle to see if it would improve their performance in the show ring. We thought that since both horses were breaking to canter in extended gait that by learning to canter on command would prevent them from cantering except when specifically asked for under saddle. See the article “To canter or not to canter” that is the question.

Since then we have taken those horses to two shows, a fun show in September of 2010 and the Carousel Charity Horses Show in March 2011. While we feel certain that teaching them to canter under saddle did not worsen the problem at these shows, it is less clear if it actually helped prevent the problem. What is very clear is that the horses and riders really enjoyed the canter work. And at the Carousel Charity Horse knowing how to canter under saddle was a big advantage for WF Prodigio and his rider Kaitlin Kaiser. Kaitlin competed in the Junior High Point Award competition at the show. In her first class on WF Prodigio, which was a typical Peruvian Paso Performance class involving only walk and gait, Kaitlin and Prodigio took fourth place. In her second class, which was a Junior Showmanship Class Under Saddle and involved two minute individual workouts, Kaitlin and Prodigio moved up to second place. Kaitlin’s routine involved walk and gait work but she also added canter work. The Judge, the Honorable Marco Dapelo, commented later that Prodigio had a very nice canter under saddle and that is why he moved the horse and rider up to second place. Congratulations to Kaitlin and Prodigio!

So to answer the original question, “to canter or not to canter”, our answer is a definite YES. Our experience is that it does not hurt the horse’s gait work, in fact it may actually help, and it is great fun for both the horse and the rider!