What Is a Paso Fino Horse? The Smooth Gait of the Colombian Criollo Explained

What is a paso fino horse?

A paso fino horse is a smooth-gaited horse of Spanish descent, bred mainly in Colombia and Puerto Rico, that moves in an evenly spaced four-beat lateral gait. Each hoof lands on its own, in the order left hind, left front, right hind, right front, so fast and so evenly that the rider barely moves in the saddle.

Paso fino means "fine step." In Colombia the phrase names two things: the horse people call a paso fino, and one of the four official gaits (andares) of the Colombian criollo horse, judged on a wooden board where you can literally hear the "ta-ca-ta-ca."

Why people are talking about it now

• A top 10 claim that doesn't add up. On September 23, 2026, Agronegocios reported, citing FAO data, that Colombia now ranks ninth in the world for horse population, with about 1.6 million horses. FAO's own FAOSTAT database disagrees: its latest figures, for 2024, put Colombia 11th with about 964,000 horses, though still third in South America after Brazil and Argentina. The report's other figure, more than 1.57 million horses in 2023, comes from the national livestock census of the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA).
• A big criollo economy. Fedequinas, the national federation, counts more than 300,000 horses with registered pedigrees, about 90,000 owners, roughly 150 fairs a year in 19 departments and some 480,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to figures Semana published in March 2026.
• New science. A June 2026 study in iScience found a region of the genome that separates two Colombian gaits.

On X, meanwhile, "paso fino" spent September mostly as a figure of speech: one widely shared post compared a company's management to putting a saddle on a cow to turn it into a paso fino. People searching the term still want the horse, so here it is.

The four andares of the Colombian criollo horse

The Colombian criollo horse (caballo criollo colombiano de paso) is not judged as one single style. Fedequinas' rulebook, updated March 17, 2026, defines four classic gaits (andares), each with its own rhythm, sound and body type.

LH = left hind, LF = left front, RH = right hind, RF = right front.

A few details that trip people up:

• Only paso fino is lateral. The trocha is a four-beat diagonal gait (right front with left hind, left front with right hind), and the Colombian trot is a classic two-beat diagonal trot. So the trocha horse gait is not a faster fino; it is a different footfall.
• Size depends on the gait. For horses over 60 months, Fedequinas sets a minimum height of 1.38 m for paso fino and trocha stallions (1.36 m for mares), and 1.40 m for trote y galope and trocha y galope stallions (1.38 m for mares).
• A legend who did all four. Agronegocios profiles Don Danilo, a stallion born in Antioquia in 1957 to the criollo sire Rey Cometa, as the only horse known to have performed all four gaits in succession. It calls his dam, La Danesa, a Lusitano mare, but a 2008 breed monograph from the Politécnico Colombiano Jaime Isaza Cadavid records her as a half-bred born in Medellín in 1950, by a stallion named Lusitano out of a Colombian paso mare.

The sounding board: judges listen as much as they look

Colombian show rings include a pista sonora, a wooden board 15 to 20 meters long and about 2 meters wide, laid level with the track. As the horse crosses it, judges and the crowd listen for four clean, evenly spaced beats, and a broken rhythm is easy to hear.

US shows run by the Paso Fino Horse Association (PFHA) use a sounding board too.

The genes behind the gait

• A 2018 PLoS One study of Colombian paso horses found that the DMRT3 "gait keeper" mutation was fixed (two copies, AA) in the paso fino horses it genotyped, while the diagonal-gaited trocha and trot horses carried CC or CA.
• DMRT3 did not explain trocha versus trot. The 2026 iScience study classified 225 horses' gaits with body-worn sensors and machine learning, then found a region on chromosome 16 that explained 48.6% of the variation between those two gaits.

Why riders love the smooth ride

In a four-beat gait with no moment of suspension, at least one hoof is always on the ground and the back stays level. The PFHA says the rider should appear virtually still, with no visible up-and-down motion of the croup: no posting, no bouncing.

The PFHA describes three speeds of the same gait:

• Classic fino: full collection, very slow forward speed and extremely rapid footfall. A show gait.
• Paso corto: moderate speed; ground-covering but unhurried steps.
• Paso largo: the fastest version, with a longer stride.

What riders notice first:

• Comfort on long days. The breed association points to trail, endurance and parade riding, and says many riders with past back or knee problems find they can ride a paso fino. Check with your doctor first if that's you.
• Brío. Good paso finos have brío: forward energy under saddle, while staying gentle on the ground. That is a joy for experienced riders and a lot of horse for a nervous beginner.
• Compact size. The PFHA breed standard gives 13 to 15.2 hands (most are 13.3 to 14.2), 700 to 1,000 pounds, and any coat color.

New to gaits? Our riding skills and glossary pages cover the basics.

Colombian vs Puerto Rican paso fino

Both lines descend from horses the Spanish brought to the Americas more than 500 years ago, a mix of Andalusian, Barb and the now-extinct Spanish Jennet, according to the PFHA. A DNA study involving Spain's University of Córdoba, published in the Italian Journal of Animal Science and announced in July 2026, found that the Puerto Rican Paso Fino still carries a clearly visible ancestral component from the Pura Raza Española.

• Puerto Rico guards its purity. On the island, a "pure" paso fino is one never crossed with other breeds, particularly Colombian blood. Its federation groups the gait into three speeds and prefers the shortest, the fino, in competition.
• Island roots. A 2022 Scientific Reports study from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and Oakland University found a clear genetic link between the breed and the island's non-purebred criollo horses, and proposed that the gait keeper mutation became common in those local horses long before the Paso Fino breed was established.
• The US blended them. Americans began importing paso finos from Puerto Rico in the mid-1940s and from Colombia about two decades later. The PFHA registers both, says many American paso finos mix the two, and keeps a separate diagonal registry for trocha and trote horses.

Buying or riding one: costs and a checklist

Fedequinas figures reported by Semana (March 2026) and Agronegocios (September 2026) put a horse with a good bloodline at about 20 to 50 million Colombian pesos, while proven champions and top breeding horses can pass 500 million and, in exceptional cases, approach 1,000 million.

Upkeep, from Semana's report:

• Stabled (stall, concentrate, supplements, farrier, free-choice hay, bedding and a rider): 900,000 to 1.7 million pesos.
• Out on pasture: 200,000 to 400,000 pesos.

The report does not say what period those figures cover, so ask any barn for a written monthly quote. About 120 Colombian horses are exported each year, mainly to the United States, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Panama.

Before you buy or lease:

1. Pick the gait first. Fino for a smooth, collected ride; trocha for fast, smooth travel; trote y galope for a taller horse, if you don't mind a trot.
2. Check the papers. Registration runs through Fedequinas in Colombia and the PFHA in the US. Make sure the certificate matches the horse's age, sex and markings.
3. Listen and film. Ride on a hard surface and film in slow motion; a fino should give four even beats.
4. Book an independent vet for a pre-purchase exam before any money changes hands.
5. Match the brío to the rider. Beginners do best with an older, well-schooled horse and lessons first. Start with our get started and safety guides.
6. Ask about tack. Find out which bit and saddle the horse knows, and see our tack and equipment guide.

What to watch next

• Colombia's fair season. Fedequinas' calendar lists an international cup in Barranquilla (October 1–3), Expo Rionegro in Antioquia and a fair in El Rosal, Cundinamarca (both October 16–18), and Popayán (November 27–28). Dates can move, so check before you travel.
• US shows. After the Grand National Championship Show (scheduled for September 15–19 at Tryon International in Mill Spring, North Carolina), the PFHA calendar lists, among others, Raleigh's North Carolina State Fair show (October 15), the Paso Fino Fall Festival in Weirsdale, Florida (October 31–November 1) and the Ocala Cup at the World Equestrian Center (December 11–13).
• Puerto Rico in December. The 36th Campeonato Internacional de Paso Fino was set for December 11–14, 2025, in Arecibo, with organizers expecting more than 400 horses from Puerto Rico, the US, the Dominican Republic and Colombia. We had not found a 2026 date at press time.
• The next world championship. The Mundial de Caballos de Paso is held every two years, rotating among Confepaso's ten member countries. Colombia hosted the 17th edition in late 2025 at the Asdeoccidente coliseum in Palmira, near Cali, and Confepaso's website points to Puerto Rico for the next one, in 2027.
• More gait genetics. The chromosome 16 finding points to a region, not a finished DNA test, so treat any quick "gait gene" sales pitch with caution.

Want to compare the paso fino with other breeds? Browse our breeds guide and the latest in Trends.