Articles

1976 Seminar Notes

Printed in the Peruvian Horse Review, Volume 3, Number 3, Fall 1976

(Note: This was part of a judge's seminar held at the National Championship Show, the judge being Sr. Fernando Graña.)

Sr. Graña: In discussing the gait of the Peruvian horse I would first like to mention that for "paso" there is no exact word in English for precise translation. The Peruvian Paso horse moves mainly in the lateral way; the gait is a broken lateral movement and is the essence of this breed. Why is this important? Because horses are bred for certain purposes. In my country we may ride for 7 - 8 hours a day in covering the plantations. In the medieval times they used light horses with a lateral gait to ride to the battlefield where they mounted the heavy battle horses. So we bred horses for a comfortable ride and secondly for beauty. So each horse has a certain purpose. Now the important thing for you people to do is to have a clear purpose - a common aim - in developing the breed in your country. Otherwise, you will go in different directions which will be bad for the horse, and will probably make no progress. The only thing I can say is what I would do and tell you what I think the Peruvian horse deserves. If you have gone many miles to find this type of horse you should not try to change him to suit a different purpose. You should try to improve the horse within the same lines; but not to change him. If you wanted something different what is the point of traveling so far to obtain this unique breed.

Before modern communications people in different areas of Peru nurtured different ideas. In the North there was a Mr. Zapata who was a very good horseman. He concentrated on developing what he liked most - an easy, smooth gait with lots of termino. He paid little attention to color or size.

Some years after a Mr. Aspillaga from Cayalti (also north), bought some of these horses. And then Hacienda de Pucala came into the picture when Mr. Cepeda also started to buy some of these horses. By this time Mr. Zapata had died and Mr. Torre Ugarte . . . .

Audience: How many years ago?

Sr. Graña: Zapata, 60 years ago, Ugarte, 40 years ago and Aspillaga and Cepeda about 15-20 years ago.

So these horses had the greatest of termino and a very easy ride. Examples of these are all the horses you have here from Hacienda de Pucala, like the Mandinga horses with great termino but a tendency to be weak, especially in the front legs.

Now, in the middle of Peru around Lima, there were horses that were very fine looking - beautiful heads almost like Arabians - with big eyes. They concentrated on beauty and a comfortable gait rather than a showy one. Parodi and Musante are examples of horses with nice looking heads and comfortable gaits although they may sometimes lack termino and arrogance. But this is a matter of personal taste.

In the south, the terrain is more difficult with more hills. They concentrated very much on stamina. They wanted a horse with the nerve and brio to go over hard terrain. And they had all this fire with very good legs. So these horses have a lot of brio but the heads are not as pretty as those from around Lima.

As the roads facilitated transportation and communication between breeders it made the national show possible. The first National Show was 32 years ago and there was a chance to compare horses from different parts of the country. This led to breeders trading stallions. At that time, raising horses was not a business in Peru; it was a friendly and sporting thing. We were in the habit of lending our stallions to each other. We also had the practice of loaning mares to each other - "giving the belly of the mare". Now that we have less land and some money is involved, that may change a bit.

Audience: Does the trainer make a lot of difference in the thread?

Sr. Graña: Yes, it can be modified, but only within certain limits. A trainer may ruin a good horse but he will never make a poor horse into an exceptional horse.

Audience: How much can you tell about the young ones - would you rather see them too close to the trot or pace?

Sr. Graña: You can tell most during the first week - later it may be very difficult. They may trot or pace. The good horses will show a mix of gaits even if the trot part of the time. However, if you know the breeding and a horse is good he will still gait when he is under saddle. If you have a horse that is completely lateral; IF he has brio he is probably the best. He will come out of the lateral gait into a broken pace. Now with this kind of horse, too much good care, too much love is bad. He must understand the spurs and collection.

If you have a purebred Peruvian Paso it will do the paso llano under saddle, no matter how much it may trot when young.

Audience: What are the peak years as far as training?

Sr. Graña: That depends on the conformation but these horses mature late and they should be at least a full 3 years of age before putting weight on them. Then you have to handle the horse according to the strength of the individual. We usually go slow until four years of age.

We do not make any distinction between a working horse and a show horse. They are all a Peruvian horse. Some of them are showier than others. But you can have a horse with a lot of termino and he can work hard for many days and many years.

If you have a horse with a lot, A LOT, of termino and you work him 2-3 days for 6-7 horse he may get tired a little sooner than a horse with less termino and over the years the termino may decrease to a small degree.

Audience: What are the names of the major breeders in the South?

Sr. Graña: The man who really did it, de la Borda, died, and now Alfredo Elias is the leader because he got it from his uncle, de la Borda. You also have Gotuzzo, Camino and Queirolo. They are all around Ica and have been using Alfredo Elias's stallions.

Audience: What is the relationship between termino and gait?

Sr. Graña: Termino is important for two reasons: one is that for people who don't know about Peruvian horses, termino is striking and people know it is a different type of horse. It is spectacular and flashy. A lot of termino isn't necessary for a comfortable ride; it adds to the visual effect. But I am going to read to you something written by Dr. Henry Curry.

"Termino is an outward rolling of the front limbs during extension. It should originate in the shoulders and be associated with obvious "looseness" and fluidity in the movement of the shoulder girdle. This allows well gaited horses to reach out and forward in a smooth, graceful manner with minimal transmission of vertical force to the back. Horses devoid of this quality cannot extend smoothly and they frequently move in the front with short, 'choppy' steps. 

"Termino in the lower forelimb consists of anterior and lateral rotation around axes in the knee and fetlock. As the limb extends, the foot swings out in a lateral arc before returning squarely to the ground. The amount of vertical action varies considerably among individuals and must be evaluated in accord with the smoothness and elegance of gait. For example, a horse with limited vertical movement may be extremely smooth and extend well, but lack the crisp animation that is desirable in a show horse. Conversely, a horse with high action and poor extension or roughness of gait cannot be considered desirable. Ideally termino begins with a free, fluid rolling movement in the shoulders and is executed with good extension. The relationship between lateral and vertical action in the knee and fetlock should provide the appearance of brisk, harmonious animation with no appreciable sacrifice in smoothness."

This is, I think, exactly what termino is. Termino has its limitations. If the knee action is too high, it may detract from smoothness. Also if a horse pounds too hard on the ground it may weaken the pasterns.

Audience: We have been discussing the front end of the Peruvian horse but I have noticed that many of these horses appear very poor in the rear.

Sr. Graña: You are 100% right. We want to correct this as much as possible. We have been talking mostly about the front of the horse because that is the flashy part and what you see first.

But the real important thing is behind, because that is what propels the horse. We have to give this horse more muscle behind, bigger and stronger in the rear. People have concentrated too much on the front movement and not enough on the other. But I think it is essential that horses be long in the croup and well muscled across the lumbar area. It is also true that Peruvian horses have a little more angle at the hocks than other breeds. But this is alright, because if you think about it, a very straight angle in the hocks causes vertical motion in the rear when the horse steps forward with the rear legs. We also allow the hocks to be closer together but they should be straight and should never angle out.

Audience: If termino "hurts" a horse, then we should want to eliminate some of it, is that what you said?

Sr. Graña: No, what I say is this: we would like unlimited termino without "hurting," but frequently it does. So, then, it is up to the breeder, up to your judgment, to evaluate the type of horse, type of bone and all that, to try to reach that unpredictable point where termino is good and doesn't hurt.

Audience: You mentioned the importance of improving the horse's back. Is there a particular bloodline that is good in the back? Should one look for individuals that are good in the back or should we exercise the horse to see what their potential is?

Sr. Graña: Again this is something that is very important. Breeding is not done by the individual; it is done by the bloodline. A horse may have a beautiful back but you had better study the bloodlines before you use him as a "corrector" of backs. Because for some reason or other if he comes out of a mare with a very good back and a stallion with a poor one he might have come out with the strong back of his mother, but give you the weak back of his father. You have to choose the individual but the more you know about his background the better it is. In other words, I would rather breed from a horse that doesn't have a very good back, if his breeding is one of strong backs than the reverse. It might be a difficult thing to find it, but it can occur. Choose horses with good backs but learn all you can about the ancestors.

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