Caballo Criollo Colombiano

The Stablemate from last Friday's post was going to be pedigreed as a Colombian Criollo, rather than being a plain old Iberian breed, such as an Andalusian or Lusitano. Of course, since I neither speak Spanish, nor have friends in Latin America, finding information about these horses has been tricky.

Though the Colombian Criollo is named a Criollo, that doesn't mean it's the same as the Argentinian Criollo; here, Criollo is used to mean 'Latin American horse', as it is for many South American breeds. The Colombian Criollo has also been called the Colombian Paso Fino. From the gist of the google translations of Colombian Criollo forums, it isn't really considered fair to call them that either.

The reason it's not really fair to call the Colombian Criollo a Paso Fino is because thanks to the introduction of imported Canadian Pacers and Trotters to the breed during the heyday of sugar plantations, it's very different from other Paso Finos. The breed retains little of its Iberian ancestry compared to other Latin American breeds.

Though there is some cross breeding with the Paso Fino, Colombia has types of horse that appear to be unique to Colombia. Something about the land there makes the gaits of other Spanish-descended breeds less practical. Translations suggest that the rough terrain makes an ambling or gaited horse more practical for every day use.

Well, now I had a bit of a background on why the Colombian horses are different, that still left the question: different how?

As it turns out, Colombia has three types of gaited horse, all more or less considered the same breed: the fino, the trocha, and the trote y galope.

The paso fino does exactly what you'd expect it does: the fino. This variety appears to be crossed with Paso Finos more often than the other varieties.

The trocha is more or less what we'd call the foxtrot, a broken trot sequence where the diagonal pairs are picked up at the same time, but with the front foot landing before the hind foot.

The trote y galope trots, and performs an extremely collected canter. They actually do this naturally in the field as foals, which was very interesting to watch on You Tube. Watching the foals in videos, it does appear they can also perform a more stretched canter, but naturally tend to fall into the very collected form.

So where do the trocha, trote, and galope come from?

It appears the introduction of the mare La Danesa and her very popular and prolific son Don Danilo are behind the introduction of the new gaits to the Colombian horses. La Danesa's sire was a bullfighting Lusitano brought to Colombia in 1946 by the bullfighter Lady Conchita Cintron.

Don Danilo (Rey Cometa X La Danesa)

Don Danilo could perform the paso fino, the trocha, the trote and the galope, on command. Many of his famous offspring were trocha and trote y galope horses.

So, now I had to decide: is LRH Y B Rojas a fino, a trocha, or a trote ye galope? Since he's not performing any gait, he could be anything I liked. But, there appear to be differences in build between the types of horses.

The fino is longer in the back, shorter in the legs, and all around thickly built, and looks a bit like a classical painting of a horse. It looks like you expect a Paso Fino to look. That build is what makes him perform that gait. Pretty much any horse built that way, regardless of its breed, will try to move the way the Paso Fino does, because it's the best way for its body.

The trocha is similarly thick, but more proportional, at least to my eyes. He's not so short in the legs and long in the back as the fino.

The trote y galope looks more like what I think of when I think 'horse'. I'm from thoroughbred country, having grown up only an hour and a half trot (12 miles) from Newmarket in the UK. They're a little more fine than the trocha and fino, and look very much like a sporty Spanish bred horse, rather than a baroque Spanish horse.

It should be noted that they all still very much fit the breed description of the Colombian Criollo, despite their differences in build. The differences are slight, but I think quite noticeable. In any case, you'd know what you're looking at as soon as it moved, even if you couldn't really see the slight differences I'm seeing in how they're put together.

Y B Rojas isn't really thickly built enough for the trocha or the fino, and his legs are too long for a fino. That leaves me one option: he's a trote y galope. That suits me fine, I think they're prettier anyway.

I hope that post gives people a tiny bit of insight on Colombian Criollos, and I hope I've understood what I've read.

If you can type in English well enough to tell me more, I'd love to hear more about the breed, if you know more. I mean no offense when I ask that you write to me in English, I just really don't know any Spanish at all, I only learned French, German, and a smattering of Swedish and Japanese.

Links to more information about Colombian horses:
Staccato Beat! Gaits of the Paso Fino
American Trote and Trocha Association: Breed Information
American Trote and Trocha Association: Don Danilo
Pet MD: Colombian Criollo
Google Books: International Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds by Bonnie L. Hendricks and Anthony A. Dent