BREEDS

Click on this picture and see
twelve lovely breeds.

    A number of these special soft-gaited breeds carry the name of the area that has fostered their survival. The Missouri Fox Trotter, the Tennessee Walker, the Peruvian Paso, the Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse, the Brazilian Marchador, the Florida Cracker and Puerto Rican or Colombian Paso Finos, all carry regional identity in their names.

    There is a good deal of variation among the soft-gaited or plantation breeds. Every equine color is available, plus colors seldom found in walk-trot horses, such as the chocolate body with white mane and tail found in the Rocky Mountain horses, or the burgundy-colored Marchadors from Brazil or the iridescent champagne-colored Tennessee Walkers and Missouri Fox Trotters. 

    These horses come in all sizes too. Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horses can be registered in class B as small as 11 hands (44 inches), and it would not be uncommon to find a 17+ hand Tennessee Walker.

    There are also variations in the ability to travel different topographies. The Paso Finos and Mountain Horses excel in rough mountainous regions. The Peruvian Pasos fly over flat terrain and the Tennessee Walkers (also known as Turn-rows) can travel at a fast clip over narrow flat paths.

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