The Paso Fino has a proud past and is one of the oldest native breeds of horse in the Western Hemisphere. In 1492, Columbus discovered a continent without horses. On his second voyage from Spain, he brought a select group of mares and stallions from the provinces of Andalusia and Cordela, and settled them at Santo Domingo. These horses were a mixture of Barb, Andalusian and Spanish Jennet. The Spanish Jennet not only possessed an extremely comfortable saddle gait, but also was able to pass the gait on to its offspring. The result of the blending of these horses was horses with an incredibly smooth gait, which would evolve into the Paso Fino breed.