Northern Lights Peruvian Club

The purpose of the Northern Lights Peruvian Club is to assist its members in the enjoyment, education, and promotion of the Peruvian Horse in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Upper Michigan and Wisconsin.

The Northern Lights Peruvian Club is a gathering place for owners, breeders, and admirers of the Peruvian Paso. We are dedicated to discussions, sharing, and learning, of the Peruvian Paso Horse. Although this club is for Peruvian Paso enthusiasts, anyone is welcome to join and share.

The Peruvian Paso
*Edited from various articles written by noted authors in the breed

The trademark of the Peruvian horse is a special, inherited, completely natural, four beat lateral gait. Called Paso Llano, it is a type of broken pace which makes the Peruvian horse the smoothest riding horse in the world. A unique, spectacular and beautiful natural action of the front legs that is highly desired and universal in the Peruvian breed is called "termino". Put simply, termino is similar to the arm motions of a swimmer in which the foreleg rolls forward and toward the outside before stepping down, which also allows the hind foot to advance sooner and farther than would otherwise be possible. The gait can be as slow as a walk or as fast as an extended trot or slow canter and it is completely natural - the gait is not induced or aided in any way by artificial training or devices. Naturalness of the Peruvian horse is placed to the forefront with such emphasis that competitions in Peru and the United States require the Peruvian horse be shown without shoes and with a short, natural hoof.

The average height of the Peruvian Horse is between 14 and 15.2 hands, and the weight is commonly between 900 and 1,100 pounds, about the same as Morgans and Arabians. The head shows power and vigor, with a straight line or slightly concave profile, strong at the bottom with outthrust jaw and is carried steady and firmly. The ears are alert, of medium length, graceful, mobile with fine tips curved slightly inwards; the eyes are expressive, dark, elongated, wide set; the nostrils are long, sensitively dilated. The neck is of medium length with a gracefully arched crest. It is set high and runs well back into discretely marked withers. The mane and forelock are naturally fine, long and lustrous. The body is well-proportioned, length to height, medium-size, with strong, well developed, deep and wide thorax, a well-arched rib cage with a short, wide girth, the joining of the shoulder blades being smooth and level with the croup. The chest is well-proportioned, strong, wide and well muscled. The back, is short to medium in length, strong and rounded. The bottom line of the barrel runs nearly horizontal. The limbs are solid and firm and stand in proper alignment. The shoulder is long and very well inclined with an open angle at the elbow giving the front limbs free and graceful movement. Proper joining is the basis of the animal's correct alignment and poise, and the width and strength of the articular joints are indispensable for proper movement of all these parts. The arms are normally short and muscular. The forearm is long and muscular at the top, and slimmer below. The knees should both be well-modeled, with slightly convex rear face. The cannon bone is short with well defined sinew. At the hindquarters, the thigh should be well-joined to the croup and rump, showing powerful but not excessive contraction. The leg muscles should be outstanding, the rump rounded down to the thigh but not too low. The hocks should be well-formed and defined, tending inwards, with strong, lean bone structure, and well balanced proportions. The tail should start rather low, carried quietly, close to the rump, and be long and fine. The leg bone and shanks, called the gaskin, should form a sufficient angle to give it support, leaning towards the center of gravity most of the time. The shanks are short, strong, with good bones, strong tendons, well implanted and defined, the fetlocks strong and lean, well-outlined with precise contours and rather sharply angled, the pasterns strong, medium length, fine and clearly defined, and springy with a slope equal to that of the shoulder. The hooves should be hard, well rounded, concave inner sole, and a long, wide and prominent frog, and of good size proportionate to the horse with sloping walls and sufficient high heels to permit the proper projection of the angle of the pasterns.

The Peruvian Horse, because of its direct link to the Barb horse, comes in an array of striking color tones and shades, coming in all basic solid colors as well as greys and roans. There is discrimination against animals with marked albino factors and rejection of dappled ones.