PPF: Pablo, thank you very much for accepting this interview with Perfiles del Paso Fino. Yesterday, I took a class you offered here. We have recently began a project where we’re working on something called EduPerfiles which is precisely to help educate professionals. So, I’d like to express my gratitude- first, to you and MAC for having offered this class at Spectrum 2022, and secondly, for your time today.

PS: Maritza, first of all, thanks to you and to your page, Perfiles… it’s a channel, right?
PPF: It is a website, we have a youtube channel, and our social media accounts.
PS: I see. Well, thank you very much for the space and the opportunity to direct myself to all your followers. I am grateful to you and to your followers for the response and welcome here and for believing in this project. I have come to the United States with the support of a dear friend, Carlos Betancur. This man has been making great efforts, both personal and with his family because this hasn’t only been financial investment, but also one of time and sacrifice of time to be spent with family, which is very complicated to do. He visited Colombia some two years ago to take a personal horse training course at my farm. I get emotional because I believe in people… and it makes me emotional when people believe in me. It has been 23 years since I began this project of natural horsemanship. I began to study, to research, to work with the greatest masters. And just as is expected with all novelty, when people don’t know about something, the easiest thing to do is to attack it. Thus, the professional threat felt by riders because they take my work as if I were competition or a judge, an inquisitor, who comes to tell them that all their work is poorly done and has been done in a violent and inappropriate way. You do follow the concept I am explaining here, don’t you?
PPF: Of course, I do, and without intention, which is something you clarified yesterday. You said nobody is blaming them for the reason they are doing it this way, but that it has been passed down through tradition.
PS: Yes.
PPF: And I love that you mentioned that part because a huge focus and one of the concepts I promote the most about Perfiles del Paso Fino is being able to eliminate that feeling of threat and fear that exists in the industry which generates friction, envy, etc, when we can all work together and for the well-being of the animal.
PS: The first thing that should be said about the riders is that, first of all, they are professionals. Secondly, that none of their work has been performed empirically. No official entity, and I mean official as belonging to the equine industry, such as associations or federations, have taking concern in educating the riders. So, contrary to popular belief, what needs to be done with these professionals is that they need to be thanked for all that they have done. With their knowledge and their oral tradition, they have given the Paso Fino horse a place in this world. It would be unfair for anyone to come and say that they are useless. Just the opposite…

PPF: Of course not, they deserve a great deal of respect for accomplishing what they have accomplished.
PS: Exactly. They deserve great recognition and congratulations for their work. What I have come to offer is an educational contribution and to provide them with tools for them to be able to grow professionally, so that they may have better tools, so that they may have a deeper knowledge of what the horse species is and how they can reach their full potential and improve their work. It has to be said, I come from tradition; I ruined horses, I mistreated horses, I put pressure on and harmed mouths, I never reached the level of rider I had expected to be at one time. The time came where I changed my chip and thought there had to be a point of infliction where the horse would have a different handling. Well, with that different form of handling, different results were obtained. This benefits the horse and the horse trainer. Natural Horsemanship is the opposite of animal mistreatment. Animal mistreatment is not only in the form of interaction from the ground, but also in the form of interaction from the saddle. Moreover, with the tack, with the bits, with the bridles, in the forms of assistance. It is an array of circumstances that when you put them all together, the result is a horse working well in a show, such as a pleasure or performance class, or even on a trail ride. There are so many problems that can arise with a horse because of handling. This market hosts many people who want to join the industry, but we also have many who decide to leave due to frustrations. Frustration arises when horses have been handled poorly.

PPF: I’d like for us to talk a little about the training you teach having a holistic approach. If we compare it to humans, we have soul, body, and mind… but horses do as well.
PS: What happens is that horses, throughout history, have been used and utilized, hunted, persecuted, yet not understood. The recreational, athletic, and working objectives of a horse can mistakenly lead us to believe that horses can do it all, that horses can resist it all, that horses can tolerate it all. So, we have been very selfish because we haven’t thought about the horse as a being that thinks, reasons, analyzes, and makes decisions. This living being, the horse, has very similar conditions to those of a dog, which is the animal that is most commonly domesticated for everyone to have in their home. And we see how an order is given to a horse and he follows it. Listen, I have heard people say that first you control the mind and then you control the body. That is very true. But in order for me to control the mind of a horse, I first need to know how the mind of a horse works. So, this is an integral method of working; we have mental, psychological, and physical. It’s like I said yesterday, it’s not simply about giving a horse feed to to keep it at a good weight, for example. Because then I ask you, what are you doing for the muscular aspect of your horse? How does a horse function? How does a horse think? How does a horse articulate? How can I give work tools to equine professionals so that they can optimize their work? That is precisely what needs to be done so that every person working with a horse can have at least minimum knowledge of what species they are training and what characteristics of conduct and behavioral patterns each horse holds.

PPF: You told us a little about your learning alongside great teachers such as Monty Roberts, Clint Anderson, and Pat Parelli. Can you please describe those experiences?
PS: They are aliens of horsemanship. Nobody can imagine how much you can learn until you actually live through it. And they way you experience it adds to the enthusiasm. Each one holds his own magic and his own art, but there is one common denominator among them and that is the respect and how they attempt to understand and comprehend how the horse’s mind works. That is precisely the concept that we, with the Colombian Creole horse or the Paso Fino horse all over the world, are still lacking to interpret. In reality, when we are working with our horses, we forget the mental aspect. We are more physical than mental with the horse, but with them I learned that it is more the mental than the physical aspect. For them, the mental state we are in comes before the physical work with the horse. It isn’t just the mental aspect either, but it’s also about the musculoskeletal state the horse is in. That is another world altogether. We are more focused on having fat [full-figured] horses, than on making them athletic. Thus, we haven’t yet defined that this is an animal that is called a horse. That part is clear. Now let’s talk about the horse as an athlete. You ask a veterinarian, you ask a rider, you ask a caretaker and they all say ‘yes, the horse is an athlete.’ But when I go and see their athlete, I sometimes have to say ‘I’m sorry to tell you, I don’t see anything athletic about your horse. I see a fat horse, but I don’t see your horse as an athlete. I don’t know what you mean when you tell me you have an athletic horse.’ I never saw Usain Bolt, the fastest sprinter in the world, weighing 265 pounds. Therefore, our horses, to be very clear, are simply fat horses running. That is the truth. It is difficult to say, but technically, that is what we are doing. We have fat horses competing. And because most of our horses are fat horses in competition, we step into the realm of performance assistance. When you visit the stalls at an event, which people usually do not do, people stay at the showring but don’t visit the stalls, sadly, you see that there are IV of all colors hanging in most stalls. Bags in green, yellow, pink, any color you’d like, all hooked up to the horse’s artery. When you ask, they just tell you it’s IV fluids. But those fluids are to improve the performance of the horse during the competition. This is very simple. More or less the time a horse spends from the moment he enters his workoff until he leaves, with or without a prize, is about 5 minutes. Let’s say he goes back in for a comparison and spends another 3 or 5 minutes. This is not always the situation, out of 10 horses, maybe 3 will go back in for a comparison only in situations where the competition is very close. And if the competition is extremely close, let’s say they go as far as 10 minutes in the most extreme cases. You are training your horse some 2-3 months before the show, and I guarantee you’re training an average of at least 40-45 minutes. So then why when you’re at the show does your horse not tolerate the 10 minutes he performs in competition. The comments are ‘that horse gave out, that horse burned out, he went lame, he lost steadiness of the head, or lost his center.’ It’s because he doesn’t have an athletic state with which to perform.

PPF: He lacks physical state.
PS: He lacks state, he has no musculature. People think giving a horse good physical state is to take him out and walk him loosely so that he gains lung capacity. But that still does nothing for your athlete’s physical state. We are then retiring horses at very early ages. There are 8-year-old, and even younger, horses that are already burned out. Some horses don’t reach 10 years in a competitive career. There are only a few that have reached that age in a plentitude of conditions to compete at 10 years of age. In conclusion, we are confusing obesity with the physical, athletic, and sports-oriented preparation that a horse should have. That is precisely what this is about – sharing the tools needed by the horse trainer, the owner, and the caretaker. So that they know how to work the musculature of a horse, how to work the articulations of the horse and how to improve its performance. We must know how to handle a horse’s mouth, because it is actually where we handle a horse. Any trainer can have some 200 bits and if you ask them why, they’ll tell you because each one will be necessary at any given moment. We don’t even know how the horse’s mouth is and how it works, nor how the tongue is, or the gums are, nor how the jawline is shaped, or what his measurements are. So, it’s like if you ask me, ‘Pablo, do you have shoes?’ and I say, ‘I don’t’ and then you tell me, ‘here, you can wear mine.’  Are your shoes going to fit me? But the same bit is supposed to fit all the horses… just because we saw a horse that won wearing that bit, so we run to by the bit that made that horse win the competition. Why am I teaching this? Because nobody else is teaching it. It is the sad truth. I haven’t heard of the first university or school where they teach anyone to ride, well there are many riding schools, but who is teaching horse training? Who teaches you how to understand a horse, or teaches all these things that I have been telling you? Nobody. It just comes through oral tradition, so we are replicating, and replicating, and replicating a bunch of information from 300 years ago and there has been a great deal of evolution here. So then, the handling of horses must also evolve. I am seeing horse owners showing a great deal of interest in learning and entering this world of knowledge, but also lack of interest by the trainers because they think this about jealousy and me trying to cause trouble for them, but that is not the case. What I want to do is gift everyone some information, and I am not saying that my word is the Word of God. No, I also have a lot to learn from everyone else. I can also guarantee that there are many better equine teachers than me, but they are not capable of communicating all that they know. Sadly, that is what is happening. Some of the greatest masters in this industry have died and that is as far as their knowledge has reached. That is very sad because I can guarantee that there are many people here as well as in Colombia that are very wise. Many times you come to a horse show and you have to be there at 3am in order to see a specific horse training because the rider doesn’t want to be seen while he is working.

PPF: You just mentioned the interest being show by horse owners and others who are wanting to further understand this holistic concept we discussed a bit ago. You also mentioned the initial coming close to a horse. For you, what is the most important point when interacting with a horse?
PS: With horses as with humans; to generate trust, a union. Yesterday I told everyone that Monty Roberts, a genius living in the United States. I hope the Lord gives him life and health for many years to come. He wrote a book about union, it’s a book about horses, but it is a horse book for people. He discusses how through a union, we can reach great results with anything you want to achieve in life because your mind changes in such a way that a life of positivity is so closely tied to the mental capacity to convince ourselves, because that is what we do. To me the most important aspect is the union. Union includes trust and reciprocity. For example, this morning I spoke to a man, that is why we were delayed in starting this interview. He had a problem with a horse that he couldn’t easily get in the stall, he couldn’t tack up, he couldn’t place the bit on. This man was battling with his horse to do these things that we can say are so easy to do. What I used as a tool was not physical items, but I used my body language and I started to seek a union with the horse. And they saw me not enter the stall to take the horse and place a halter on him, but the horse came out. I did a couple of things with him and desensitized him to remove his fears. Horses don’t act on anger, there are no angry horses.

PPF: It’s fear.
PS: They act on fear. They are prey and we are their predators. So, what I did was work on the psyche of that horse and manifest to him that I am not a threat, but a friend. I used my technique to relax him and placed the halter on him. I didn’t grab the horse at any moment to lead him, but I walked all through this barn with the horse walking right behind me. There were people, other horses, many obstacles that, like his owner said, ‘he’s going to run off and go crazy here.’ He imagined everyone running to catch the horse, but the horse simply stayed with me. So, what did we establish? A union. What did I inspire him to feel? Trust. And that is the starting point for everything. If you and I have trust, we are going to be friends. It is up to me to earn your trust.

PPF: What has been your most memorable moment with a horse?
PS: When you save a horse’s life when you are sure he is on the road to death, that fills you in a spiritual way. For example, a friend of mine gifted me a horse. This horse had been given up on by some 15-20 trainers. He is a very honest man and he never wanted to sell that horse or even give it away because he knew something horrible would be done to that horse. And he didn’t want his horse to be sacrificed. So, one day he called me and said I was the only chance that horse had. He said if I couldn’t do it, nobody could. So, we went into partnership where he gave me half of the horse. I accepted to take him in and keep him up… and I ended up recovering that horse. When I took that horse in, everyone told me that would be the horse to kill me. And it isn’t the horse I have published as the angriest horse in the world, this one came before that one. To make a long story short, I rehabilitated that horse in 3 months. When I rehabilitated him, I wasn’t interested in keeping him or making money off of him. I called his owner and told him to come see his horse… HIS horse, not our horse. He rode, his kids rode, a friend rode. I told him ‘this is your horse, take him home’ and to this day he and his family are enjoying that horse. So, look at all that happened at once… I saved the horse’s life and my friend is happy with his horse.

PPF: And the horse is happy.
PS: And the horse is happy. I have other cases, for example, of successful competition horses. There is a Trocha mare, who I won’t name to be prudent. When I took her in, she had also been deemed a lost cause. It was so bad that when the owner went to buy her that the seller would only show her on the lead because she had already thrown off 3 riders, 2 of which were in critical condition. The mare didn’t kill them due to the grace and glory of the holy spirit, I think, because they were in a state of coma. What I am saying is that this was a severe case. I took on this mare and was able to rehabilitate her. Then, she went through her athletic career until she was deemed Out of Competition (FC). Earning this honor in Colombia is extremely difficult because there are an incredible number of amazing horses there. The competitive level is so high that you can go this week and win a competition and then next week you don’t win because a new monstrosity of a horse was shown and beat you. So, this mare competed all over the country, defeated all the mares, and earned her Out of Competition title. That truly completes me, it is something very satisfying. Horses are for everyone, not for a small group of people, it is for everyone. And that is the work we do. The more people enter the horse world and get involved, the better for everyone.

PPF: What has been the most valuable lesson of your career?
PS: Humility… because it’s the first thing a horse teaches you. Listen, I can have all the academic preparation and read all the books in the world, but the best teacher is the horse. So, I tell you humility because the first thing a horse teaches you to manage is your ego. Horses bring you off your pedestal, because if you remain on your pedestal, you will not go very far. Horses give me humility, they give me spirituality, they give me connection with nature, they give me connection with people. The horse is an amazing therapist. Horses can heal all ailments. I can be full of debts and problems but then I mount a horse and I forget about everything.

PPF: This year you are going on tour, what is the objective of that tour?
PS: To educate, to contribute the little knowledge I have to people who have not had the opportunity to know that information. I want to offer that information and quality content to them, not quantity, but quality. That is what we are lacking, higher information. I am a person who transpires horses all day long. Every day of my life, I am with a horse from 5am to 11pm, rain or shine, from Sunday to Sunday. I know what it is to live the horse life. That is what we aim to do in this tour, to share what horses have contributed to my life. I want to pass that on to other people. I want to offer my knowledge.

PPF: Who has been the most influential person in your career?
PS: First of all, my father. He was a very important man, not just to me, but to many people who have entered the horse world. My father at one point was the president of an association in Colombia named Asdesilla, the largest in the country, several times. He was on the board of directors for Fedequinas (national equine association), he was a judge for over 40 years, he was a pioneer of the initial regulations established by Fedequinas, which has been through modifications over the years. So, he was the first person I was able to see involved in this industry. My mother as well. I don’t know how she was able to get me educated, because all I thought about was horses. She is admirable. There is a man who is an institution when speaking of horses. Every chance I get to say so in public, I do, and I manifest it to him in person as well. I take my hat off to say his name, Mr. Gonzalo Franco. This man’s life did not have an easy beginning, it was complicated. He has a physical impairment in one of his hands, yet, somehow, he conquers all physical, mental, psychological adversities. Today, to me, this man is a master of masters. He is a true example. He is a trainer, he is a rider, he is an exhibitor, and moreover, he holds the record of Most Out of Competition Horses that were trained by him. That’s 17 Out of Competition horses!

PPF: What is the most important aspect of your work?
PS: Waking up every day with an illusion. Every day, I wake up with an illusion, and that is for me to be better today than I was yesterday. That’s because I don’t compete against anyone… I compete against myself. And I compete every day because I am a competitive person. And every day I work hard to be the best at what I do. Every day I study to become the best at what I do. So, that is the illusion, to learn from everybody, not just to learn from myself, but to learn from others. Listen, you have no idea the kinds of lessons I have learned from some of the most humble people. I have learned amazing lessons. I have learned from some people that I say, ‘wow, how unexpected!’

PPF: What do you like the most about horses?
PS: Everything! I love to see when they’re born. I like… you know what I like? To participate perhaps in the design. I don’t design a horse; I help others many times to form a horse or create a horse. You know something? The horse is the only animal that can help guarantee a daily illusion for you. When you have a horse, every day you think of that horse in a positive way. You’re always thinking about what that horse needs to correct or improve, and we all keep that in mind. We focus on something to do each day. So, you speak to me and get an idea, then you speak to someone else and get another idea, and you create a kind of package to use in benefit of improving your horse on a daily basis. That is our function. But, to brainstorm a horse from conception is great. After that, comes the process of imprinting. I start imprinting after 10 days of life because, to me, the first 10 days are essential for a foal to be with its mother. Why? There is something hardly spoken of in the equine world, and that is epigenetics. We all speak of genetics, but I have yet to see someone give a conference on epigenetics. I, however, have a conference prepared on epigenetics. Yesterday, I was unable to speak of it due to lack of time. The objective is to explain how during those 10 days, during that time of imprinting, which is the very first moments of contact with a foal. I allow 10 days for only the mare to interact with the foal because during those 10 days the mare teaches the foal a sort of master plan for life. She is teaching the foal to drink, to eat, to sleep, to stand, to move around, and to have an attitude for every situation. Mares are the ones to pass on to their offspring the brio, the character, and the temperament. When we speak of brio, character, and temperament, we tend to think it refers to only one thing, but it actually refers to 3 very different things. Brio, character, and temperament each influence the Paso horse in a different way. All that comes from the mother. The genetic component comes 50% from the sire and 50% from the dam, but the sire does not influence the epigenetics of his offspring. The dam provides the foal with what it needs to be an outstanding being in its etiology. So, we need to breed to dams who have etiological hierarchy. We think that we can simply replace a dam with a receptor mare that does not have those leadership characteristics and still obtain a successful outcome. So, now we know that a mare must have morphological characteristics in order to carry a fetus, but that mare should be inspected as well so that the foal not only gets the genetic value. She has a cellular contribution to the foal. Is that foal being nourished by a mare that has suffered, that has gone hungry, that has been sick or infested, or by a mare that has not gone through any of those harsh states? Your final product will be a result of that receptor mare. The one educating the foal is that receptor mare. Thus, we need to find a receptor mare that has the same characteristics and conditions as the dam. If we don’t, we’re on the wrong track.

PPF: What do you want people to know or remember the most about you?
PS: There is a phrase I use often during all my YouTube shows or at my conferences: What I want to do is leave an equine legacy. I feel that the human being must transcend. I want people to remember me for what I contributed with knowledge and the little work I was able to do. That would be the contribution and legacy I am leaving for my industry, for the horse industry, anywhere in the world that the horse may take me. I want to leave an equine legacy.

PPF: Which word most represents Pablo Saldarriaga?
PS: Faith.
PPF: Why?
PS: Because I believe that when you want it, you can do it. God is the One who give you strength. None of this would have been possible without Him. Faith is what makes the mountain move, and, for me, He comes before everything else.

PPF: Pablo, thank you very much for your time and your knowledge and for sharing it openly. That is what life is all about, about sharing everything, because there is enough for everyone, as my father used to say.
PS: Right.
PPF: Thank you so much.
PS: No, Maritza, thanks to you and to all your followers. I hope that I can meet everyone personally. I will be here in this country more often, mainly with Carlos in Orlando. We will have a site there where we plan to set up a training and resource center so that it can work as a sort of branch facility of Pablo Saldarriaga.
PPF: Yesterday, Perfiles del Paso Fino joined Alianza Ecuestre (Equestrian Alliance) with MAC Farms.
PS: That’s great.
PPF: We will be sharing all information regarding the tour and you can always count on us for anything you need.
PS: Thank you very much, we will definitely do that.