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Confessions to Don Pepe
Musante
Spanish Version
By Raul Risso
This is 2004, twenty years after I wrote an article entitled “Pisos, Pisos,
Pisos, My Priorities in the Breed, 1984”, which years later was published in the
USA by the former Caballo Magazine. I was fixated on the one characteristic that
does distinguish and identify our breed from any other gaited one. I did say in
the same article “no horse has an excellent gait if it is not strong enough, or
lacks the temperament or character to sustain the paso llano over a lengthy
distance”. Nevertheless the emphasis expressed in the title, I recognize now,
was misleading.
Twenty years have gone by and we continue to breed our beloved Peruvian Paso
Horses. And it’s been 15 years since we moved with our herd from Peru in 1989 to
our ranch here in Louisiana, USA. Throughout these years my life has changed
quite a bit and I have had much exposure to the breed in the context of a very
competitive, large market for just about every conceivable breed.
There is no question that the breed has improved but we must strive for even
better. Having said that, today I stand for a horse that “first of all is a true
horse, and secondly, it has to have Pisos”. There are a couple of quotes that as
a young man I heard from one of our “founding fathers”, Jorge Juan Pinillos. He
cynically said: “the Peruvian is an animal that most reflects the looks of a
horse” inferring that our breed had not accomplished a sound basic structure.
The second one that he would repeat again and again is that “when standing, the
horse has to do it in a decisive manner”, meaning that it should be able to
stand plumb under his body mass.
Peru’s National Organization the ANCPCPP updated the Standard for the Breed a
couple of years ago. I have the deepest appreciation for their work. To my
knowledge the text approved for the “ideal type” in our horse is correct, with
the exception of the description of our horse when seen from a “lateral view”.
It depicts a horse standing not straight but too far under its body mass in a
form that is described as “a trapezoidal figure”. I believe instead that this is
the stance of an animal having pain in its lower limbs. Is this the ideal? The
authors justify their “model” by claiming that such an animal has the structural
ability to propel its front limbs forward and overstep with its rear ones. This
is not proven and even if it is so, we can’t condone for a clear physical defect
to be the source of an ability simply because this kind of a horse will be more
prone to breaking down due to the stress this poor structure causes. The ANCPCPP
is hopefully correcting this mistake. After all this is the leading Organization
in the PPH industry. They owe it to the breeders around the world.
What I wrote back in 1984 reminds me of another giant in our breed, Don Pepe
Musante, the father of the very familiar judge to aficionados, Jose “Pepe”
Musante Jr. Don Pepe was, at the time, semi-retired from the breeding activity
having passed the management of his remaining herd to his then young nephew
Javier La Rosa. I will never forget when Javier, proud of his accomplishments,
held an exhibition for fellow breeders. A large group of respectable older
fellows were there and so was Don Pepe. Javier had shown us a good number of
very attractive offspring in a very professional manner, maintaining a sequence
that helped us to identify their different lineage. We were impressed. As Javier
was wrapping things up, putting an end to the presentation, Don Pepe interrupted
and corrected Javier, telling him that he was to continue and show, as in the
famous Clint Eastwood spaghetti movie, “the good, the bad and the ugly”. Don
Pepe was an informed and accomplished breeder but above all a self-deprecating
one.
Pepe Musante was careful not to offend fellow horsemen’s feelings and would
rather keep his mouth shut or, when asked for his opinion, say something nice
about almost any horse. I remember once, when confronted by the inexperienced
owner of a miserable looking young colt asking for his opinion, he evoked the
famous novel “The Count of Montecristo” in which, the tale goes, this nobleman
was imprisoned unjustly for so many years. Don Pepe responded to his host,
“trust and wait”.
Nevertheless, Don Pepe had the following to say regarding AV Sol de Paijan.
While recognizing his great qualities as a breeding animal (and he did carry on
to become a cornerstone in the history of the breed) he implied that the massive
use of this stallion and the line breeding of his descendants, which was already
occurring at the time, was going to affect the breed by downsizing not only the
height but also the overall body mass of our horses. And so it did happen. There
was no mean spirit in his words but a genuine concern for the future of the
breed.
Don Pepe’s herd was an example of proper conformation and beauty. He had sought
animals that “looked like a horse in the first place” and had bred them closely
for several generations. Even in their chestnut color with very few white
markings, they looked alike. Along the way, as he put emphasis on conformation,
he realized that he had paid little attention to finesse of gait and his horses
showed low lift and little termino. Peruvian people often use razor sharp
meanings in their nicknaming. Thus, the “Musante” horses were referred to, in a
demeaning way, as having a 4 beat gait that sounded more like “piqui-piqui”
instead of “paca-paca”.
Juan Pardo was a devilish young man, as he still is now into his eighties. When
I was just a kid, the National Shows took place in the old Club Hipico in
downtown Lima. At one of these shows a Mares Conjunto Class was being held and
one of the entries belonged to Pepe Musante. There were no bleachers, just a
fence line along the arena where spectators would line up and watch the
competition. As Don Pepe’s mares passed in front of a group of aficionados, all
of them men from the North where the preference is for flashy horses, headed by
Juan they all knelt down and began to pray, first by making the sign of the
cross on their foreheads and following with a “Hail Mary full of Grace…” The
“nuns”, as Juan irreverently called them.
Don Pepe never showed himself to be offended by such demonstrations. After all,
he was his own worst critic. I remember visiting him at home in his later years.
He took me to a room full of treasures that my classmate and dear friend Pepe
Jr. has inherited, preserves and cherishes. With irony he would talk about “the
story of my failures” as he would refer to the latter days of his breeding
program and show to a few intimate people, pictures of his horses, some of which
he regretted having discarded early on from his breeding program, most probably
because their color did not match his preference for the chestnut.
It is reassuring for me to go back in time and rescue the value of the Pepe
Musante’s of this very small world of the Peruvian Paso Horse. His horses had
identity and they were of outstanding bloodlines. Don Pepe also had his eyes
open to the exchange of bloodlines. Very few realize that even before Sol de Oro
V fell into the hands of Alfredo Elias upon the death of his brother in law
Gustavo de la Borda, that Don Pepe had asked Gustavo for the Stallion. Gustavo
graciously consented and the horse was sent to the Hacienda Granados where he
was bred to several Musante mares.
Don Pepe Musante’s horses were far from perfect, but very strong. The majority
of us in my generation, fixated on showy, fine gaited horses, underestimated
their value. Although he never sought the limelight, he did have close friends
and followers, some of them mere aficionados, who would gather around him at
every National Show. None so much as his nephew Javier, and my brother Pepe
Risso Sr. who revered him and have continued to breed on to foundation lines
coming from Don Pepe’s herd. A few other breeders, amongst them Ramon Aspillaga
who took a Musante Stallion, “Solitario” to Cayalti, then Alfredo Elias and most
recently Olaf Hein, successfully introduced Musante bloodlines into their herds.
The breed as a whole would be further ahead with the improvement of the
structure in our genetic base if we had followed Pepe Musante’s example. Yes, we
all breed Peruvian Paso Horses with a passion to produce individuals exhibiting
fine pisos, but firstly they must be strong, sound horses, then they are
“Peruvians”. Don Pepe was not the only one to understand this, but he was the
first that I know of, to put the words Jorge Juan preached, into real deeds.
And this has been my confession to Don Pepe.
Raul Risso, Louisiana, August 2004
Confesiones a Don Pepe Musante
Por Raul Risso
Han pasado 20 anios desde que escribi un articulo titulado “Pisos. Pisos, Pisos,
Mis Prioridades en la cria, 1984” publicado en el Anuario de la ANCPCPP. Estaba
yo entonces obsesionado en esa caracteristica que nos distingue e identifica
respecto a otras razas de paso. Si bien sostuve tambien en el mismo articulo que
“ningun caballo tiene gran piso si no es lo suficientemente fuerte o si le falta
el temperamento para mantener el paso llano a travez de una larga jornada”. Sin
embargo debo admitir que el enfasis espresado en el titulo, lo reconozco ahora,
conducia a conclusions erroneas.
20 anios han pasado y continuamos en la brega criando nuestro querido Caballo
Peruano. Y van 15 anios desde que deje el Peru para trasladarme con mis caballos
aqui a mi criadero de Louisiana en EEUU. A travez del tiempo he experimentado
muchos cambios en mi vida y tambien he visto a nuestro caballo expuesto dentro
de un mercado muy competitivo donde existe toda raza caballar concebible.
No hay duda de que la raza ha mejorado pero debemos proseguir en mejorarla aun
mas. Dicho esto, sostengo hoy que un caballo debe ser “en primer lugar un
verdadero caballo y secundariamente debe tener Pisos”. Hay un par de frases que
siendo joven, escuche de nuestro socio fundador Jorge Juan Pinillos. El
cinicamente decia: “El Caballo Peruano es el animal que mas se parece a un
caballo” infiriendo que nuestra raza no habia conseguido aun una solida
estructura. La Segunda que repetia toda vez era: el caballo debe tener “decision
al pararse” refiriendose a que este debe estar debidamente aplomado bajo la masa
corporal.
La ANCPCPP hace mas de dos anios aprobo un Nuevo Patron de la Raza, lo cual es
loable. En general estoy de acuerdo con texto aprobado como el “tipo ideal” de
nuestro caballo pero tengo profunda discrepancia con la descripcion de un animal
visto de perfil. El “modelo” no esta aplomado, sino parado excesivamente debajo
de su cuerpo en una forma descrita textualmente como una “figura trapezoidal”.
Creo yo que esta es la posicion que asume un caballo adolorido en sus bajos
miembros. Es esto el ideal? Sostienen los autores que asi tiene la estructura
requerida para estirar los brazos con soltura de hombros y ser capaz de pasar la
pisada de sus anteriores con los posteriores. Esto no esta probado. Y si asi
fuera, no podemos aceptar que un claro defecto fisico sea la fuente de cualquier
habilidad por la sencilla razon de que las cuartillas de tal animal se vencen
debido al “Stress” derivado de su pobre estructura. Esperemos que la ANCPCPP
corrija este error ya que esta es nuestra organizacion lider en el mundo.
Lo que escribi alla por 1984, me recuerda de otro gigante de la raza, Don Pepe
Musante Hurtado. Don Pepe ya estaba entonces semi retirado de la crianza en si,
y anios antes se la encomendo a su joven sobrino Javier La Rosa. Entonces
Javier, nunca lo olvidare, muy orgulloso de sus logros sostuvo una exhibicion
para los amigos criadores. Estaban presentes un grupo respetable de antiguos
criadores y asimismo el Tio Pepe. Javier nos habia ensenado un buen numero de
crias muy atractivas y en forma muy profesional mostrando los caballos en
secuencias de manera tal que podiamos identificarlos con su linaje. Estabamos
impresionados. Javier estaba a punto de concluir con la presentacion cuando Don
Pepe lo interrumpio y corrigio diciendole que debia continuar la exhibicion,
mostrando “lo bueno, lo malo y lo feo” tomando la frase del nombre de la famosa
pelicula de Clint Eastwood de aquellos anios. Pepe Musante era un hombre
instruido excelente criador, pero sobre todo tenia humor y era profundo critico
de su cria.
Pepe Musante era cuidadoso de no ofender a sus colegas criadores y preferia
quedarse callado o, cuando de le pedia una opinion, siempre tenia alguna
cualidad que rescatar del caballo en mencion. Recuerdo una vez cuando
confrontado por un inexperimentado propietario su parecer acerca de un potrillo
de facha miserable. Evocando la famosa novella de Dumas “El Conde de Montecristo”,
cuento en el cual un noble sufre injusto cautiverio por muchisimos anios, Don
Pepe respondio a su anfitrion: “confiar y esperar”.
Sin embargo Don Pepe tuvo lo siguiente que expresar respecto a AV Sol de Paijan
el potro que brillaba como reproductor al cual no solo se le estaban sacando
muchas crias sino que tambien se le comenzaba a inbridar. Reconociendo su
tremendo impacto en la crianza implicaba que aquello traeria consigo una
reduccion de la estatura y masa corporal en nuestra raza. Y asi sucedio. No
habia malicia en ello sino mas bien verdadera preocupacion por el futuro.
El hato de Don Pepe era un ejemplo de correcta conformacion y belleza. El habia
seleccionado animales que “en primer lugar, parecieran un caballo” y luego los
cruzo de cerca por varias generaciones. Eran similares aun en el color que
selecciono, el alazan, y tolero poco o nada de blanco en sus extremidades. A lo
largo del camino, a la vez que ponia enfasis en la conformacion se dio cuenta de
que habia prestado poca atencion a la exquisitez en el Piso y sus caballos
mostraban poca agudez y/o termino. Los Peruanos son incisivos en poner
apelativos. Asi, los caballos de “Musante” eran descritos disminuyendolos, como
de “piqui- piqui” en vez del “paca-paca”.
Yo era un muchacho cuando se celebraban los concursos en el Club Hipico de la
Av. Salaverry en Lima y brevemente en La Molina. En alguno de aquellos, no
recuerdo cual, fue que Don Pepe presento un bello Conjunto de Yeguas. No habian
entonces tribunas, solo una baranda que cercaba el campo de exhibicion a lo
largo de la cual se alineaban los aficionados naturalmente agrupados por amistad
o procedencia como era el caso de los Nortenos. Juan Pardo era joven“carbonero”
y jugueton al igual que hoy, cerca de los 80. Al pasar delante de ellos las
yeguas de Don Pepe, los nortenos conocidos por su apego a los animales de gran
brazo y encabezados por Juan, se arrodillaron, hicieron la senal de la cruz y
luego empezaron a rezar un “Ave Maria, llena de eres de gracia….” Las “monjas”
como Juan irreverentemente las llamaba.
Don Pepe nunca se mostro ofendido por aquellas demostraciones. Despues de todo,
el era el primero que criticaba su crianza. Recuerdo haberlo visitado en su casa
en sus ultimos anios. Me llevo a una habitacion donde atesoraba sus recuerdos,
una exquisita coleccion de monturas, jatos, y otras piezas invalorables las
cuales son hoy conservadas por nuestro buen amigo Pepe Musante Lacoste. Abriendo
un album y mostrandome fotos Don Pepe me hablaba con ironia de “la historia de
mis fracasos” tal como se referia a los dias postreros de su crianza, fotos de
algun animal que lamentaba haber descartado, quien sabe si por su color que no
hacia juego con su preferencia por el alazan.
Es reconfortante para mi retrotraer estos recuerdos y rescatar el valor de los
Pepe Musantes de este pequeno mundo del Caballo Peruano de Paso. Sus caballos
tuvieron identidad y fueron de distinguidas lineas de sangre. Don Pepe tambien
abrio los ojos y busco de refrescar sangres. Pocos saben que antes de que Sol de
Oro Viejo le fuera legado a Alfredo Elias a la muerte de su cunado Gustavo de la
Borda, Don Pepe habia pedido a Gustavo el uso del Caballo. Asi es que Sol de Oro
fue enviado a la Hacienda Granados donde sirvio varias yeguas.
Los caballos de Don Pepe Musante no eran perfectos pero si eran muy fuertes La
mayoria de mi generacion fijos en el objetivo del Concurso, buscabamos caballos
finos de pisos y de gran espectaculo y desestimabamos su valor. Aunque nunca
gusto de la notoriedad, si tuvo muy cercanos amigos y seguidores, criadores y/o
aficionados puros que todos conocemos. Mas ninguno como Javier, su sobrino y mi
hermano Pepe quienes le tenian reverencia y siguieron con alguna/s linea/s de su
cria. Don Ramon Aspillaga llevo “Solitario” a Cayalti, un potro de la cria de
Don Pepe. Lo mismo hizo mas tarde Alfredo Elias y ultimamente Olaf Hein, todos
los cuales introdujeron con acierto, lineas de Musante.
La raza como un todo estaria mucho mas adelante en el mejoramiento de la
estructura de nuestra base genetica si todos hubieramos seguido el ejemplo de
Pepe Musante. Es cierto que criamos, apasionados en perpetuar los mas finos
pisos, una raza propia del Peru y asi debe ser pero, “primero deben ser caballos
fuertes y sanos y luego Peruanos de Paso”. Supongo que Don Pepe no fue el unico
pero, de los que yo conoci, fue el primero que paso de los dichos (que predicaba
Jorge Juan) a los hechos.
Y esta fue mi confesion a Don Pepe.
Louisiana, EEUU Agosto del 2004
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We are located just 90 minutes north of New Orleans Airport in Southeastern Louisiana.
Please call or email us for your questions, additional information or to book breedings
to our stallions, or make an appointment to view our stock.
Raul Risso M &
Lauren Carter-Risso
64486 Bracy Ln
Amite, LA 70422
Telephone: 985-748-4811
E-mail: ryrusa@i-55.com
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