Brazil holds the many gaited horse breeds. Among them is the Campolina breed. Named after the first breeder; Mr. Cassiano Antonio da Silva Campolina (1836-1904), the Campolina horse has been bred in Brazil for centuries.

Mr. Campolina owned the Fazenda Tanque in the south part of the state of Minas Gerais. In 1870, Mr. Campolina was gifted a national mare bred by an Andalusian stallion, owned by D. Pedro II. That mare gave birth to a beautiful ½ Andalusian black colt later named "Monarca". This beautiful colt, raised with love and lot of care became the founding stallion for the Campolina breed. He was bred to Crioullo mares for 25 years at the Fazenda Tanque.

Since the beginning, Mr. Campolina was very selective and always improving genetically his herd by creating animals of great statute, sobriety and comfortable movement.

After Mr. Campolina died, other breeders continued his work and by doing so, they introduced other breeds to accomplish Mr. Campolina’s goal. Other stallions that influenced the breed were: "Menelike", an Anglo-Normand; "Golias", a ¼ Clydesdale; "Teffer", a Hosteiner; "Yanke Prince", an American Saddle Horse and "Rio Verde", a Mangalarga Marchador. The herdbook was finally closed in 1934 and no other breeds were allowed to be introduced.

In 1951, the Associacao Brasileira de Criadores de Cavalo Campolina was formed. It was created to establish the breed standards in order to guide the breeders. It has been decided on the following: the Campolina’s ideal height should be of 1.60 meters for males and 1.54 meters for females. The minimum height for males is 1.52 meters and for females is 1.45 meters. There is no maximum height determined for the breed. Any color is accepted and the temperament should be alert and docile. The horse should have great statute but be delicate, a sub convex to rectilinear profile, medium to long ears, round and muscular neck, silky and full manes; slightly inclined croup; rounded rump, and a low insertion tail. Like the Mangalarga Marchador, the Campolina also holds the batida (diagonal) and the picada (lateral) gaits. The breed standard for the gait demands that it be natural, of triple support, comfortable, elegant, regular and generated.

Picada gait is a natural, lateral gait, which is executed in four beats, which provides an extreme smoothness for the rider. It is characterized by a disassociated dislocation of support, elevation and advance of the lateral members, always with movements of triple support and diagonal support. The diagonal support being of significant inferior time as the lateral support. The more frequent and defined the triple support, the more balanced and comfortable the animal will be.

The Batida gait is also natural, but of a diagonal gait. It is characterized by the dissociation of the support, elevation and the advance of the diagonal bipeds, always with movements of triple support and lateral support. The lateral support is of inferior time as the diagonal support. It is a gait of disassociation diagonal advance, with 4 beats very well spaced on each cycle. It consist of the following: Triple support, diagonal biped support, triple support, lateral biped support, triple support, diagonal biped support, triple support, lateral biped support, and so on.

It has been for a long time now that the Campolina horse is naturally inclined to gait. It is obvious when seeing the foals next to their dams, when they are at its natural and have not been submitted to any type of training. But to gait, the foals need to carry the gait genes and the natural gait is pure.

The first requirement for a Campolina horse to receive the title of champion is to gait. Non gaited horses are automatically disqualified from show rings. The gaits are judged for comfort, style, regularity, efficiency and naturally.

Future:

The Campolina has a bright future in the American market. This is a horse that has to its advantage a comfortable gait, height and versatility. They have been used for non specialized sports, such as: handling cattle, agricultural farms, pleasure and endurance. That is why Mr. Lucas Guerra from M.M. Horse Farms has acted as a pioneer of this exceptional breed by importing some of these horses to Florida in September of 2002.