I'm a novice when it come to Paso's (had a wide chested QT before), this may seem like a silly question but what is the normal width of a Paso's chest or the distance between the two front legs. He just seems a narrow. Is this normal for Paso's to be more narrow, is it his age, breeding, or maybe we just haven't built up those muscles yet?

Clipper's daddy is Promoted de Selecta and the mom is Valda de Rapid (dub 5-12-01). I have only owned him for a little less than a year and where we stable at there are a couple of hills that we go up and down on. We are in about 15 acres and we are working on trail riding.

Thanks for the advice.

Your horses' sire is also very narrow.

Palominos will vary all over the board, from 12/14" between the hoofs down to 4" between the hoofs or perhaps smaller, it's a matter of preference.
I would say that the average might be more like 6/8"

I prefer the wider stance as this tends to be a bigger boned and stouter horse. And in some cases even a taller horse

Narrowness is quite common in Paso Fines. They do not have chests like Quarter Horses for the most part. Not saying that all Pasos are narrow... I do have some wide cheated mares (I personally prefer a wider chest for breeding stock).
Lots of times this is base narrow conformation you are dealing with. This is why they do not "widen out" with age... like you might expect.
Along with base narrow confo, a lot of times you will have offset knees in front (offset to the outside) and toe-out in the rear.... very common.

I read in my conformation/anatomy book that a horse’s chest is only as wide as the scapular and hummers bones that forum it and that the true width of the chest is evaluated by locating the points of the shoulders (which lie between the scapula and the hummers bones). The narrow-chested horse is said to lack power and cause the forelegs to be too close together, like Hollis mentioned, while the overly wide-chest is noted to cause the horse to roll from side to side. It sounds to me like the overly wide-chested horse could have the greatest adverse affect on the quality of the Paso Fine gait whereas some narrow-chested bloodlines, like the PR Kofresi, seem to produce very smooth gait. I don’t really understand base-narrow or how the hind toes are affected though, Terry…would you elaborate a little for me please? Thanks!

Well, the breed standard calls for "medium." There's no question, in many bloodlines, and as part of growth, the chest tends to be the LAST to fill out -because the topline/top of scapula/shoulders are last to finish developing- horses' bones etc is from the bottom, up. The shoulders are not attracted to the body by bone, like the back legs/pelvis is, but by tissue to the spine....and in Pasos, this may go on to 5-6 years in mares, and longer w/studs.(especially taller horses, often take longer to broaden out, chest last)
Also, it very much depends on how the front legs are set, either directly under the body, or somewhat out to the corners...and so, the space between the front legs may seem narrower, and make the horse appear narrower chested.
However, a horse with legs set more "under,"(giving more of an inverted Y shape between the legs), especially if they have nice inside muscling there, and on the forearm, are generally more agile movers, have more flexion thru the joints and generally higher movement, because its easier to support the weight of the forehand of the horse(chest, neck, head).

A horse with front legs more set to the sides, tends to have lower action, and if there's really TOO broad a chest, the horse tends to be pidgeon-toed (and yes, horses with their front legs set TOO close together tend to toe out- got to support that bodyweight above, one way or the other!), so even though it might look nicer, it may not be a functional advantage at all...ideal on a broader chest, would be legs set under the body.

Remember that if breathing and lung capacity is what you're looking for, then it’s the depth of the heart girth and depth thru the flanks where the diaphragm is, and the spring of the ribcage of the body.... that’s where the lungs are!