Maremmano
Encyclopedia
- For the dog breed, see Maremma SheepdogMaremma SheepdogThe Maremma Sheepdog, in Italian Cane da pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese, usually referred to as just Maremmano, is a breed of livestock guardian dog indigenous to central Italy, particularly to Abruzzo and the Maremma region of Tuscany and Lazio. It has been used for centuries by Italian shepherds to...
; for the Maremmana breed of cattle, see MaremmanaMaremmanathumb|A Maremmana cow.The Maremmana is a breed of cattle reared in the Maremma, a prairie region extending in western central Italy from southern Tuscany to northern Lazio, usually in the provinces of Grosseto and Viterbo respectively....
.
The Maremmano is a breed of horse originating in the Maremma
Maremma
The Maremma is a vast area in Italy bordering the Tyrrhenian Sea, consisting of part of south-western Tuscany - Maremma Livornese and Maremma Grossetana , and part of northern Lazio - Maremma Laziale .The poet Dante Alighieri in his Divina Commedia places the...
area of Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
and Lazio in Italy. Traditionally a hardy working horse used by the Butteri
Buttero
A buttero is a shepherd or cowboy in the region of Maremma, in Tuscany in the Northern Latium and in the Pontine Marshes. The buttero habitually rides the horse typical of the Maremma, a Maremmano, and tends livestock, especially cattle and sheep. The characteristic saddle is called a bardella...
for livestock management, it is today principally a saddle horse. Extensive crossing with Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
and other breeds has led to a more athletic type, the Maremmano migliorato, or "Improved Maremmano".
History
The history of the Maremmano breed is not fully known, but it is thought that they were developed from North African stock that was combined with SpanishIberian horse
The Iberian horse is a title given to a number of horse breeds native to the Iberian peninsula. At present, 17 horse breeds are recognized by FAO as characteristic of the Iberian Peninsula....
, Barb
Barb (horse)
Developed on the Barbary Coast of North Africa, the Barb horse is a desert breed with great hardiness and stamina. The Barb generally possesses a fiery temperament and an atypical sport-horse conformation, but nevertheless has influenced modern breeds....
, Neapolitan
Neapolitan horse
The Neapolitan Horse, , Neapolitano or Napolitano, is a horse breed that originated in the plains between Naples and Caserta, in the Campania region of Italy, but which may have been bred throughout the Kingdom of Naples. The Neapolitan horse was frequently mentioned in literature from the 16th to...
and Arabian blood. During the 19th century, Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
, Norfolk Roadster and other blood was probably added.
For more than a century the original Maremanno type has been crossbred with additional Thoroughbred blood, resulting in a taller and more refined type, but at the expense of the hardiness and stamina of the original breed. Crossbreeding with Freiberger
Freiberger
The Freiberger, also known as Franches-Montagnes, is a draft horse from Switzerland. It was widely used as draft and pack horse in the Swiss army. Breeding used to be heavily subsidized in Switzerland. It is the last representative of the light cold blood horse in Europe...
horses in the Pesaro
Pesaro
Pesaro is a town and comune in the Italian region of the Marche, capital of the Pesaro e Urbino province, on the Adriatic. According to the 2007 census, its population was 92,206....
province of Italy has resulted in a breed known as the Catria Horse
Catria horse
The Catria Horse is a breed of horse originating in the mountainous area of the Monte Catria in the Marche region of Italy. It is one of the fifteen indigenous horse "breeds of limited distribution" recognised by the AIA, the Italian breeders' association...
.
Breed characteristics
The Maremmano breed generally stands between and is usually bay, brown, dark chestnutChestnut (coat)
Chestnut is a hair coat color of horses consisting of a reddish-to-brown coat with a mane and tail the same or lighter in color than the coat. Genetically and visually, chestnut is characterized by the absolute absence of true black hairs...
or black
Black (horse)
Black is a hair coat color of horses in which the entire hair coat is black. Black is a relatively uncommon coat color, and novices frequently mistake dark chestnuts or bays for black. However, some breeds of horses, such as the Friesian horse, Murgese and Ariegeois are almost exclusively black...
, although gray
Gray (horse)
Gray or grey is a coat color of horses characterized by progressive silvering of the colored hairs of the coat. Most gray horses have black skin and dark eyes; unlike many depigmentation genes, gray does not affect skin or eye color Their adult hair coat is white, dappled, or white intermingled...
and roan
Roan (horse)
Roan is a horse coat color pattern characterized by an even mixture of colored and white hairs on the body, while the head and "points"—lower legs, mane and tail—are more solid-colored. The roan pattern is dominantly-inherited, and is found in many horse breeds...
are occasionally seen. It has a long, slightly heavy head, a muscular neck that is broad at the base, high, well-muscled withers
Withers
The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of a four-legged animal. In many species it is the tallest point of the body, and in horses and dogs it is the standard place to measure the animal's height .-Horses:The withers in horses are formed by the dorsal spinal processes of roughly the...
, a full chest and sloping shoulders. The back is short, the croup sloping, and the legs solid and sturdy with good joints and strong hooves. The breed is known for its solidity and their ability to adapt to bad weather and rough terrain.
Uses
The Maremmano is the traditional mount of the Maremma cattle men, known as butteri, and is also used for light draftDraft horse
A draft horse , draught horse or dray horse , less often called a work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred for hard, heavy tasks such as ploughing and farm labour...
work. Horses of this breed have often been used as cavalry mounts and today are used by Italian Mounted Police
Mounted police
Mounted police are police who patrol on horseback or camelback. They continue to serve in remote areas and in metropolitan areas where their day-to-day function may be picturesque or ceremonial, but they are also employed in crowd control because of their mobile mass and height advantage and...
. They were amongst the protagonists of the last successful classical cavalry charge in history in August 1942 near Isbushensky on the Don
Don River (Russia)
The Don River is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres to the Sea of Azov....
river by a cavalry unit of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia
Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia
During World War II, the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia was a corps-sized expeditionary unit of the Regio Esercito that fought on the Eastern Front...
(Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia, or CSIR) on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
. The 2nd squadron of the 3rd Dragoons Savoia Cavalleria Regiment of the Prince Amedeo Duke of Aosta Fast (Celere) Division, armed with sabres and hand grenades, outflanked an estimated 2,000 Soviet infantry while the remainder of the regiment took Isbushensky in a dismounted attack ,. The Maremmano proved to be tough enough to brave the Russian steppe, a feat which few foreign horses can boast about.