Maremmano Horses of Italy

Well, while on the subject of relatively unknown horse breeds, I remembered that I recently looked at some Maremma saddles again.

I was contacted by Stefano, who is a saddler in Italy and makes Maremmano saddles. His website is http://www.saddlemaker.it . I did know about two types of Maremmano saddles used by the butteri, the Italian ranchworkers. One is called the Bardella, and it is a treeless version. I have one in my collection:

 

Then there is a version which is based on a military saddle tree. I think it's called a Scafardi. But I stand corrected here. The picture below shows one of them in use. The pictures is from the Creative Commons Collection and was taken at Equitana in Germany.

Notice the traditional curb bit, breast plate and leather covered rope headstall under the bridle.

Stefano has several interesting saddles on his website, but the most interesting (to me) was the third version of Maremmano saddle. He calls it a Sella col pallino:

Reminds me a bit of the saddles used in the Camargue region of France. I'd love to have a ride on one of these :-)

According to Wikipdedia, Maremmano Horses are also known as Maremmanas or Tuscan Horses. They are solid boned, agile and usually bay. They are primarily a working stockhorse. The breed is not well known outside Italy.

Here are some Maremmanos at the horse fair in Verona in 2007:



And here is a brief clip showing the horses and the landscape (without the glamour and glitz of the horse show).



More well known than the horses are the Maremma dogs. And I so happen to have one of them, too :-)