The Maremmano Horse

The Maremmano horses are bred in the hills of Tuscany. They are traditional mounts for the butteri, or cattlemen. Maremma is a coastal tract on the Tyrrhenian Sea that extends from Piombino to Orbetello. It was formerly a marshland that drained a long time ago, becoming an unhealthy wasteland. Early in the twenty-first century, it was drained again and is now being used as pastureland.

The Maremmanos’ origins are shrouded in darkness, but they most likely are descendants of the Neapolitan horses which were founded on Arabian, Barb and Spanish blood. The Neapolitan horses were made famous in the sixteenth century by Federico Grisone. Grisone, the founder of the Neapolitan riding academy, was regarded as the first great classical riding master after the Greek man, Xenophon.

The first few Maremmano horses were pure, but, after a good deal of out-crossing involving English horses like the Norfolk Roadster, the horses became more a mixture than a pure breed. The Maremmanos are not the best looking breed or the fastest, but they are good, sturdy workers, using strength and toughness with their calm temperament to create the ideal cowpony.

The Maremmano horse comes in any solid color and stand about 15.3 hands high. They are very amenable by nature and easy to feed. They have often proved their use as army or police horses. Because they are so gentle, they also can do light draught work as well as cattle herding.

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