The Siciliano Indigeno or Cavallo Siciliano is an Italian breed of light riding horse native to the Mediterranean island of Sicily in southern Italy. It derives from cross-breeding of local mares with stallions of Oriental and North African type. In the twentieth century there was substantial intromission of Thoroughbred and Anglo-Arab blood, resulting in a marked increase in average height.
It was officially recognised as a breed in 2024. It is one of three Sicilian horse breeds, the others being the Purosangue Orientale and the Sanfratellano.
History
The history of Sicily over the three millennia preceding the Unification of Italy in 1861 is one of repeated conquest and strife, with many different peoples and powers achieving total or partial dominance over the island for a time. These have included the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Muslim North Africans, Lombards, Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Catalan-Aragonese, Spanish and Bourbons. It is likely that many of these invaders brought horses with them – from the Middle East, from North Africa, from the Iberian Peninsula and from Northern Europe. The Muslims who were present in the island from 827 to 1091 brought very large numbers of horses of Oriental type, while the Lombards brought heavy war-horses and the Spanish brought Iberian stock.
By the early twentieth century the resulting heterogeneous population had developed into two identifiable types: a "lowland" population standing some at the withers and showing similarities to the horses of North Africa; and a smaller "mountain" type with more resemblance to Oriental horses, standing some . From no later than 1925, mares of these types were being bred to Thoroughbred and Arab stallions in the hope of producing offspring with greater size and speed.
A breed society, the , was formed in the early twenty-first century. In 2024 the breed was officially recognised by the Ministero dell'Agricoltura, della Sovranità Alimentare e delle Foreste, the Italian ministry of agriculture, and added to the register of local horse and donkey breeds of limited diffusion.
Characteristics
The Siciliano is of medium size, with a height at the withers of for males and for mares; chest circumference and cannon bone circumference are and for males and and for mares. The coat may be any shade of bay, black, chestnut or grey.
Use
Horses of this breed may be used for recreational riding, for working riding, for light harness work or for sporting activities including dressage, showjumping and eventing.
It is one of the many breeds used by mounted regiments of the Carabinieri.
References Non tutti sanno che... (in Italian). Arma dei Carabinieri. Accessed June 2024.
[ANAREAI] (14 March 2024). Razze equine, il Masaf riconosce il Cavallo Siciliano (in Italian). AnmviOnline. Cremona: Associazione Nazionale Medici Veterinari Italiani. Archived 31 August 2024.
Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. . Archived 23 June 2020.
Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. .
Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. .
Liana Ayres (14 March 2024). Cavallo Siciliano: un passo da gigante (in Italian). Bologna: Cavallo Magazine. Accessed June 2024.
Breed data sheet: Cavallo Siciliano / Italy (Horse). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed June 2024.
[s.n.] (5 April 2024). Standard di razza (in Italian). Catania: Istituto Incremento Ippico per la Sicilia. Archived 31 August 2024.
[s.n.] (28 March 2024). Il cavallo siciliano ottiene il riconoscimento di "razza" - In Istituto Incremento Ippico la cerimonia di presentazione (in Italian). Catania: Istituto Incremento Ippico per la Sicilia. Archived 31 August 2024.
[s.n.] (30 March 2024). Cavallo Siciliano: un passo da gigante (in Italian). Newsletter: A cura dell'Ordine dei Veterinari di Mantova. Mantova: Ordine dei Veterinari di Mantova. Protocollo 164/24.