Giara Horse

The Giara Horse is a subspecies endemic in Sardinia. The origin of this horse is uncertain, some argue that it descended from horses imported from the African Phoenician and Greek sailors in the fifth and fourth centuries BC.

For others had already been domesticated by the people a millennium before and would therefore be a descendant of the wild horse in Sardinia since Neolithic times and whose fossils were found at 6000 BC.

Habitat and distribution

The horse has spread in the wild all over Sardinia at least until the Late Middle Ages. The characteristics of the plateau include altitudes ranging from 500 to 600 meters above sea level and steep slopes that have remained completely isolated safeguarding a typical race.

Some specimens are found on Monte Arci, in the natural reserve of Capo Caccia in Alghero and Forest Burgos. The horses of Giara, until the fifties, were used for threshing grain in Sardinia before they were superseded by mechanical harvesters.

They have a coat color usually of uniform bay, wild black stallion, or burnt chestnut. They are characterized by a square head, with a conspicuous tuft like mane and a thick neck. The withers are just given, the croup is short and the tail is bent low.

Their eyes are slightly slanted. Their lower chest is narrow. The legs are thin. The average height at the withers is about 120cm and it is not a pony, but a horse of small size. The horses are animals of Giara with an indomitable character and are usually restless.

Behavior

The horses of Giara live in stable family groups consisting of male-dominance and one to eight females. Each core has a territory of its own which may sometimes partially overlap with that of neighboring groups.

The foals, once they reach childbearing age are expelled from the herd. For the stallion they remain for 15 – 20 years and are supplanted by younger horses that will join a group of males.

Protection

Despite the limited diffusion of Giara the horse does not fall into the list of species protected by LR 29 July 1998, n.23. It is not considered endangered.