At the Chiosi Country Club in Corleone, on November 30 2024 a conference-seminar on the Sicilian Saddle Horse was held, attended by many breeders of this breed of horse approved last February after a long process. The event aimed to take stock of current affairs, inform breeders about possible developments in the immediate and future and explain a series of ” instructions for the use” regarding participation in the scheduled Selection Reviews of Horses to be approved, obtaining passports and more.

Francesco Russo, President of ARACS (Regional Association of Sicilian Horse Breeders), briefly opened the proceedings to reaffirm how the Sicilian Saddle Horse is today a resource that belongs to all of Sicily that will give great satisfaction to its breeders if they will continue to follow the road of seriousness, innovation and professionalism in the way of breeding and selecting their subjects in strict collaboration with association and regional and national institutions.

Giuseppe Scalisi, president of COLDIRETTI di Corleone, and the new President of FISE Sicilia, Flavio Sinagra, attended the works and brought a brief greeting expressing their strong interest in the Sicilian Saddle Horse in their respective agro-breeding environment and Olympic equestrian sports.

The newly elected mayor of Corleone, Walter Rà, announced the signing of a memorandum of understandings with ARACS, drafted to promote and support actions for the enhancement of the Sicilian Saddle Horse, extending the possible participation also to other municipalities of Sicily where there is presence of its breeders. The Department of Sport, Agriculture and Tourism of the municipality of Corleone, whose councillors attended the conference, are studying a series of initiatives to promote the development of the territory of Corleone and the Sicilian Saddle Horse, elected as a symbol of this city, historically linked to the equine breeding since the Middle Ages when was founded as a state town.

The mayor of Alia, Nino Guccioni, announced the signing of the memorandum of understanding between ARACS and the Municipality of Corleone by its municipal administration, along with municipalities of Prizzi and Palazzo Adriano. He announced that in the next fair of Alia, Sicilia Alleva, now at its thirteenth edition, will host a Selection Review of the Sicilian Saddle Horse of his territory.

A series of technical interventions were carried out, moderated by Dr. Luca Gazzara, official of the Department of Agriculture.

The genetics studies.
Prof. Salvatore Bordonaro, professor of zootechnics and genetic improvement at the University of Catania, explained the importance of Sicilian biodiversity in the Italian breeding heritage in general and, in particular, the equine breeds of Sicily, genetically interlinked over the years. During the process of recognition of the Sicilian Saddle Horse breed, since 2003, a series of research and studies on genetic variability were conducted by the Universities of Catania, Syracuse, and Messina have begun. They will be completed in the next 3 years. They will have to complete a thorough genetic analysis on the largest number of suitable subjects to verify also the potential of the Sicilian Saddle Horse in sports, their resilience and resistance to the conditions of the Sicilian environment in which they live so that “can be defined and build, together with the breeders, the Sicilian Saddle Horse of the future”.
Through multiple graphs of a PowerPoint presentation, he also showed and explained some of the results of the samples made so far on 252 samples of Oriental Sicilian purebreds, Sanfratellanos and Sicilian Saddle Horses. They showed the variations and connections of the mitochondrial DNA sequence of the three breeds, finding, for example, that all Orientals have a single haplotype U, which attests to their purity, while on one subject of Sicilian Saddle Horse, its haplotype B is the same found in the DNA of a horse found at a Bronze Age archaeological site in Mongolia. The additional future samples will greatly expand the knowledge on the diversity and genetic characteristics that emerged in the three breeds of Sicilian horses and Sicilian Saddle Horse in particular, to give a complete picture on which to work in the perspective of the preservation and authentic improvement of its peculiar characteristics.

The Operating Instructions.
Using a clear video presentation, Dr Ketty Torrisi, breed expert of the Institute of Equestrian Horses Growth of Catania, explained the procedures for identifying foals at birth and the selection review criteria for subjects aged 30 months and over. The births of foals from approved subjects must be reported by the breeder to ANAERAI within 60 days of birth to be registered in the national equine data bank. Then the microchip, sent by ANAERAI to the farm, will be inserted by a veterinarian who will fill out and sign the identification card, according to which ANAERAI will issue the Green Passport with the Zootechnical Certificate that will attest the registration in the studbook within 12 months of the birth of the foal. The cost for the identification, microchip and passport will be 45 € for ANAERAI members and 80 € for non-members.
She explained the importance of the numerous Selection Reviews that will take place throughout Sicily in the next 3 years to identify those who qualify to be considered approved Sicilian Saddle Horses. This will be done by drawing up a detailed evaluation form for each subject by the examining committee composed of experts from ANAERAI, Institute of Equestrian Horses Growth and ARACS. In addition to the classic biometric data relating to withers, shoulder, chest, and shin will be analysed in detail a total of 23 linear variations of measures in the head, neck, rump, chest, limbs and aplomb to determine whether or not the subject is suitable for approval.

The 2025 fertilization campaign.
Dr Michele Bentivegna, Director of the Institute of Equestrian Horses Growth, has briefly revisited the long and complex process of obtaining the breed’s recognition, which has seen the Institute always alongside ARACS to achieve this important goal. He then explained the program for the 2025 fertilization campaign: within a PSR project, the Institute issued a selection and purchase of some stallions to provide farmers with fresh, refrigerated, and frozen semen. A series of DNA and blood samples will also be taken from approved mares and stallions to obtain data useful for the various ongoing research projects Bordonaro had previously mentioned.

Communication: Sizilien zu Pferd.
It was then presented to the public a spectacular 3-minute promo video of “Sizilien zu Pferd” (Sicily on horseback), the 60-minute documentary in German produced by Franco Barbagallo, a historical journalist at Cavallo Magazine, together with his colleague Cristina Hess. It shows the natural beauties seen on horseback of Madonie, Nebrodi, Etna, Iblei and Sicani, together with those of the monumental traditional and productive assets of the villages of the areas and also the Sicilian breeds of horses and donkeys raised in the territories. The documentary’s online viewing has brought many German tourist riders to Sicily in the three years since its production.

Ethological, gentle and empathetic horsemanship from birth for the present and future.
Franco Barbagallo then spoke as an expert in professional equestrian tourism, instructor and rehabilitator of horses using the gentle methods learned in the USA at Ed Dabney Ranch. He spoke of the “Added economic value of ethological, gentle and empathetic training in horses, already applied in three illuminated sicilian horse farms”. Sicily on Horseback is a horse tourism company founded by him and now owned by co-founder Paolo Cricchio in Collesano (who also was trained in the USA). The Traina Horse farm in Prizzi, is also running a breeding project carried out with the Institute of Equestrian Growth using the Oriental as a breed enhancer of their French Montagnes mares. The third is the Horse farm della Rocca in Chiosi, close to Corleone. Barbagallo has specified in detail how in the della Rocca farm, already for many years, they get stallions and mares ultra manageable from the ground and saddle, foals imprinted at birth that see the man as gentle and empathetic part of their life that, over time, foals are educated in the basic rules of everyday life among men. They are accustomed and trained gently to the saddle at three years old and then to build their foundations of general riding. Finally, and only then, the horse are specialized in a specific sport discipline or professional or quality recreational equestrian tourism, using any coercion, submission, domination, physical and verbal violence, always respecting the horse’s well-being first, also giving them optimal living conditions in the wild or semi-wild grazing. He also brought to support the example of over 300 horse farms in Denton County, Texas, some of which he visited, where the foals are sold by breeders almost exclusively “finished”, ready to be used in horse trips, in ranch work, or to debut in competitions of jumping, dressage, reining, cutting, trotting, galloping and so on or who have just started in their first competitions. This breeding philosophy is already accomplished today in Corleone, Collesano, and Prizzi.
It is that a point of arrival, in perspective also for the Sicilian breeders, that can be achieved only through education. They should start by giving their one-year-old foals the added value of being imprinted from birth and trained on the basic rules and movements of everyday life with man, thus making them much more attractive to the markets that count, including European ones, where the Sicilian Saddle Horse should be adequately promoted and discovered by foreign customers participating in specialized European horse fairs.

Communication: Aracs, interface with the world and institutions.
Roberto Russo pointed out the importance of communication between the breeders of the Sicilian Saddle Horse and the outside world. In his speech, he asked them to start immediately to create on their farm and their horses a database consisting of information, photos and videos that can be put into the network through the new portal of the Sicilian Saddle Horse ARACS, which will be implemented soon. This online portal will be the showcase of each breeder to speed up and optimize contacts and relationships with the market, users and buyers thanks to a single professional online digital place that unites them, where they will all be present even with the contacts that identify them. Through the portal and social media, all the news about all events, sporting or not, involving the Sicilian Saddle horses, their breeders already existing, and those who want to become will be spread.
Russo has therefore drawn attention to the fact that, for all that concerns the Selection Reviews and procedures at birth, it will be ARACS to act as a single interface with ANAERAI and Institute of Horses Growth for the processing of forms and paperwork to relieve farmers of the burden. The whole story will be conveyed and guided by the figure of Aldo Drago, who is responsible for this essential service that will coordinate between farmers and public institutions starting from the following selection reviews scheduled in Sicilian territory.
They will be carried out under the program. Others will follow in 2025:

Tuesday, December 3, from 10.30 in Gangi, at the Foro Boario, C.da Piano.

Wednesday, December 4, from 9.00 am to Bompietro, at the Li Puma Sabina Farm. C.da San Giovannello.

Thursday, December 5, from 8.30 in San Mauro Castelverde, at the former riding station of the Institute of Horse Growth in C.da Sant’IppolitoSant’Ippolito.

Friday 6 December from 10.00 in Militello Val di Catania, at Tenuta Ambelia.

A striking example.
Roberto Russo gave a live example to the breeders of the innovative strategies already in place for years at the Horse Farm della Rocca in Corleone, aimed at creating finished subjects as described by Barbagallo, ready to be specialized in an equestrian discipline by the “right” specialists of the field. He connected in a video call with Renzo Bersaglia, a multiple champion rider in Italy and Europe of Working Equitation (traditional work riding). In Umbria, he is contributing to the finishing of the training in that speciality of Minasthirt Siculo della Rocca, a 4-year-old stallion raised in Corleone and sold to Vito Calafiore, regional manager and himself second-level instructor of Working Equitation, regional representative of WAWE and president of the Riding Centre Don Vito in Partinico. Bersaglia briefly described his current work, highlighting the extraordinary abilities shown by the horse in the arena, gentleness, mental balance, and irreproachable behaviours. He is preparing for the horse debut in April in the four stages of the Regional Championship of Working Equitation in the category of Young Horses. Monasthirt will be ridden by Susy Calafiore, Vito’s young daughter and already European junior champion of this speciality. Susy spoke briefly to describe her already meaningful sporting career.
The WEI (Working Equitation Italia) and the SEF Italia (Sport and Training Italia) have both been recognized by the WAWE, the international body of the speciality, so the debut of this pair entirely from Sicily will be internationally under the eye of all fans and professionals. Sports become so communication, promotion and marketing at the same time.

The conclusion.

Ignazio Mannino, Commissioner of the Institute of Horse Growth, closed the works with a brief but important intervention aimed at reaffirming the commitment of the regional institutions to continue to stay alongside ARACS and the breeders of the Sicilian Saddle Horse to enhance and promote it “fully and adequately for what it is today beyond discussions: a regional resource belonging to all Sicilians that deserves all the attentions”.

Final considerations.
The approval of the Sicilian Saddle Horse breed was only a starting point. This seminar-conference attended, even standing, by a huge group of breeders and experts who had the opportunity to follow valuable, informative reports, certify the first phase of a large-scale project from which all the serious and professional future information, selections, studies, services, training, communication, promotion and marketing actions must emerge. Without them, the same divisions, problems, protagonists, individualism, incompetence and past mistakes committed for other breeding activities will be replied to. Not to do it is a matter of pure survival because, for a farmer who looks at the reality, a good horse that does not sell, and that does not sell well, is a horse… born dead.

Text by Franco Barbagallo

Photo by Letizia Panzica for ARACS