Following the Franco-Germanic barbarians, descended several times in the Emilian Apennines, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, horses of Celtic origin, of War Gaul, arrived in the valley of Bardi.
These horses adapted beautifully to the mountain territory.
Breed, selected, recognized as a breed with the name of Bardigiani, they were a precious support to the military glories of the knights of the Landi and other medieval lords of the area.
Here are its features:
It is a mesobrachymorphic horse, with a height at the withers allowed by cm. 137 cm. 149, with a weight ranging from Kg. 400 to Kg. 450 for females and Kg. 500/550 for stallions. The head is light with slightly concave nose back line, wide mouth with protruding upper lip, large and lively eyes often covered by a thick drooping tuft. The head, in addition to being an element of considerable morpho-functional and ethnic interest, in the horse assumes particular aesthetic value and taste because, from the expression of its characters, the breeders draw information, often subjective, on docility, temperament and attitude.
The neck is of the right length, with a wide base of attack, preferably arched, with thick mane sometimes double. The chest is wide and well descended, chest wide, deep and muscular. Dorsal line of medium length, short, wide and well-directed loins, the croup is wide with well-developed transverse diameters. The limbs are not long with narrow bones, but robust, short pastoral, large hoof with very hard nails, suitable for the animal living in rough terrain. The mantle is bay, from ordinary bay to morello maltinto, with prevalence of the dark bay. Balzane not too well fitted, saddles not too extensive are tolerated.
From these distinctive signs, it can be seen that the Bardigiano horse groups in itself the value of a secular adaptation to the high hill and mountain environment, where chestnut, cedar, deciduous trees (mainly beech) and high altitude pastures predominate.
The breeding of the Bardigiano horse is consolidated in the hilly and mountainous areas of the Emilia Romagna regions.
The most widely practiced type of farming is semi-wild; the Bardigiano horse is left free for several months a year on the wide pastures of the Apennines.
With the establishment of the Herd Book in 1977, the typical characteristics of the breed were defined, also according to the environment in which the horse lives and the production activities linked to it.
The selection objectives provide for a suitable conformation for saddle service and light shooting and for use in equestrian tourism.
The docility, the habit of work and the resistance to fatigue and the difficulties of the terrain are innate qualities in the Bardigiano Horse.
