Horse of the Jar
The Giara Horse owes its name to the toponym that designates the Sardinian plateau where this breed lives in the wild. The Giara plateau extends for 4,500 hectares at an altitude between 1,500 and 1,600 meters in the area of the municipalities of Genoni, Gesturi, Tuili, and Setzu, in central-southern Sardinia. Its origin is volcanic, with steep slopes that complicate connections with the valley terrain. The Mediterranean-type climate features rainfall prevalent in the autumn and winter seasons and aridity in summer and early autumn combined with high winds.
As for morphology, the Giara Horse is of the mesocolic-morph type of small size, with a usually gentle and expressive head, with typically almond-shaped eyes, a strong neck full of hair, a croup tending towards short, a tail with thick hair, muscular thighs and limbs. thin with regular verticality. The coat is predominantly bay, with the presence of dark bays and, less frequently, morelli and lizards. Cramps and fixed spots on the head are very rare.
The first historical evidence of the presence of horses in the wild in Sardinia dates back to 1540. Subsequent documents tell of the existence of numerous wild herds in 1700. It is reasonable to hypothesize that the heterogeneity then present in the island's wild herds characterized the founding population of the current Giara horse. This morphological heterogeneity has persisted to this day.
The environment in which the horses of this breed live is characterized by natural pastures and woodland cover with the presence of cork oaks, holm oaks, downy oaks, and shrubs typical of the Mediterranean scrub.
Over the last 25 years, the population appears to have fluctuated between 1,500 and 1,900 heads.
Until the 1950s, almost the entire population of Giara horses was annually brought down to the valley for the branding and collection of some individuals used in agricultural work. Definitively supplanted by agricultural machinery, in the 1960s they were instead slaughtered and used for saddles.
In 1976, to safeguard the horse in its natural environment and enhance its use as a pony mount, the Giara Sardinian Horse Association was born.
