Shows and Events
Regional Horse Show
Held every year on the second Saturday and Sunday of October
Edition 2005 : detailed program of events.
Edition 2006 : detailed program of events.
Edition 2007 : detailed program of events.
Edition 2004: Foto Gallery
refernce site: www.cavallodelcatria.net
The Catria Horse
This breed takes its name from its area of origin, the Mt. Catria Massif located in the Municipality of Cantiano, in the territory of the Mountain Community Consortium of Mts. Catria and Nerone. It has ancient origins: this breed was already documented after the year 1000 in documents tracing the presence of horses raised in Fonte Avellana "ad usum equitandi", destined to be sold to nobles and to supply the Cavalries of the neighbouring dominions, and later, of the Duchy of Urbino.
Over time, various bloodlines have been introduced into the indigenous stock; contacts with the Grosseto Maremma, tied to the activities of the coalmen, favoured the introduction of Maremmano blood. It was further influenced by the Croatian breed, the Franches Montaignes breed and others, maintaining the hearty characteristics necessary for adapting to the wild, mountain pastures.
Up until the middle of the 20th century, this horse served man by transporting packs of every type of material: charcoal, hay, tubs of must, cereals, wood. The wood that today’s deforestation workers still load on the pack-saddles of these horses to bring it to the plain from the steeper forest land. A word must be said of the importance of these animals during WWII when they were used for the movement of troupes in impervious and precipitous territory.
Since the middle of the 1990s, there have been ongoing programs, financed by the Agricultural department of the Marche Region in collaboration with the Department of Veterinary Sciences of the University of Camerino, for the selection and improvement of this breed.
Morphological Characteristics
This breed has an average excitable temperament, robust, balances and
hardworking. Today it is still bred in a semi-wild state in mountain
pastures making its foot careful and sure, even on the most difficult
and impervious terrain. This type of horse is used in mountain
agricultural work, as saddle horse and for produzione di carne.
A frugal, strong, rustic horse suited to pasturing in outlying areas.
Equestrian Tourism and Hippotherapy:
available in Cantiano
Thanks to its morphological characteristics, the Catria Horse is particularly suited to equestrian tourism. This is one of the main reasons that the Marche Fitetrec-Ante, the City of Cantiano and the National Association of Catria Horse breeders are working to ensure that the Catria Horse gains the success it merits in the fields of standard Equitation, Equestrian Tourism, Trec and Hippotherapy.
In fact, Fitetrec-Ante has instituted in Cantiano, at the La Badia Horse Centre, the regional school for equestrian tourism which offers the best tothose enthusiasts who want to begin this activity for sport or for pleasure. Outings on horseback are organised in the Catria Massif with specialised guides. Young horses are broken and trained for western mounting. The centre also offers professional training with specific courses and the issuing of licenses and certificates for stable workers, equestrian and environmental tourism guides, farm holiday workers, and personnel to train young horses for western mount, equestrian tourism and hippotherapy. In the case hippotherapy, programs and projects are being actively pursued, in the awareness that this is a methodology that can bring great improvement, based on the individual case, in the conditions of the handicapped, above all in terms of quality of life. The movements of the horse and, in most cases, the mere physical contact with the horse, are a thrilling experience and bring and a sense of wellbeing to the patient.
