Genetic and phenotypic characterization of the Maremmano horse stud in Castelporziano

The Maremmano is an indigenous Italian horse probably descending from the native breed of the Etruscans (800 BC) bred in Maremma areal that spans from Southern Tuscany to Northern Latium. The Maremmano breed rep- resents an important cultural resource in Italy as in the past was used as the symbiotic counterpart of the re-known ‘‘Butteri’’ (the Italian cowboys). After a period of oblivion, in the early eighties, the breeders decided to find an asso- ciation and to refresh the procedures of selection with the institution of a Performance test for stallions and mares. In this context one of the main studs is the one held in the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano that represents one of the most important stocks of Maremmano. We character- ized both via genetic evaluation and molecular analysis at certain loci this important stud and compared these values with the entire population, revealing that Castelporziano’s stud has one of the most interesting stock together with higher genetic evaluations.