From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Breed of horse
Persano
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Fieracavalli_2014_-_Persano.jpg/220px-Fieracavalli_2014_-_Persano.jpg) |
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Persano
stallion
The
Persano
is a
horse breed
created during the
Kingdom of Naples
(18th century) at the Royal Stud of Persano near
Serre
in the
Italian
province of Salerno
. It is similar in appearance to an
Anglo Arabian
and was created by crossing
Andalusians
,
Arabians
,
Turkomans
and
Mecklenburgers
.
The original
breeding herd
was dispersed, but was later reconstituted by
crossbreeding
the horses still available with
Purosangue Orientale
,
Thoroughbred
and a new group of
stallions
freshly imported from Syria. The process was driven by the needs of the Italian Cavalry. After
the second world war
the breed was reduced to only about 50 heads, most of which were transferred to the Grosseto Army Remount Station. Some horses however are still in the hands of private owners. The status of the Persano was listed in 2007 as critical by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
[1]
The Persano were developed for use as
cavalry
horses, and are used today by the mounted
Carabinieri
Regiments.
[2]
Horses of this breed were amongst the protagonists of the
last successful classical cavalry charge in history in August 1942 near Isbushensky
on the
Don
river by a cavalry unit of the
Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia
(
Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia
, or CSIR) on the
Eastern Front
. The 2nd squadron of the 3rd Dragoons
Savoia Cavalleria
Regiment of the Prince Amedeo Duke of Aosta Fast (
Celere
) Division, armed with sabres and hand grenades, outflanked an estimated 2,000 Soviet infantry while the remainder of the regiment took Isbushensky in a dismounted attack,.
[3]
[4]
The Persano proved to be tough enough for the conditions encountered in the Russian steppe, a claim which few foreign horses can make.
References and external links
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edit
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These are the
horse breeds
considered in Italy to be wholly or partly of Italian origin.
Many have complex or obscure histories, so inclusion here does not necessarily imply that a breed is predominantly or exclusively Italian.
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