The Italian Saddle Horse (Sella Italiano) in show jumping

Among the horses competing in show jumping in Italy you will often meet the Sella Italiano (Italian Saddle Horse) breed. Here is what it is, where it comes from and who maintains its studbook.

What the Sella Italiano is

The Sella Italiano is the Italian sport horse, bred for the Olympic disciplines and beyond: show jumping, dressage, eventing and endurance [1][2]. Its studbook is managed by MASAF (the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, Saddle Horse Area), which sets its regulations and selection programmes [1].

Origins and characteristics

The breed combines the roots of the Italian populations (Maremmano, Salernitano, Persano) with input from the Anglo-Arabo Sardo, Oriental, Arabian and Thoroughbred [2]. Morphological requirements include a minimum height at the withers of 156 cm and permitted coats such as bay, dark bay, chestnut, grey or roan (pinto patterns excluded) [2].

Sport-oriented selection

Registered horses undergo morphological and functional tests of increasing difficulty [2]. For 2026 MASAF updated the regulations of the main disciplines and introduced a circuit dedicated to selecting the best 7-year-old Italian show jumpers, to promote national breeding [1].

Learn more

The studbook indicates a horse's selection environment, but evaluation is done on real data. On HorseReport.ai you can browse horses by breed or read about the main show jumping studbooks.