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LIPIZZANER
Started by the Hapsburg family in the mid sixteenth century, the Lipizzaner is the result of over four hundred years of selective breeding.
In 1562, Maximillian II brought Spanish horses to Austria and founded the Kladrub stud, while his brother, Archduke Charles II, established a similar private stud, also with Spanish stock, in Lippiza (Italy – now Lipica) in 1580. Both men crossed their Spanish stock with native Karst horses, which were white, small, slow to mature and extremely hardy. The Kladrub farm focused on producing heavy carriage horses, while the Lippiza farm focused on riding and light carriage horses.
Because of the Napoleonic Wars in the late 1700’s, the horses at the Lippiza farm were moved three times, eventually becoming the possession of Napolean himself, but only for a short time. Napolean bred the horses to his Arab stallion, Vesir. Then during 1807-1856 the Arabian stallions; Siglavy, Tadmor, Gaslan, Saydan, Samson, Hadudi and Ben Azet were used.
Back at the Kladruby stud, two of the original Lipizzaner stallions were developed during this time; Maestoso and Favory.
Of all the sires used in the 18th and 19th centuries, only six founded the original stallion lines. Later on, two more were developed. The original six are as follows:
Pluto – this is the first founded stallion line from the grey Pluto stallion born in 1765 at the Frederiksborg stud in Denmark.
Conversano – the founding stallion of this line was the dark brown Neapolitan stallion, Conversano, born in 1767 in Italy at the stud of Count Kaunitz.
Neapolitano – was a brown Neapolitan stallion, Neapolitano born in 1790 in Italy.
Favory – a dun stallion, sometimes described as being blue-brown, Favory was born in 1779 and was a Kladruby stud stallion.
Maestoso – a grey Kladruby stallion, Maestoso Senior, was born in 1773. This line died out in Lipica, but was renewed by the stallion Maestoso X who was born in 1819 in the Austrian military stud at Masohegyes in Hungary.
Siglavy – an Arabian stallion was born in 1810 in Arabia.
The two stallion lines that were developed later are:
Tulipan – a stallion of Croatian decent who was bred to mares brought from Lipica. The Tulipans were big, muscular and dark in color.
Incitato – originally from the Bethlen stud in Transylvanian owned by Count Pal Bethlen and born in 1802. The Masohegyse stud bought him in 1815 and twenty-three of his offspring were used as stallions at the stud.
The Lipizzaner remained the private possession of the Habsburg monarchy until 1916. The expansion of the breed had been affected by centuries of military conflicts, the horses being moved whenever the Lipizza stud was in danger. During these moves individual horses were sold to other studs, usually still within the Austrian empire.
During WWI the horses were moved again; the breeding stock to Laxenburg near Vienna and the foals to the Kladrub stud. After the war, the Austrian-Hungarian empire was divided into republics and every new state inherited the possessions of the former monarchy. Only 208 Lipizzaners existed at this time and they were divided into three different countries. 109 of the breeding stock went to Italy. The foals remained in Kladrub, now part of a Czechoslovakian state and the rest of the breeding stock and stallions became the property of the Republic of Austria and the Spanish Riding School, the only riding school in history ever created specifically for a breed of horse and education of its riders.
Another threat to the breed came in 1943 during WWII, when the mares and foals from Austria, Italy and Yugoslavia, were transferred to Hostau in Czechoslovakia by the German High Command. It was the American Army, under the command of General George S. Patton, who retrieved the mares and returned them to Austria, which secured the continuation of the breed.
There are less than 3,000 purebred Lipizzaners worldwide, but they exist now in many countries. The breeders of this horse are very particular and take great pains to adhere to the traditions of this breed.
The Lipizzaner is born dark brown or black and gradually turns ‘white’ as it ages. One in every four hundred remains dark. These rare beauties are considered good luck and you’ll find one in every traveling Lipizzaner show.
The Lipizzaner stands 14.2h-15.3h. The head is noble with a convex profile. The eye is large and expressive. The neck is set high and deeply onto a large, muscular laidback shoulder. The back is broad and of medium length tied to a short, deep loin coupling. The hindquarter has length and depth and is very muscular and powerful. The overall body consists of good bone, is compact and square. The feet are small and very tough. The mane and tail is thick and long. The Lipizzaner is late to mature and often lives well into its thirty’s.
The Lipizzaner is hardy and lameness is rare. A high degree of collection is second nature, so they carry themselves in natural self-carriage and exhibit great agility. This makes them ideal as dressage mounts especially at the upper levels. They also do well in driving, jumping, cutting, reining, endurance, vaulting and trail.
The Lipizzaner is self-aware and carries itself with pride and nobility, but is docile and easy to handle. They possess great intelligence and demand respect and fairness from their handler. They rarely shy or spook and will tend to puff themselves up and collect, passaging or piaffing, when taken by surprise.
In modern times, the Lipizzaner is best known for its ‘High School’ movements, the ‘Airs Above Ground’. The airs are taught in hand and later are done with rider mounted. Each Lipizzaner has its specialty and never is there a horse that can perform all the airs.
Levade - the horse brings its hind legs very deeply under the body and then raises itself to a 45-degree angle or less. This is a highly collected movement.
Pesade – much like the levade except that the horse will be at an angle exceeding 45-degrees making the exercise much easier.
Courbette – the horse starts from the pesade and then jumps forward. The jump is high and short.
LEVADE
Lanceade – the horse starts from the levade and jumps forward. This jump is low and long.
Croupade – is similar to the courbette except that the horse only jumps up, not forward.
Ballotade – like the croupade, but the horse starts with his hind legs less underneath itself. It is more difficult than the croupade because the horse has to land on the hind legs to save the front legs, and thus with the hind legs being less underneath to start, this makes the ballotade more difficult.
Standing Capriole/Capriole – the croupade and ballotade are the beginning exercises for the capriole, which is considered the ‘crowning jewel’ of the Airs. The capriole is the most difficult Air and also the most dangerous.
In the standing capriole the horse is asked to stand on its front legs and kick up and out with it’s hind legs, fully extending it’s body.
In the capriole the horse starts in a ballotade and at the peak of the jump, it kicks out its hind legs and then recoils them to land. The horse must land on either it’s hind legs or on all four legs, never just the front legs.
A true, rare beauty, the Lipizzaner is breathtaking in everything that it does.