History of the Lipizzan
by June Boardman
The Lipizzan is a true, rare equine cultural treasure. The Lipizzan of
today represents over 400 years of breeding tradition based on selection for
intelligence, movement, nobility, and the "Blessed Temperament". Bred for
the royalty of the Hapsburg Empire, the Lipizzan has reached the epitome of
equestrian artistry at the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Austria.
There, with their human partners, the silver white stallions demonstrate all
the steps and movements of the haute ecole and the airs-above-the-ground.
Traditionally, no stallion is returned to the breeding program until he has
reached the level of grand prix dressage. There is no more strenuous
selection trial in any breed today.
The Lipizzan is the oldest man created European breed. The original stock
was selected in 1580 by Archduke Charles to found a stable of Spanish horses
for the royal family at the tiny village of Lipizza in what is now Slovenia.
In that era, the Spanish horse was considered to the be finest, most noble,
and fleetest of any horse. Originally bred by the Moors in Andalusia, by
the mid 1500's the possible demise of the noble breed was a distinct
possibility which led many nobles to found their own breeding stables. At
Lipizza the local Karst horses were also used to create the Lipizzan of
today. The Karst horse was a small draft type horse which had been used by
the Romans for chariot racing. Indeed to this day, the Lipizzan is
considered a dual purpose horse used for both riding and driving. In the
early nineteenth century several horses of Arabian blood were introduced in
the breed to refine it. Although most of those horses did not have a
lasting influence on the breed, the stallion Siglavy founded the line that
bears his name to this day. Later attempts to add in other breeding crosses
have been largely unsuccessful and the offspring, not meeting the required
standards, have been eliminated from the breeding program.
At no time in its history have there been more than a small number of
Lipizzans. During the Hapsburg Empire, these horses were never sold, but
given as gifts to impress important people. Many times during its history
the Lipizzan has been coveted by invading armies. Napoleon tried on three
occasions to capture the herd. Adolph Hitler collected most of the Lipizzan
mares and some of the stallions during World War II. Although Hitler, an
Austrian himself, was not a horse lover, he recognized in the Lipizzan the
pride of the Austrian people. Ironically, it was the American Army who
rescued the Lipizzan mares. The mares were then reunited with the stallions
who had remained in Vienna until near the end of the war. The story of the
rescue is told in the Walt Disney film, The Miracle of the White Stallions.
Had the mares not been brought back into Austria, the breed would have been
at serious risk of extinction.
During the twentieth century the breeding of Lipizzans experienced several
changes. With the fall of the Empire, the horses were divided between the
former member states of the Hapsburg Empire. The breeding herds
established in countries which fell under communist influences were no
longer bred for the classical purpose of dressage. These herds were used to
produce light driving horses for farm use. Even at the present time, the
horses from the government stud farms of Slovakia, Hungary, and Croatia are
used almost entirely for driving and are of a taller and heavy type. The
Italian Lipizzan herd at Monterodondo is not generally trained. Only the
herds at Piber and in Lipica, Slovenia are still raised to produce classical
riding horses according to the historical guidelines.
With the decline of communism, interaction between the various government
stud farms has become possible. The risk of inbreeding had become very high
during the communist period since the already small breeding base was made
even smaller by the Iron Curtain. Even before the collapse during the
1980’s the Director of the Spanish Riding School and Piber Stud Farm, Dr.
Jaromir Oulehla, sought to increase the breeding bases for all the stud
farms by encouraging the exchange of breeding stock between the farms. Thus
stallions from Piber went to stand at the various government studs in
exchange for the return of select off spring to be used in the Piber
breeding program. Thanks to the cooperation of the various programs the
Lipizzan breed now has a healthy breeding base.
As the new millennium begins, Lipizzans can be found in many countries that
are not their traditional homelands. Beside in the United States, Canada,
and Mexico, private breeding farms can be found in Australia, New Zealand,
South Africa, and most European countries. Financial concerns threaten
many of the government stud farms leading to the loss of government
sponsorship. There is a risk that many of these programs will fail and many
have done so already. It may be that the future and preservation of the
Lipizzan breed will be entrusted to the private breeders.
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