LIPIZZANER

On north Adriatic coast at the mouth of river Timavus ancient Romans sacrificed a white horse to the God Diomedes every year. In 1662 Stubenberg reported: “Very known were for their strength and unusual long living, the Karst horses who were able to work even by 30 years of age. The Emperor and latter the princess had here (Karst region in Slovenian) their own studs, the most famous one was Edlingersche (Prestranek, near Lipizza). These studs bred very precious and strong Karst horses”. Similar wrote Valvassor (1689): “Of all the horses, the whole Europe favors the Karst horses, bred up in Crain (the largest part of nowadays Slovenia) especially because of their life span, while they live long and stand the work as well as riding for a very long time”.

Lipizza - Karst - Slovenia

Slovenia is a small country, positioned at the sunny side of the Alps between Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia at the north side of Adriatic see.

The history of the land and its people can be followed far back in the history. The grandparents of the nowadays Slovenians, the Venets, were known to be great technologists, war strategists and horse breeders in the era before the Roman Empire. They bred the very precious Karst horses, the ancestors of Lipizzaners.

Karst, originally Kras, is a Slovenian word, which was translated in many languages. Word by word, it means splendor, and describes a mysterious area in Slovenia, where there is peculiar flora with a lot of pine, junipers, sharp grass over the stony ground, underground caves, streams that disappear in the ground and periodical lakes.

Karst Horses in Ancient and Middle Ages

The horses of Karst were already appreciated in the ancient era. They were known as persistent, strong and very fast what favored them in the quadrigas by the horse races in the Ancient Rome. This precious horses from the stony Karst, were known by Romans, who built a temple in their favor at the mouth of river Timavus in Karst, dedicated to the God Diomedes (mythological protector of travelers and horses).

In the Middle Ages the Karst horses enjoyed high reputation as tournament and military horses. On the other hand, the Karst horses had the reputation of successful carrying horses for the transport from the Adriatic coast to the rocky inland of Caranthanian estates. The knights of the 15^th and 16^th century used them because of their courage, strength, persistency and speed for war crusades. This is symbolized by the statue of the artist Andrea del Verroccio (1435-1488) in Venice, presenting the Commander Colleoni (1479-1488) in saddle of a Karst horse. This statue is more than 100 years older than the maintained document of 1580, when Caranthanian Archduke Karl II. bought the village Lipizza.

Good horse cavalry – strong military defense

Latest investigations have shown clearly that in 1578 the Caranthanian estates (Krain, Kärnten, Steiermark, Istria,...) agreed that the Archduchy should take direct responsibility for military administration of the frontier zone against Turks. This change of administrative responsibility increased tensions between the imperial (Vienna) and archducal (Caranthania) courts of the Hapsburg dynasty. The imperial court made an agreement with Venetian diplomats to control the Uskoks' behaviour (armed Balkan refugees) at south borders. The archducal court, however, failed to follow imperial orders. The archducal court did not wish to enforce the agreement because they used the Uskoks as a defence system for their south territories against Turks penetration and for the purpose of curbing Venetian demands on land and sea. ("The Uskok Problem and Habsburg, Venetian, and Ottoman Relations at the Turn of the Seventeenth Century", by Ruth Simon, University of Virginia.)

In 1579 Archduke Karl II. bought land and build strong fortress Karlstadt (today Karlovac – Croatia) and one year later (1580) he bought the farm/village Lipizza with the surrounding land. It has clearly shown that his military reorganizations and preparing defense system (including at that time the most important cavalry with the best horses) lead to extremely important defense success. In year 1593 at the bottle near Sisak Turks were for the first time defeated on the European territory.

Archduke Karl II. was born 3.6.1540. He becomes Caranthanian archduke in year 1563 and he died 10.7.1590. His son Ferdinand II, become archduke of Vienna court, too (year 1619) and from then on Lipica become oficial Vienna court stud farm.

Karst Horses after the Establishment of the Karst Horse Stud in Lipizza

Karl II. - Archduke of Caranthania 1580 bought stud of Karst horses together with the village Lipizza. The Karst horses of the bought herd and horses of the surrounding Karst region are the origin of the Lipizzaner breed. Other breeding blood was already included at the beginning. Latest DNA blood analyses shows Arabian blood samples already millennium long. Later new blood freshing was successfully added; at first with the Andalusians and latter also with Napolitanians and Arabians. The race was still addressed “Karst horses” or “Karst horses of Lipizza Breeding” for at least two centuries after establishing, and only latter the name Lipizzaner (originally lipicanec), after the village Lipizza, was accepted. The village Lipizza (Slovenian written Lipica) got its name many centuries before and means “small lime”. In the Slovenian mythology lime is the tree of life and today still belongs to the most important Slovenian national symbols.

The horses were further on used for war crusades, gentleman and post carriages. Already 1572 the Spanish Riding School in Vienna was established. The best stallions from Spain were imported to Vienna court at the beginning, but after Archduke’s grandson taking over Vienna court as well, stallions of the Karst race fully replaced Spanish stallions in Vienna Riding School. After that Lipizza become the emperor’s stud. The best stallions were transported to the Vienna to become elite dressage horses. They returned to Lipizza after almost 20 years of successful work under the rider, to serve as breeding stallions. Three limes were planted as personal memorial to every young stallion that left Lipizza, creating the Lime Avenue that leads into the stud. Nowadays this avenue brings a certain mysterious atmosphere that makes us remind the old baroque age.

Lipizzaner Breeding in Slovenia Today

After the grounding of the royal stud, the Lipizzaners more or less were bred for 3 centuries only in the Slovenian Karst region. Mainly local experts worked in the breeding. Only latter other studs started breeding Lipizzaners, for example, Piber (Austria) in 1920. However, today Lipizza is still recognised as home of Lipizzaners - “cradle of the race”.

After the destruction during the 2^nd world war, a high quality-riding centre grew beside the stud. Nowadays, the complex of Lipizza is composed by 4 riding halls, 6 riding places and 2 hotels, which is also the centre of the many-sided touristic. All the elements of the classical high dressage in the classical riding school of Lipizza are performed on regular bases, including piaf, passage, levade, courbette and capriole.

The strong attachment of the Slovenian breeders to their native horse race is expressed by the high developed private breeding. The breeders are joined in the Slovenian Lipizzaner Breeding Association. Adding the stud Lipizza and the Slovenian Lipizzaners Breeding Association, there are over 700 pure blood Lipizzaners in Slovenia. The Lipizzaner population worldwide has been estimated in approximately 3000 horses. And in this number, the Slovenian herd represents the most important breeding nucleus because of the highest amount of horses on small territory as well as the top quality for breeding animals.

According to this fact, the Republic of Slovenia took the responsibility for the future care of the development of the Slovenian Lipizzaner herd, which is confirmed with the so-called “Lipizzaner law” (1996). Taking care of the international breeding, Slovenia is since 1999 recognised the exclusive right for using the expression Lipizzaner, translated in all languages. In order to prevent possible misuses and to keep the Lipizzaner population in pure blood and classical type, all other Lipizzaner breeding studs and associations must get a special authorisation for using this registered name. From 2002 Stud Lipizza is registered as authorized breeding organization according EU legislation.

Lipizzaner as a Sport Horse

Lipizzaner was bred for his riding ability since many centuries actually millenniums. Because of that, today this oldest European horse race still enjoys the reputation of a top dressage horse. And it is possible to meet riders of “Lipizza Team” at the European and world tournaments. In the 80’s the stallions Maestoso Monteaura and Maestoso Wera belonged to the top of sport dressage and even took place at the Olympic games in 1984 in Los Angeles. The stallion Maestoso Monteaura won the “grand prix special” in Rome in 1983.

Since lipizzan horses have been selected for riding quality with the same breeding aims for centuries, the riding ability and riding co-operation are typical for this race. They are also very useful for the outdoor riding, because of their reliable knee action, and they are also successfully used by an increasing amount of hobby riders. The horse has a dear, friendly character, natural temperament and especially strong connection to his owner/trainer. The famous life span, health and persistency are inheritance from his grandparents, the Karst horses. Against the nobility, they need very few concentrate feed and they do not have big problems because of their suitable robustness. Lameness by this race is as good as unknown.

It’s possible to find the Lipizzaner in other equestrian sports, specially endurance and carriage driving. Even though this race is comparatively smaller than the most warm blood races, they seem to be bigger under the rider because of their pronounced movements as well as the compact exterior and the highly set, good formed neck. Therefore the Lipizzaners are not strongly attached to the dressage of the classical riding school, they are recognised to cross the borders of Slovenia and the Spanish Riding School in the whole world as a dear and faithful free time partner and friend.