LIPIZZANER - THE SLOVENIAN BREEDING PEARL

Well known were for their strength and unusually long life span, the Karst horses were able to work even up to 30 years of age. The Emperor and later the princess had here (the Karst region in Slovenia) their own studs, the most famous one was Edlingersche (in Prestranek, near Lipizza). These studs bred the very precious and strong Karst horses.  

[Ed. note: minor edits were made to this text]

Similarly, Valvassor wrote in 1689: 

Of all the horses, the whole of Europe favours the Karst horses, bred in Crain (the largest part of nowadays Slovenia), specially 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.

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 splendour, 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 favoured 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 favour at the source of river Timavus in Karst, dedicated to the God Diomedes (mythological protector of the horses).

In the middle ages the Karst horses enjoyed a high reputation as tournament and military horses. On the other hand, the small Karst horses had the reputation of successful carrying horses for the transport from the coast ([the then] Slovenian city Trieste) to the rocky inland of the Austro-Hungary monarchy. The knights of the 15^th and 16^th century used them because of their courage, strength, persistence and speed for war crusades. This is symbolised by the statue of the artist Andrea del Verroccio (1435-1488) in Venice, presenting the rider Colleoni (1479-1488) in saddle of a Karst horse. This statue is more than 100 years older than the maintained document of 1580, when the Habsburger Archduke Karl II bought the village Lipizza. Not only was Venice was built on the pillars of the surrounding Slovenian [Ed. note: Istrian] landscape, but also the riders of Venice used the Karst horses. 

Karst Horses after the Establishment of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and the Karst Horse Stud in Lipizza

The Karl II bought the village of Lipizza with the surrounding Karstland in 1580. His aim was to supply the Vienna Riding School with first class riding horses. He bought an established stud of Karst horses together with the village Lipizza. The Karst horses of the purchased herd and horses bought later from the surrounding Karst region are the origin of the Lipizzaners breed. Foreign blood was already included at the beginning of the emperor’s stud Lipizza. This blood refreshing succeeded at first with the Andalusians and later also with the Napolitanians and Arabians. The race was still named Karst horses or Karst horses of Lipizza Breeding for at least two centuries before the name Lipizzaner (originally lipicanec), after the village Lipizza, was accepted. The village Lipizza (Lipica in Slovenian) got its name many centuries ago and means “small lime”. In Slovenian mythology the lime is the tree of life and today still belongs to the most important of Slovenian national symbols.

The horses were later on used for war crusades, gentleman and post carriages. The best stallions were brought to the Vienna Riding School 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 a personal memorial to every young stallion who left Lipizza, creating the Lime Avenue that leads into the stud. Nowadays this avenue brings a certain mysterious atmosphere that make 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 three centuries only in the Slovenian Karst region. Mainly local experts worked in the breeding. Only later other studs started breeding Lipizzaners, for example, Piber (Austria) in 1920. However, today Lipizza is still recognised as the home of Lipizzaners.

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 of 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 a 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 600 pure blood Lipizzaners in Slovenia. The Lipizzaner population world-wide has been estimated to be approximately 2500 horses. And in this number, the Slovenian herd represents the most important breeding nucleus because of the highest number of horses as well as 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 (certificate) from Republic of Slovenia. This guaranties the survival of this highly endangered horse breed also in the future. On the other hand this directive means an international recognition of the Slovenian know-how, that created this race and puts an end to the European discussions about the “cradle of the race”. 

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 this horse has 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 his reliable knee action, and also successfully used by an increasing amount of hobby riders. The horse has a dear, friendly character, natural temperament and specially strong connection to his owner/trainer. The famous life span, health and persistency is 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 (for example Hannoveraner), 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.

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