The Piaffe
History:
The Lipizzaner was developed at the Lipizza stud - which gave it its name - in the 16th century. It is most famous for its roles in the high-school dressage displays given by the Spanish Riding School, in Vienna, for the last 400 years.
The Lipizzaner breed was established when Archduke Charles II established a stud farm in Lipizza (Lipica). He imported Andalusians, Barbs and Berbers who where bred with the local Karst horses. The Karst horses were white in colour, small, slow to mature and extremely tough.
In the Late 1700’s the horses were moved three times due to the Napoleonic Wars. Napolean gained possession of some of the horses and bred them with his Arab stallion, Vesir. Arab stallions were used to develop the breed during the period of 1807 to 1856. From 1792 to 1815 the Kladruby horse helped to develop two of the Lipizzaner blood lines and by 1880 there were 341 Lipizzaner horses at the Lipizza studfarm. There are now a few studfarms all over Europe.
Appearance:
The Lipizzaner is genetically a type of grey. They are born dark but when they grow they gradually lighten up until they get the white coat they are noted for. This is usually around six to ten. The white coat is dominant in the breed but sometimes there can be a brown or black adult horse. On some occasions, chestnuts, duns, piebalds and skewbalds were recorded.
They are noted for a sturdy body and a proud head carriage as well as brilliant action. The Lipizzaner head has large (cute) eyes and small alert ears. The body looks strong with a crested neck, powerful shoulders, muscular hindquarters, strong legs and well defined tendons and joints.
The Lipizzaner is not a very tall horse, ranging from about 14.2 hands high to 15.3 hands high.
United States Lipizzan Registry
