History
It is believed that the forerunner of the Lipizzan was bred in Carthage, more than 2,000 years ago. The Carthaginian stock was bred to the Vilano, a sturdy Pyrenees horse, and with Arab and Barbary strains. The result became the fabled Andalusian of ancient Spain.
During Spain's 700 years of Moorish domination, the breed remained essentially the same. Occasional crossing with fresh Arab and Oriental blood by the breeders of Cordoba and Granada assured that the fleetness and agility so prized by the Arabs remained qualities inherent in the stock. The Spanish began to export the horses after Spain rid itself of Moorish rule. The most notable stud farms were established in Italy and Frederiksborg, Denmark. The Danes produced excellent stock from the Spanish progenitors; the Italian "Neapolitan" bloodline became famous in Europe.
Archduke Maximilian, later Emperor of Austria, began breeding Spanish horses there about 1562. Eighteen years later, Archduke Karl, ruler of four Austrian provinces, established a royal stud farm in Lipizza, located in the hills of Karst, near Trieste.
Fresh Spanish stock was systematically added to the blood line at intervals to maintain the strength of the breed. Oriental stallions were used occasionally for the same purpose. In the 17th and 18th centuries, horses from the northern Italian stud farm at Polesnia and the highly regarded Neapolitan strain were brought to Lipizza to mingle with the resident stock and the descendants of the original Spanish line out of Denmark and Germany.
From 1809 to 1815 they lived in the lowlands of the TISZA River, which flows into the Danube. The land was hard on them. It took several years and an infusion of fresh blood to recapture the vitality and high standard of the line. In May of 1915, the Lipizzans were split up. One group was taken to Laxenburg, near Vienna, and the other to Kladrub.
The fall of the Austrian House of Habsburg in 1918 brought about the break up of the old Austrian Empire. Lipizza became a part of Italy. The Italian and Austrian governments divided the Lipizzaner herd equally. The Republic of Austria took their horses to Piber in Steiermark. Piber, a privately owned stud farm, was founded in 1798 to breed calvary mounts for the army. In 1858, it became a government breeding farm and produced Lipizzans of another and lighter strain for stud purposes in the provinces.
The Horses
Every year, about 40 to 50 foals are born in the Federal Stud Piber in Styria. Dams and sires are selected with expertise and according to strict criteria regarding the horses’ character, build, intelligence and lineage. The dam herd in Piber comprises about 55 mares. Each mare gives birth to 12 to 14 foals in the course of her life.
Royal Lipizzan foals are born black or bay and turn snowy white between the ages of 5 and 8 years old. The odd horse remains bay and is either sold, retained for breeding or if it is a stallion, sometimes is trained for performance. Each performance has one dark colored horse in it.
The horses are allowed to run free on the grassy knolls of the Piber stud farm until they are 4 years old when training commences.
The Spanish Riding School
The Spanish Riding School in Vienna is the only institution in the world which has practiced for over 430 years and continues to cultivate classical equitation in the Renaissance tradition of the haute école.
The objective of classical equitation is to study the way the horse naturally moves and to cultivate the highest levels of haute école elegance the horse is capable of through systematic training. The result creates an unparalleled harmony between rider and horse, as only Vienna's Spanish Riding School achieves.
Movements
Mezair - A series of successive Levades in which the horse lowers its forefeet to the ground before rising again on hindquarters, achieving forward motion.
Courbette - The horse balances on the hind legs and then jumps, keeping the hind legs together and the forelegs off the ground.
Levade - The horse must maintain a haunched position at a 45-degree angle to the ground, requiring muscle control and perfection of balance that is quite difficult.
Capriole - The stallion leaps into the air, drawing his forelegs under his chest at the height of elevation, and kicks out violently with his hind legs. The capriole can take many years of training.
Training The Horses
The stallions, which come to the Spanish Riding School at the age of four from the Piber Stud, are gently trained in accordance with the teachings of classical dressage and are not subjected to undue pressure. The fundamentals of the art of classical riding can be read in the directives penned by His Excellency Holbein and Senior Rider Franz Meixner:
- Riding in as natural a position as possible in non-collected gaits in straight lines, so-called straight riding.
- Campagne, or elementary dressage consists of riding the collected horse through all of the gaits, turns and manoeuvres while maintaining perfect balance.
- The haute école - riding in an upright position with a strong curvature of the haunches (angling of the hindquarters), regularity, skill and finesse in all of the natural gaits, dressage manoeuvres and leaps as adapted from nature. All of the above is to be executed in a methodical manner to the highest degree of perfection.
It takes six years on average for a horse to complete its training and become a school stallion. Mastery of the School Quadrille is the final hurdle for allowing the horse to take part in a performance at the Spanish Riding School.
Famous School Horses
With their origins dating back to the 16th century, the Lipizzans are Europe's oldest breed of horses. However, until the 19th century these noble steeds were not known as "Lipizzans", a name that was taken from the Slovenian village of Lipica. Until that time they were called Spanish Karsters and highly prized.
The Lipizzans of Vienna's Spanish Riding School have made the Piber Federal Stud, located in western Styria, their home since 1920. The stud carefully cultivates and develops the knowledge gained from over four hundred years of breeding these magnificent animals.
The breeding at Piber can be traced back to the descendants of the former Lipizza Imperial Court Stud. Each year the best Lipizzan stallions are selected for training at the Spanish Riding School. At the height of their career, they enchant visitors from all over the world with their truly unique performances in the world's most famous riding hall, the "Winter Riding School", located in Vienna's Imperial Hofburg Palace.
Siglavy Mantua I
Year of birth: 1979
He is one of the Stars of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Trained and ridden for many years by our First Chief Rider Klaus Krzisch.
The famous white stallion, this special famous horse was born on the 22nd of January 1979 in Piber. Since 1983 he lives and works in the Spanish Riding School. He belongs to the Solo-Stars and was participant in all international tournaments which took place since the middle of the 80ies. Siglavy Mantua had also a huge fan group at the tournament 2005 in the United States.
He is enjoying his well-earned retirement in the Federal Stud Piber since March 2007.
Siglavy Rindunica
Year of birth: 1989
First Chief Rider Klaus Krzisch
Favory Superba
Year of birth: 1990
Chief Rider Hans Riegler
Neapolitano Madar
Year of birth: 1993
Chief Rider Hans Riegler
An extremely sensitive stallion who needs a quiet and sensitive hand. One of his outstanding qualities is his amazing character. He has an enormous willingness to please and within a very short time learnt the Courbette in-hand and under the rider.
Has participated in tours since the year 2000.
Conversano Calcedona
Year of birth: 1992
Chief Rider Wolfgang Eder
Conversano Dagmar
Year of birth: 1988
Rider Andreas Hausberger
Siglavy Materia
Year of birth: 1989
Rider Herwig Radnetter
Conversano Undine I
Year of birth: 1992
Rider Harald Bauer
Conversano Amata I
Year of birth: 1986
Rider Jochen Rothleitner
Neapolitano Allegra
Year of birth: 1994
Rider Rudolf Rostek
Siglavy Raluca I
Year of birth: 1991
Rider Christian Bachinger
Maestoso Virtuosa
Year of birth: 1996
Rider Herbert Seiberl
LINKS USED:
http://www.lipizzaner.com
http://www.piber.com/
http://horsecare.stablemade.com/i |
