Lipizaan Horses (also
known as Lipica or Lipizzano horses) were developed in Lipizza (Lipica), a small
locality near Trieste, which is today in Slovenia, but was Italian up to the Second
World War and before that, Austrian. Its origins date from the mid-16th century,
through an initiative of the Archduke Charles of Stiria, third child of the Emperor
Ferdinand I of Austria. Factors contributing to the choice of the Lipizza area included
the good quality of the horses which populated Carso and the Aquileiese area and
the favorable climate, plus its proximity to areas of great horse-breeding tradition
and the production of excellent horses.
The current production
of the thoroughbred Lipica-Lipizzano Horse derives from two Italian stallions (Conversano
and Napolitano), two Klaudrubs, one Danish and one Oriental Arab.
It is the horse of
the celebrated Spanish School of Viena, founded in 1729 by Charles of Austria.
At the end of the
Second World War, Italy (like Austria and Yugoslavia) managed to maintain a very
numerous and complete nucleus of the ‘families’ making up the Lipizzano Breed. In
an exciting episode, in the spring of 1945 the records of the breed and a precious
herd were delivered to the Italian Ministry of Defence, which maintained the latter
in the Centres of Montemaggiore. Later on, this responsibility fell to the Ministry
of Agriculturem which entrusted the management to the Experimental Institute for
Zootechnology, located a short distance from the State Experimental Agency of Tor
Mancina in Monterotondo. In the Italian State Experimental Agency, the white Lipica-Lipizzano
horses have been bred with pure blood lines for 50 years, with great seriousness
and competence.
Italy, thanks to the
State’s breeding of Lipizzano Horses, has been able to be a member of the Lipizzan
International Federation. The Stud Book of the breed was established in 1984 by
the Italian Horse-breeders’.
Today they are bred
not just in Lipizza, but in Austria (Piber), in Italy (Monterotondo - Roma) and
in Hungary.
Source: Agraria.org
About Lipizaan Horses
