Iberian Horse

Horses - The Lipizzaners
By Michael Russell

Some History of the Lipizzaners

The aristocratic Lipizzaners are descended from the Iberian Horse, which is the oldest breed in the world. Iberians were used as war horses from 4000 years before Mohammed, when camels were used as mounts in warfare and their Lipizzaner descendants today are trained to perform movements which were originally taught to military mounts so that they were more effective in battle.

The breed was first established in 1590, by the Archduke of Austria, Charles II. He began the first stud farm in Lipizza, then a part of Italy, and began breeding the Iberian with the native breeds of Italy. Until well into the late 1700s, these horses were crossbred with the finest of horses from Spain, Italy and Arabia. They were used, during that time, as family and carriage horses for the Royal Court in Vienna.

In 1735, Charles VI of Austria established the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. It is the oldest riding school in the world (so named for the Spanish horses who were a large foundation of the breed), and for more than 400 years has trained riders and horses to perform the classical dressage movements which have made the Lipizzaner famous. When Charles began the school, he also began recording the bloodlines of the breed.

Of the nine original studs used to establish the breed, six bloodlines are used solely for breeding at the Spanish Riding School and Lipizzaners of South Africa at Kyalami. These are the ones which they recognize as the purest of the breed. Those six stallions were:

• Pluto, born in 1765, grey in color

• Conversano, born in 1767, black in color

• Favory, born in 1779, dun in color

• Neapolitano, born in 1790, bay (brown) in color

• Siglavy, born in 1810, grey in color

• Maestroso II, born in 1819, grey in color

Although the two breeders mentioned here tend to favor the light-grey and white stallions for showing, they consider it bad luck if there is not at least one bay horse in their stables.

Lipizzaners are branded with a special symbol to indicate from which bloodlines they descended. They bear the symbol of their sire, and the symbol of their dam's sire. This is called the "ancestral brand". Foals are branded with a number so that one can easily locate them in the foal registry. In addition to these two brands, each Lipizzaner also carries the "brand of descent" on its left cheek. This is quite often an "L".