|
|
The Lipizzan horses, or Lipizzaner, are very closely associated with what is called the Spanish Riding School, which is the oldest riding academy in the world. It dates back to at least as early as 1565, during the Habsburg monarchy. The horses take their name from the fact that the stud farm where they are bred is located in a Kras village Lipica (Italian: Lipizza), near Trieste in nowadays Slovenia. The typical horse of this breed measures between fourteen and sixteen hands. They are compact and muscular, with very powerful hindquarters, allowing it to do the difficult High School Dressage movements. They generally have a fairly large head, carried quite high, and a convex face. They have short cannons, their legs have good bone, and the breed has sloping shoulders.Their gaits are powerful and elastic, although perhaps not as flamboyant as some of the warmblood breeds. They are naturally balanced, with excellent trainability, for which they are well-known, and are very intelligent. Aside from the rare bay, all Lipizzans are gray. As with all gray horses, they are born dark and slowly lighten as the graying process takes place, resulting in a horse that looks white by the time they reach their teens. The Lipizzaner is a long-lived horse, used into its 20s. |
