5 Things You Didn’t Know About The Lipizzaner

The Lipizzaner is renowned for its gleaming light coat and exceptional grace when doing excellent high school dressage, just as the Friesian is renowned for being the black beauty of the horse breeds. If you have always loved horses, you might even be familiar with some of their history thanks to the Disney classic Miracle Of The White Stallions. How much do you actually know, though? See these interesting details about the stellar Lipizzan.

#1 – A horse fit for royalty
The Lipizzaner breed was created in the 16th century as the official mounts of the Hapsburg royalty, which was a member of the Holy Roman Empire, much before the events shown in the Disney film.

#2: Named After Their Origins
Although the breed is sometimes linked to Vienna, Austria (which served as the Hapsburg monarch’s seat of government for much of its history), the horse really has the name of one of the first stud farms, which was situated in the Slovenian village of Lipizza (Lipica).

#3 They are not white; they are grey
The Lipizzan is not white, as many may already be aware. Many people are unaware that they are born black and gradually become lighter as they age, taking between 6 and 10 years to develop the “white” coat for which they are famous.

#4 – Lippizans used to come in many colors

According to the Lipizzan Association of North America, there were black, brown, chestnut, dun, piebald, and skewbald Lipizzans just 200 years ago. They still occasionally receive a black or a brown today. (lipizzan.org)

#5: An extremely rare breed
There are just 10,000 Lipizzaner on the four continents of Europe, America, Africa, and Australia, according to the Lipizzan International Federation. (www.lipizzan-online.com)