Lipizzaner Breeding
Lipizzaners are Europe’s oldest cultural horse breed, with their origin going back to the year 1580. The Lipizzaner stud Piber combines knowledge that has been accumulated over 400 years with a feeling for Lipizzaners to breed horses with the abilities that make them world-famous, especially through the Spanish Riding School.
The cooperation between the Federal Stud Piber and the Spanish Riding School in Vienna forms a unique cycle. Only the best stallions present the lessons of the High School at the Spanish Riding School and then return to Piber as studs for one breeding season.
However, the heart of the Lipizzaner breed are the mares. They guarantee the offspring for the Spanish Riding School and thus they receive special attention at the stud. Already in the middle of the 18th century, the imperial court stud produced such exceptional horses that those mare bloodlines are still found in the stud books today. The rearing of a horse takes three years and during all that time, the horses are under the care of one of our skilled staff members. When the mares’ performance test starts, the horses are first slowly getting accustomed to their new surroundings. The horses are introduced to bridles, long line and harness so that they gain confidence in their new tasks. The physical training on the long line and later in the harness is supposed to directly improve their fitness. Only at the age of five, work under the saddle starts.
Today, the stud farm is a modern breeding, event and tourism location.
Features of the Lipizzaner breed
The Lipizzaner is a baroque horse. Its good-naturedness and intelligence make it ideal for learning the High School. The expressive and noble head which often features a Roman nose, the large bold and intelligent eyes as well as the short and well-set ears are characteristic for Lipizzaner horses.
Their movements look gracious thanks to their compact, elegant body and they are especially underlined by their springy gait with high knee action. This is why for 400 years Lipizzaners have been bred and trained as driving and riding horses.
Lipizzaners possess all qualities a horse should have – be it as the stars of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, as ideal carriage and parade horses or as faithful companions for pleasure riding.