Lipzzaners

Oberon

Oberon

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I have never met or heard of anyone with one of these horses.

Why is that?

I would have thought they would be a popular breed.
 
Can't say I know anyone who has owned a Lipizzaner. Remember a while back, not sure if it was this forum, a lady had purchased a horse from a dealer and was trying to find out more about its freezemark.
Turned out she had bought a Lipizzaner and didn't even know it !!! Now that would make me happy :D
 
As Flame said, there's a few in competitive driving and I've ridden a couple of classically trained dressage lipizzaners.

Why are they not very common? They are a very 'closed' breed with only 8 stallion lines accepted, and traditionally they had to be bred within a small geographical area (like the PRE) only I think it was something like 3 studs only.

They have had to be moved a number of times due to wars, during the 2nd world war they were very nearly completely wiped out as a breed. The US army was pivotal in their survival (I'm sure there was a Disney film about it).

There was also a viral epidemic of some sort in the 80s which wiped out a fair percentage of all breeding stock. It's not so much that they aren't common in the UK, they're just not very common at all.
 
There was some mention of Lippizaner x highlands on t'other forum though, rhino... I could be tempted to one of those myself! :D
 
I saw the two Lipizzaner extreme driving teams at Olympia 2011. Impressive.

JFTD - Never know when to take you seriously??? Maybe a Lippy x welshie is a better mix :D

The WW2 (or end of WW2) rescue was a remarkable undercover operation considering the number of horses involved.

Rhino - Lucky you, Where, When and How did you have this opportunity?
 
ew no, highland x is way cooler!

no joke, there was defo mention of them on a highland forum (which rhino's also on) recently!
 
cambrica said:
JFTD - Never know when to take you seriously??? Maybe a Lippy x welshie is a better mix :D

Rhino - Lucky you, Where, When and How did you have this opportunity?
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I'm fairly sure JFTD is serious, the two breeds are supposed to complement each other :)

I rode one a few years ago, it was the 'baby' of someone I used to ride for :rolleyes: and one more recently that was advertised for sale (not for me though, for a friend) and although he could do all the fancy classical stuff, that was really all he could do - wouldn't hack etc.
 
ive owned one, will dig some pics out if intrested,

i had one of the original pluto lines, they are INCREDIBLY intelligent, to the point of being smart arses, but they are very adabatable, and tbh not much they carnt do, they do how ever tend to be incredibly sharp.
 
Well I have the boggiest of bog ponies but my big (very white) cob thinks she is a classically trained Lipizzaner so we have banned mirrors from the yard and daren't tell her any different.
 
jhoward said:
INCREDIBLY intelligent, to the point of being smart arses, but they are very adabatable, and tbh not much they carnt do, they do how ever tend to be incredibly sharp.
Click to expand...

I looked after one a few years ago and it was one of the dimest (if that's a word) horses I've ever met! No personallity, absolutely nothing about her at all! Not sharp but a bit nappy. Very comfy and easy to ride, though.

My friend has a cob that she's always claimed is a lippi x, not sure how true this is. she is also very comfy.
 
I had the opportunity to groom and get some Lipizzaners ready for others to ride when I was a teenager. They all had very nice personalities, and were very easy to work with. When I was still in the US, someone bought an old farm the next town over and brought several there to live. I went up for a day to work as a groom for free just to meet them. It was a pretty big deal locally, being such a small place. They were in the paper and everything; still have the clipping somewhere. They didn't drive them as far as I know, but they did a lot of dressage once the farm was properly established.
 
I do indoor driving trials and the organiser sometimes brings his team. Another reason you don't see many is that they are very expensive, you wouldn't get much change fom 6K for a young, green one.
 
The one that got away was a Lipizzaner x ish that I used to ride for a lady whilst at uni! He was used for jumping and did incredibly well! He was one of the best horses I've ever ridden! Not novice ride but barrels of fun.
 
Valley Farm riding and driving centre in suffolk have 2 that they use in the school and drive for weddings, they were both lovely.
 
Slave2Magic said:
The yard where my youngster is has 2 lipizzaner mares that are in foal to an andalucian stallion. Can't wait to see what these babies are like.:)
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They will probably be very baroque looking as adults as the two breeds are very closely related. Gorgeous :)
 
My mare's dam is half Lipizzaner and she has certainly taken on the size/shape of head and the ability to be rather active on her hind legs should the desire take her!
 
Mine's sire was 1/2 lipizzaner, so I suppose that makes Ridge 1/4? He's big and white at least!
 
As has already been said, there aren't many Lipizzaners about because they are a very rare breed. I have a Lippizzaner x Anglo-Arab who has much more talent for dressage than I do and a pure Lipizzaner who is now retired but was an extremely successful trials driving horse. Both are gorgeous gentlemen. There are however quite a few 'Lipizzaners' about whose breeding is a bit doubtful to say the least ...
 
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