Lipica is a place that you hear a lot about but rarely visit.
It's a home to very renown breed of horses - the Lipizzaner. Like swans, they are born black or grey and they grow to the beautiful white horses. Not that the foals are not beautiful as well. The transformation itself is beautiful.
Lipica is a small town, mainly constituted from a vast land of fields, a stud farm and a golf course.
The Lipizzaner horses, or their origin more specifically, were often the core of the dispute over history. Everyone wanted to claim them for their own, because of their unique breed. Also, they are very elegant horses and mainly trained for classical dance and ballet-like horseriding shows and tournaments.
And the dispute is right in place as the horses were bought in Spain in 1581, the mansion from which grow the stud farm was always a Slovene territory but for many centuries under the Habsburgs reign and later during the war under Italian occupation. In the 19th century, after the many natural or unnatural disasters, the horses of Arabic origin were introduced.
Horses were, due to their very well kept breeding system to breed the noblest and aristocratic horse, moved several times to prevent their thefts, like from Napoleon who was on his conquering quest at the beginning of the 1800s as the voice of the breed spread all around.
The history of the race and the stud farm read almost like a mystery, thriller even.
Due to moves, there are still few "offspring" stud farms in Hungary, Italy and Austria, but it was later established that the original stud farm and race stay in Lipica.
They were first trained for Cour ceremonies and first horseriding schools were soon established and they are still the stallions of a unique kind.
The land itself is stunning with endless fields and picked white fences even on a gloomy day like ours and it is a day's visit easily. You will have plenty of things to experience, admire and even to try.
There is also a museum on the history of Lipica stud farm, a gallery, workshops of the shoeing of horses, grooming, training, classical shows and even riding at least a pony.
They are marvellous creatures and they look you in the eyes like they can read your mind and like they know everything, they are aware of all. And I couldn't get past the feeling that after all that glory and glitter it is kind of sad to see those beautiful horses locked in their stalls. The most prestigious, of course. The majority is left to move freely in the outdoor stables, but still, the look of those that they are put in their "golden" cages left me with a soaring feeling.
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