Episode 12: All About Lipizzaners

Hello! Welcome to Flip N Tails: a tiny podcast for BIG horse lovers! I’m a horse girl who loves to ride and each week I’ll share about what I learn and love about horses. Today is episode twelve and it’s all about Lipizzaner horses.

Try to envision a white horse, it’s leaping up into the air and its got its hind legs and front legs spread[ed] out into the air and then it comes back down like that.

Spanish Riding School in Vienna

So there’s actually a riding school in Vienna and they have a whole bunch of Lipizzaners probably around seventy. And they all train and do really cool stuff. And if you ever end up in Vienna some time, I would go see it.

You may be wondering why we call it the Spanish Riding School [in Vienna], and that is actually because one of the influences for the Lipizzaners are actually the Spanish horse.

Training the Foals

So they have a whole bunch of mares, and then they have lots of foals that are raised from really young and they have lots and lots and lots and lots of years put together for training to make sure the horse knows how to do things and then they get to be in the big shows.

What are they, horse or pony?

Well they’re a horse because they stand between 15.1 hands and 16.2 hands. Some of the examples of places where Lipizzaners are born is Romania and Czechoslovakia.

Describe them

Well they’re tall, gray, I think beautiful… ancey and wild.

What makes them so cool?

Well, Lipizzaners are born brown or black. And with age, they actually change color to white or gray.

Fun fact

Most of the white horses you see, when you actually spray them down with a hose or when you’re trying to clean them, they actually turn a grayish color.

Lipizzaners and Lusitanos

Whenever I think of Lipizzaner horses I think of Lusitano horses because they’re both gray and they’re both athletic. Lusitano horses don’t do what Lipizzaners do, like when they leap into the air and stuff, but they are pretty similar with being energetic and stuff and they are both gray and two L’s so Lipizzaners and Lusitanos… I just think of them as like cousins, sisters, brothers.. just like in the family tree of horses.

Famous example of a Lipizzaner

A famous example was Neapolitano Nima. He died, but made it to 40 years, which is like 100 years in people years. And what’s more, he never got ill.

So that’s it! Now you know a tiny bit more about this special horse. Join us next time and subscribe for another episode of Flip N Tails: a tiny podcast for BIG horse lovers!