When my sister told me the show was going to be near, I knew I had to go. I wrote a 20 page paper in Dr. Campbell's English class at GBS on the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Although these horses nor the show are directly related to the Spanish Riding School, the production managers have a good relationship with the Riding School and actually go to Austria and consult with the Riding School in which horses they should choose to buy. Lipizzaners are considered a Royal bloodline and all the full blood Lipizzaner stallions in the world can be traced to 6 main bloodlines. Because the horses have two names, the first is always the bloodline name and the second the name of the mare or mares bloodline. Since there are only 6 bloodlines, their first name can only be one of 6 names. Kinda neat!
This Lipizzaner which had been saved in a rescue operation in North America. When he was found he was in bad health. The show adopted 8 Lipizzaners and 3 of them are now in their show.
Gold square stirrups
The Grande Quadrille
Recounting the story of the salvation of the Spanish Riding School in Austria during World War II by the U.S. Army!
Performing ancient dressage movements which date back to the 400's. The horses were taught to hold themselves in the air to remove the soldier riding it from the danger of being knocked off by a foot soldier.
Jay took me to "The World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions" show at the Bank of Kentucky Center. We had great seats and the show was pretty good. I had only two major qualms - 1. One of the female riders didn't look like she had a clue how to ride. She sat the horse about as good as a sack of potatoes and bounced all over the place. 2. They kept referring to the horses as stallions and even stated that they could have no mares in the tour or the show due to the fact that the stallions are aggressive when females are around. One problem - Out of the approximately 12 horses we watched, only one was a true stallion. All the others has been gelded and therefore would not have been aggressive towards the mares. Of course, if you aren't a 'horse' person you probably wouldn't even notice.
I did learn something quite significant however. The Lipizzaner breed of horses generally live to 30 or 35 years old. This is quite a bit longer than a normal horse and I found that very interesting. I already knew they were "late bloomers" so to speak, but I did not realize how long they could live.
5 comments:
Aren't horses the most gorgeous animals! I love them! We hope to get one or 2 soon.
Well, I hope you can get one. They are a ton of work, especially during the winter, but they are fun.
We've had 2 before but they were at a cousins because we didn't have a place for them. We finally have a place but it needs a fence and barn. It will probably be later than sooner:)
these are some of the most beautiful horses! i can't believe you got to see them up close! great pictures :)
SOOOOO jealous Regi!!!! I used to be OBSESSED with horses as a preteen and teen (as an adult, other things, like bills and adult responsibilties, took time away from my obsession....)Even so, I would have LOVED to have seen this! Lucky you! They are such graceful, breath-taking, gorgeous animals!
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