What is it about Lipizanner horses?
Their grace? Beauty? Fantastic history?
All I know is, they caught my imagination and fancy when I was a young girl–and I’ve been fascinated ever since.
The books did it first.
But then, I saw some “dance” in person. One magical afternoon, a few trotted to a fence to meet me.
Smitten, as only a girl can be.
(Even when she’s an adult).
What is a Lipizanner?
My interest probably began when I saw Miracle of the White Stallions. A 1963 Disney movie, it was based on a book written by Alois Podhajsky, a director of the Spanish Riding School in Austria.
I loved the story and seeing how the impeccable white stallions “danced” in the air in marvelous ways. How could such a horse “leap” as in a ballet?
Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart captured my imagination in my teen years. This story, a comfort novel to me, also features a spy . . . but describes action at the Lipizzaner stud farm in Slovenia
Unique European Horse Breeds in Books
I’ve been thinking about not just the Lipizanner horses, but also the other unique horsebreeds lately because I recently read my friend Nicole M. Miller’s debut novel which features them.
Based on a true story, Until Our Times Comes describes the desperate scramble to save the Polish breed during World War II.
With those unfamiliar with the Nazis . . . they were interested in perfecting not just the “human race,” but also in selective breeding for a “perfect horse” during WWII.
(See Elizabeth Lett’s The Perfect Horse).
Miller’s historical novel portrays a different “front” in this attempt–the Janów Podlaski Arabian Horses.
The action for Miller’s novel begins at the Janów Podlaski Stud Farm, not too far from Warsaw, in 1939.
The farm has raised Arabian horses for the last 200 years, despite being plundered by the Russians armies in both WWI and WWII.
In her novel, Miller describes the risk of losing the pure breed through the eyes of an American working at the farm and her love interest: a British spy.
From the novel, I learned a lot about the care needed for thoroughbreds, and the desperation so many felt during WWII to escape the Nazi clutches.
The book reaches a satisfying conclusion when, as history recounts, General George C. Patton (an Olympic equestrian medal winner) sent in his troops to rescue the horses.
Visiting the Slovenia Stud Farm
Years ago, my family visited Slovenia and when I looked at the map, I realized the Lipizanner stud farm wasn’t far away (Indeed, for those with a car in Venice, you’re not far away either).
“Can we go?” I asked my husband.
Of course.
Unfortunately, we arrived too late for the tour, but as we drove up the long driveway between beautiful lush green pastures, we spied a small herd.
He pulled over, I got out of the car, and my heart melted yet again.
I stood at the rails, shooting photos, and then they came over to greet me.
How my heart sang! Lipizanners greeting me!
I was a little girl again, a teenager, and then a grinning, charmed middle-aged woman.
Obviously, beautiful horses will do that to you.
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