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Respect for Slovenia's white horses - 14th July 2022

Lipica, a village in Slovenia, is home to one of the world's most distinguished horse breeds - the Lipizzaner. Often referred to as 'dancing horses' because of their elegant movements when performing dressage, the breed was developed by the Hapsburg Empire in the sixteenth century.

Austria, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Romania and Slovakia all belonged to the Empire and are part of the Lipizzaner tradition. They gathered at Lipica in celebration of the farm's 443 year anniversary, but also for a huge new honour – the tradition's now on UNESCO's list of 'Intangible Cultural Heritage'.

Miro Dragic heads Slovenia’s team of Lipizzaner riders and talks with great pride of their skill.

Miro Dragic: "The Lipizzaner horses are known for their ability for 'Airs above the ground' dressage, something we rarely see in other horse breeds. For the 'Airs above the ground' dressage, a horse has to have a very good balance and strength. Along with that, it has to be well trained if we want him to carry out demanding movements such as the levade, capriole or courbette."

Although famous for being snow white, the foals are actually born black and only turn fully white around the age of 4. It's at this point that the highly demanding training starts and the males – the 'stallions' – which demonstrate talent are prepared for the classical dressage teams.

For Dragic, knowing each individual animal properly helps in this process.

Miro Dragic: "Lipizzans can have a strong temperament, they are usually calm, sometimes shy but kind. It is up to us to recognise the quality of each horse to be able to train it based on its talents."

For visitor and lifelong Lipizzaner fan Laura Highlander, it's been remarkable to see these valuable creatures, which can each be worth several hundred thousand euros.

Laura Highlander: "And I've always heard about the Lipizzaner horses since I was super excited to be able to come today and see them, in their training, and visit the rest of the facility as well."

Laura Highlander: "They are phenomenal animals, and and the way that they've been trained and the skill level of the riders is incredible."

Here in Lipica, the village which lends its name to the breed, it seems the obvious place to appreciate these amazing animals.