Skip to main content
Sensations English Logo
LEVEL B2

Shadowing the newsreader

Listen to the newsreader read out each line and then practise saying it. Record your own voice line by line and submit your voiceover.

Hide View

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.

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.

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.

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

REGISTER NOW

Get videos, articles, games and study tools!

Learn at six levels from A1 to C1
Or sign up with your Email
By clicking “Sign Up” above you are accepting our Terms of Service & Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign in

Sign up with email

Enter the following information to create your account.
All sign up options

Log in Or create an account

or

Forgot password?

reset password or login

Crop Image

Crop preview
Add to homescreen