Lipizzaner History with a mention to the Mezöhegyes herd at the State Stud

301 Pluto XVII, out of Maestoso XIII, Bábolna bred. At one time a stallion in Slovakia. A Lipizzaner stallion, the type very close to the Old Kladruber gray.

The balanced and refined posture of the Lipizzaner, his high but roomy gaits, at one time very much sought out, his lively temperament but with good character, durability, toughness, easy learning ability and further his undemanding upkeep were the reasons why the “left-over” stallions were added for the country-breeding in other parts of the southern Austrian empire like; Croatia, Slovenia, Herzegovina, Bosnia Dalmatia, Istria etc. From the surplus material of Lipica were founded breeds of Lipizzaners in other state and private stud farms in Austria-Hungary. In Hungary was established herd of Lipizzaners in Mezöhegyes and Fogarash, later on in Bábolna and in the state Austrian stud farms Radovec and Piber. In Mezöhegyes were the Lipizzaners bred already from the stud farm establishment in the year 1783 till 1874, when the whole herd of Lipizzaners was transferred to Fogarash stud farm. The most typical Mezöhegyes stallion line was Maestoso, established by the Kladrubian Maestoso; further there were bred the lines of Favory and Conversano. Later there was established a new line Lipizzaners Incitato after the stallion Incitato, born 1807, by Curioso out of Capallana, who was undoubtedly a stallion of Spanish- Italian origin. It seems however, that this line was not bred quite purely. The Incitato stallions were/are more massive, rougher and more lymphatic, stand on a longer leg, have heavier head, are longer, lower set neck, thus they have pure karstic Lipizzaner type.

Lipizzaner stallion Incitato, state stud farm in Bábolna, Hungary 1934

In Fogarash were the Lipizzaners bred from 1874 till 1915. The Mezöhegyes herd was completed from Piber and Lipica; hence all the original lines were represented there. Besides these, there were also present the lines of Incitato and Tulipan.

In the state stud farm in Piber was the Lipizzaner originally bred only for a short time, from 1853 to 1869 and with a material that came there from Lipica, Mezöhegyes and Bábolna.

In Radovec the Lipizzaners were bred from 1793 till 1914. The Lipizzan stallions were at first crossbred here with the Oriental mares and only later on there was established separate herd of Lipizzaners, which consisted of about 100 heads at the end of the 19^th century. This herd included some oriental mares, which gave a foundation for new female lines that were not bred in Lipica. Some of these female lines managed to survive till this day in the Piber stud farm. From the Radovec herd came to Lipica Arabian mare Gratia, who proved herself well and became the founder of the individual female line, which was named after her great grand mother Mercurio.

After the beginning of WW I in 1914 the Radovec Lipizzaner breeding material was moved to Piber. From the cleaned out Lipica the original herd was evacuated to Laxemburg near Vienna and 3 age groups of the oriental young stock and foals were sent to Kladruby, where they remained through out the war till 1920.

Light palomino Lipizzaner mares in Slovakia.

The stud farm Fogarash was completely cleaned out at the beginning of the First World War and the Lipizzaner herd was moved to Bábolna in Hungary, where it remained and was bred after the war. Fogarash was annexed to Rumania after the war where there was placed a herd of Lipizzaners from the formal Radovec stud farm. This herd however, suffered the moon blindness and was therefore moved further into Rumania. After the Second World War the Fogarash stud farm was again renewed and in the fifties of the 20th century the head count was around 100 mares.
Quite a few Lipizzaners of the Hungarian stock and also from Lipica itself came to a private stud farm of Count Jankovitch in Terezovec and Cabun. Here was bred the new line of Lipizzaners, the Tulipan, which is however not quite pure bred. The Tulipans are of lower grade in exterior; they are rougher, less correct, heavier heads and stand on taller leg.
The majority of the original herd ended up in Italy and the long evacuated Lipica in Karst was again resettled. A smaller part of the herd kept the Austrians for the reproduction of stallions needed for the Spanish Riding School, where still today is ridden the high school (dressage). The Lipizzaner stud farm is in Piber, Steiermark.

From the 1953 Special Zoo-Technique - Breeding of Horses
Published in 1953 by the Czechoslovakian Academy of Agricultural Science and certified by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Written by: MVDr Ludvik Ambroz, Frabtisek Bilek, MVDr Karel Blazek, Ing. Jaromir Dusek, Ing. Karel Hartman, Hanus Keil, pro. MVDr Emanuel Kral, Karel Kloubek, Ing. Dr. Frantisek Lerche, Ing. Dr Vaclav Michal, Ing. Dr Zdenek Munki, Ing. Vladimir Mueller, MVDr Julius Penicka, pro. MVDr Emil Pribyl, MVDr Lev Richter, prof. Ing. Dr Josef Rechta, MVDr Karel Sejkora and Ing. Dr Jindrich Steinitz.

"I was amazed to see the above picture labeled as " light palomino lipizzaner mares" because I had never heard of a palomino lipizzaner. Although the picture is black and white you can tell they are obviously not grey, but they also don't look "palomino". As they are labeled as "light palomino" they actually do look cremelo or perlino. The writing goes on the explain that they are "Tulipan lipizzaners" a line that was not pure, which would explain the possibility of the cremelo coloration occurring. In breeding domestic animals it traditionally takes many decades, often centuries to "set" a certain color, type, conformation and characteristic which will consistently breed true. It has always amazed me that pseudo "white tiger breeders" in less then 20 years were able to even create "new bloodlines!!!!! Breeding animals is so much more then just putting a male and a female together, and very, very few people posses what is referred to as a "feel" when creating a historic line of animals which will breed true for centuries after they, the breeder are dead."