Something to leave you all with before I leave….

That’s not an easy question.. my guess on the color is Perlino.. a Bay horse that recieved one copy of the creme gene from both of its parents, and has pink skin, blue eyes, a cream to white colored coat and a darker mane and tail (often orange or red tinted).

The breed.. hmm maybe Andalusion or Listano, Paso Fino or Peruvian.. hmm there are quite a few possibilities? Did you take this photo or find it somewhere?

http://www.andalusians-for-you.com/perlino.html

Have a nice time. The first one is a funny pic.

i saw the first image and i thought, wow. that horse needs to see a dentist!

they eyes are weird on the second image. is that normal for a horse? its been years since i have seen one in person.

Have fun, eaglefeather.

This could be many horses…Andalusian being a possibility, but it could be any number of horse breeds because color isn’t always an indicator of breed.

Here is a picture from an Andalusian / Lusitano website and the link is below for the website.

http://www.ialha.org/new/features/articles/Animal_Merveilleux.php

The Andalusian is an ancestor of the famous Lipizzaner stallions. They are the only horse in the world that is born dark and turns white as an adult. I believe they are the only totally white horse in the world.

I have attended the Lipizzaner show and actually the guy who owns the travelling show races Vipers. So hopefully I will get to meet him at one of our racing events. The Lipizzaner stallions are descended from the horses from famous Spanish riding school in Vienna, Austria. during World War II the horses were almost wiped out and General Patton saved them.

The show is fantastic if you have never seen it and they come to your area…these horses are trained to fight and actually can jump up in the air and kick out all four legs at the same time to fend off opponents.

They are the most beautiful horses I have ever seen!

http://www.lipizzaner.com/

http://www.spanishridingschool.co.uk/about.htm

The Lipizzaners found at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna come from the Piber farm almost exclusively. All are decended from 6 different Stallions:
Pluto: a gray Spanish stallion from the Royal Danish Stud, foaled in 1765
Conversano: a black Neopolitan stallion, foaled in 1767
Neapolitano: a bay Neopolitan stallion from Polesina, foaled in 1790
Favory: a dun stallion from the Kladrub stud, foaled in 1779
Siglavy: a gray Arabian stallion, foaled in 1810
Maestoso: a gray (or possibly white) Kladruber stallion, a crossbred of Neapolitan sire and a Spanish dam, foaled at the Hungarian stud of Mezőhegyes in 1819

All Piber Lipizzaners are decended from these 6 lines and will bear brands indicating which ones, as well as foal number and the Piber symbol. If you know what the different stallions physical traits are, you can actually pick out which lines a modern day Lipizzaner is decended from! There are two other lines recognized by the Lipizzan International Federation, but they won’t be in the bloodlines from the ones at Piber. Another big stud farm is in Lipica (formerly spelled Lipizza, hence the breed name) in Slovenia (Lipizzaners are a national treasure of Slovenia).

There are some Lipizzaners who stay dark and never develop a grey to white coat (Lipizzaners are actually considered genetically to be grey. A true white horse will have pink skin. If the horse has gray or black skin, even if the coat is snow white, the horse is actually a gray horse.). The Spanish Riding School makes sure they have at least 1 bay Lipizzan in residence as a nod to the old belief that to not have one is bad luck. Up until the 18th century, Lipizzaners also could be bay or dun. The grey gene is dominate, so the other colors have gone they way of genetics.

The more grey a Lipizzaner’s coat is (unless it’s a bay), the younger it is. The horses are very slow to mature. There also aren’t a lot of them (I think there are only around 3,000 registered world wide last I remember).

If you visit the school in Vienna, don’t visit in January (when I did). They are on vacation *d’oh!*. The museum across the street is open and you can watch them via camera in the stables, see all sorts of neat stuff, etc., but no performances. You can even buy Mare’s milk chocolate at the gift shop! If you are there during their performing season, check out a morning workout. I think it’s free, or cheaper than the shows and I believe much less crowded.

Guess where I spent a few hours one day ….

Hehe… don’t mean to intrude Keschete 8)

No intrusion, Great Information…..I have only seen the group that travels around the states. I would love to visit the riding school. They are breathtaking! Absolutely the most fabulous horses I have ever see. Thanks for more detailed history 🙂

I plan on it in the future. When I was in Austria, it was for the month of January, so I missed them. I plan on going back to Austria for a trip, but it won’t be until Nov/Dec 2008 (need to visit the Christkindlmarkts). Trying to save some money this year.

I do have a trip to France potentially in January coming up though (apparently the prices are cheap because no one wants to travel there in January). Will be doing Paris and traveling around by rail through Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg) and a bit of northwestern Germany.