Lipizzan International Federation

Lipizzan

The main aim of the breeding work of the stud farm was to guarantee enough noble horses for the Imperial Court. Lipizzan became a horse suitable of for use by aristocracy and also for agriculture. The breeding of Lipizzans became more widespread in XVIIIth century, when the Spanish riding school was founded in 1735 by Emperor Charles the IVth.
The reason for becoming one of the favourite horses not only among the aristocracy but also among the smaller private farmers is its great morphological , physiological and biological qualities. That was also the reason why the Lipizzan influenced the private breeders as well. The Lipizzan stallions started to be present in the monarchy stud farms including the Slovak regions. The Lipizzan horse was favoured for its hardness, unpretentiousness, liveliness, good and individual character and its learning abilities.
The Lipizzan breeding at the National Stud Farm has a long tradition. 32 original Lipizzan mares (between the years 1915 – 1916 ) were transported to Topoľčianky in 1921. During the war, these mares were evacuated from Lipica to Kladruby nad Labem and were there together with their stock / foundation stallion, bay Neapolitano Gratia (Neapolitano Ancona VI – Gratia) born in Lipica in 1904.

Topoľčianky Classical Riding School

The National Stud-Farm from Lipica had also taken part in the celebration of the Stud-Farm´s 80th Foundation Anniversary (in 2001 in Topoľčianky. It had introduced its classical Riding-School during the appearance. The fascinating programe became an inspiration – Topoľčianky had also chosen to succeed in doing something similar. The Lipizzans, bred by the Stud-Farm in Topoľčianky, come from Lipica, Slovenia, which had been one of the presuppositions for a success. The classical Riding-School had been established in Lipica during the 60s of the last century. An interesting thing is that Emil Šulgan, the former State Stud-Farm Director in Topoľčianky, founded the Riding-School.
[img=2][/img] Topoľčianky Classical Riding-School had created and has been creating its level and character in stages. Spanish University in Vienna has been the renowned in the world. It has been the unique University in the World, which has maintained its classical riding tradition up to this day. The Lipica stalliions have made this art famous. However, Topoľčianky absolutely doesn´t wish to copy it. Topoľčianky Lipizzans only succeed in demonstrating the figures of Spanish University, but also much more. Except for the mentioned ones, the same horses are capable of representing in the team of horses sport and ride. The own conception founded on the tradition and abilities of the given brood has been concerned. This results in the specific outcome of Topoľčianky Classical Riding-School.

Driving sport

Driving sport - it not only represents the tradition but also part of the Lipizzan breed test in the National Stud-Farm of Topoľčianky, which has unambiguously been the most typical driving breed.
Since 1993 the international driving competition takes part on a regular basis. These have been betaken to the good course and occupy the fixed position in the international calendar.

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The beginning of the sport dates back to the 60s of the last century in Topoľčianky. It has formed an unthinkable part of the Lipizzan Horses test. Even though the Lipizzan stallions testing had been held in Spanish Court Hippodrome in Vienna, the motional, Character and performance nature in both stallions and mares has also been made subjekt to the testing in Topoľčianky since 1922. Although, at that time there had been no standard, which would regulate the horse performance testing system, nevertheless the Stud-Farm personnel also monitored this capability. The scarce records in the Stallion Books founded in 1921 have proven the fact. They prove that almost 80% of the population bred and imported from the mother Stud-Farm in Lipica had been made subject to testing not only under a saddle but also in the teams of horses. In the records we find the information concerning the character of the horses in the driving sport, their movement, cadence and action and indeed, reliability in the driving sport. Since the 50s of the last century the testing system had run upon finishing the specifed performance tests for versatile useful horses . Later on the sport testing of the selected individuals had been added to it. The driving competition had been organized in Breziny premises since 1993 till 2002. In 2002 it was decided that the attractive premises of Topoľčianky Race-Course are going to be used also for the driving sport. Pavol Gašpar had been entrusted with the main contractor role. He managed to build both the sophisticated and unique race-course which meets the strictest criteria of the international driving competitions for relatively a short period.