Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
line, and these horses prance for Slovenia—a treasured part of its cultural heritage (and fea-
tured on Slovenia's €0.20 coin). While many other Lipizzaner lines have their own stud
farms around the world, this is the original one, and still has about 360 horses.
What'ssospecialaboutthesehorses?Asidefromtheirobviousphysicalmajesty,they're
trainedto“dance”inremarkableways—prancingsideways,sashayingdiagonally,orjoining
another horse in a synchronous pas de deux. Even when they're simply trotting, they keep
their heads angled steeply down, oh so genteelly. The three most difficult moves involve
first getting the horse to rear up on its hind legs; then, the horse might take a step (called
larada
), spring upward
(kapriola),
or jump as high as possible three times
(kurbetta).
Toachievethismastery,thestallionsfollowaveryspecificlifetimeregimen:Afterbeing
weanedatageone,theyroaminpasturesforthreeyears.Atagefour,theyenrollin“school,”
where they “study” for five years; only the best move up to the next grade. Finally, at age
nine,thevaledictoriansbeginperforming,whichtheydountilaroundage25;afterthat,they
retire and are put out to pasture (typically living until about 30). Even those who flunk out
of school are highly valuable as sires; the cream of the crop can fetch upwards of €200,000
on the private market.
In the stables, you'll notice that each stallion has three names: its own name (created by
combiningitsfather'slinewithitsmother's)followedbythenamesofitsfatherandmother.
Males have only six bloodlines (and females 17), so many names are recycled—which is
why many horses have numbers after their names.
Speaking of breeding, while the stallions are studying, the Lipizzaner mares freely roam
the pastures; they're trained to return to their stables with a single whistle at the end of each
day. But they have an important job as well. Mares are pregnant basically all of the time:
Afterthe11monthsandoneweekofgestation,theygivebirth,aregiveneightdaysoff,and
are impregnated again on the ninth day.
By the way, the hills less than a mile away are in Italy. Aside from the horses, Lipica's
bigdrawisitscasino.Italiansacrosstheborderarelegallyforbiddenfromgamblingintheir
own town's casinos—for fear of addiction—so they flock here to Slovenia to try their luck.
Getting to Lipica:
The Lipica Stud Farm is in Slovenia's southwest corner (a stone's
throw from Trieste, Italy). By car, exit the A-1 expressway at Diva
č
a and follow brown
Lipica
signs.Asyoudriveintothefarm,you'llgothroughpastureswherethestallionsoften
roam. Park in front of the hotel/casino, then walk through the trees, following signs to the
ticket office.
It's a hassle by public transportation. You can take the train or bus from Ljubljana to
Diva
č
a (about six miles from Lipica) or to Sežana (about four miles from Lipica). From
those places, you can hire a taxi (€15 from Diva
č
a, €10 from Sežana).
Visiting the Stud Farm:
There are three activities at Lipica—you can tour the farm for
a look at the horses, watch a training session, and, on some days, see a more elaborate per-
