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The
Lipizzaner is an energetic, robust horse of average height (1.55 – 1.67 m),
with a strong, intelligent character.
It
is longer-lived than average, sometimes living to over the age of thirty.
It
has an expressive head on a high-set, powerful neck, fairly low withers, a
long, muscular shoulder, a long, muscular back, a round, massive croup and good
bone, profiled limbs.
Hairs
are fine, the coat is silky and white, very occasionally black or brown. By
tradition, the Vienna school accommodates one black stallion.
Classically,
horses are distinguished on the basis of the specific morphological features of
each of the six stallion bloodlines – the head in particular varies from
concave for Neapolitano, straight for Conversano to convex for Siglavy.
Naming
generally follows a traditional pattern: a male foal will inherit the name of
the paternal line and the name and number of the dam, while fillies are given
the family or sub-family name plus a Roman numeral indicating the chronological
position of the filly in that family.
Lipizzaners
have traditionally been branded with a hot iron. There are four brands that
vary a little from stud to stud:
On
the left rump, the stud’s brand.
Beneath
the saddle, on the left side, the sire’s initial and beneath it the sign of the
dam’s father.
Beneath
the saddle, on the right side, the horse’s number on the registry.
On
the left jowl, the letter L.
The
marks of the various studs
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