The Lipizzan breed history in the Republic of Croatia

The Lipizzan breed presents an indispensable part of numerous cultural and folklore events, equestrian games, folklore festivals and horse shows in Croatia. Also this is the third most populous breed of horses in Croatia and have status of Croatian protected breed. The aim of this paper was to show the history of breeding of Lipizzan horses and their introduction to Croatia. The origin of Lipizzan breed is connected with the year 1580 when Charles II, Archduke of Austria bought the village of Lipica near Sežana in Slovenia and founded a horse breed there. The Lipizzan were initially used for the protocol needs of the Vienna Court, and later as a working aid. Due to its exceptional beauty and wide usage, this breed began to spread through the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Today, the Lipizzan breed, consists of 7 lines of stallions and 18 mare family lines. Throughout history, the breeding goal of the Lipizzan was harmonized depending on the country where it was grown, depending on the time and needs of the source of labour in agriculture and transport, but also depending on the culture of living in a particular region. More than 300 years of Lipizzan breeding in Croatia resulted in noble Baroque horse acclimated for Croatian conditions and deeply correlated with Croatian people and tradition.