Lipizzaner Horses of Lipica, Slovenia

Lipizzaner horses being put through their training exercises

The plan for the day was to drive to Trieste, Italy, for the sole and exclusive purpose of being able to say we've been to Italy. It would have required hitting the road way to early to make the 10:00 a.m. free walking tour. And there may well have not been enough to do in Trieste to wait around until the 4:00 p.m. start of the second English-language free walking tour. So we had to choose between the two major Slovenian tourist attractions en route to Trieste from Ljubljana.

Caves or horses?

We chose horses. The caves would have been nice, too. The karst landscape of Slovenia is known for its caves, with the Postojna Caves supposedly being the biggest and the best (as well as being right off the E65, the expressway between Ljubljana and Trieste).

But the weather was nice and horses are nice, so off to Lipica. Which also was not too far off the E65 expressway.

Lipica is the home of the Lipizzaner stallions, those gleaming-white performing horses out of Vienna. Well, Lipica, Slovenia, is where the Hapsburgs first bred and trained the Royal Lipizzaner stallions. This farm in Lipica is their home.

As an nerdy aside, it is important that the horse farm is in the Slovenian karst region, with its limestone rock. Limestone is excellent for cave formation. Limestone, apparently, also is excellent for horse breeding. I do not know, nor did I learn, why. It's just the way it is. Know where else is karst country? Kentucky. They've got horses there. And caves. You may have heard of Mammoth Cave National Park, for example. Bet they would make great bourbon in Slovenia if they tried.

We arrived just in time for the 11:00 a.m. training exercises.

Most impressive, of course, was the pirouette training.

Apparently it is quite natural for the stallion to rear up like this on its back legs. It's a natural aggression/defensive move. What takes training, however, is to get the horse to hold that pose.

The show lasted about an hour.

Then it was time for the horses to take their final bows.

Then exit, stage right.

Next, we took the guided tour to the horse barns.

The horses most ate their hay, but they would occasionally stick a head out to check out the action.

This one was the one of the friendlier, or maybe just more curious,

The white color is the dominant trait. They are born black and turn white early on. Some get stuck at "dapple grey," which means a little gray on the snout and mane and legs. Two or three out of every hundred stay black.

But most are the gleaming white for which the Lipizzaner horses are known.

You can even say "hello," scratch their foreheads, and let them search your camera bag.

Next it was off to the super deluxe accommodations of the nicest of the horses barns:

Here is one resident:

Here is another. They all are behind bars in their stalls. It's just that some were positioned so I could fit my camera between the bars and get a picture of the whole horse. Couldn't for this one, who was an example of one of the Lipizzaners who stayed all (well, nearly all) black.

This is the deluxe barn:

There is a church on the property, Catholic of course:

Tiny but ornate:

And there are Icelandic ponies for the children.

At least I think these are Icelandic ponies. I saw a reference to Icelandic ponies somewhere in the guidebook. And these ponies look a little more stout than regular ponies. So I'm guessing they are Icelandic ponies.

Clock says it is time to hit the road and head for Italy.