The Lipik Lipizzaners
© by Darko Zubrinic, Zagreb (1999)
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In October 1991, the largest Lipizzaner horse-farm in Croatia, situated near the town of Lipik, was bombed with napalm bombs. Out of 117 horses 27 of them were killed, and more than 80 taken away to Serbia, where they are also today. Believe it or not, the Serbs are trying to SELL stolen Croatian Lipizzaners to Croatia! From reliable sources we know that some of them have been already sold in Italy.
The Lipizzaner horse-farm, which exists since 1905, is known in Europe for its high quality sports horses. They lived in the stable that was 169 m long, 10 m large, with walls 1m thick, providing excellent conditions for healthy life of horses, including wonderful surrounding meadows and forests.
As a result of attack with napalm bombs in 1991, the stable was left in a very difficult condition. The wish of citizens of Lipik is to renew the horse-farm through foreign concessions. Very cultivated space and pleasant climate are ideal for Lipizzaner breeding.
According to Mato Cacic, Croatia has the largest population of Lipizzaner horses in the world, about 15-16 %. In 2007 Croatia had more than a thousand Lipizzaners, out of 6000-7000 in the world. Croatia has more than 200 years of tradition of organized breeding of Lipizzaners.
The Republic of Croatia is a member of the Lipizzan International Federation (LIF).
Source: www.fotoakademija.hr
Source: thephora.net
The Lipik Lipizzaners parading on the riva of the city of Split in 2008, surrounded by beautiful plams grown - in Lipik!
Literature:
Mato Cacic, Domagoj Tadic: Maticna knjiga lipicanaca zemaljskog uzgoja Republike Hrvatske 2005. Lipizzan Stud Book of Territorial Breeding Republic of Croatia 2005. (bilingual Croatian - English edition), Hrvatski savez udruga uzgajivaca lipicanske pasmine konja i Hrvatski stocarski centar, 2007., ISBN 953-6526-43-3
- Mato Cacic: Uskoro povratak ukradenih lipicanaca ergele Lipik, 2007
- Petition for unconditional return of stolen Croatian Lipizzaners from Serbia
- 66 out of 300 Croatian Lipizzan Horses returned home
- Zajedno za Ergelu Lipik, Stipe Marinovic, 2008 Split
Back to The Lipik Orphanage and Colonel Mark Cook