I bought a Lipizzan nearly two years ago and have gotten very involved in the registry, and in promoting the breed, in just that short time.
I didn’t know much about them and hadn’t seen many in dressage showing, either. But I feel my horse has so many great attributes that I’d like to see more people consider them as a dressage partner.
The reasons they’re not seen around very much are as said above. They’re not as tall as what’s preferred or as expected in the dressage ring today. As a baroque breed, they tend toward collection coming easily but lengthening, not so much. At the lower levels the lengthening coming easy is preferred and that ground-covering trot is where the gait scores start. So to jump in at lower levels on a Lipizzan and accept that you might already be at a deficit when you enter at A, well that takes some weighing of the good points against that deficit, which is something everyone who’s showing a non-WB has to take into consideration. So, there’s that.
And of course, as already said, they’re a rare breed. Maybe 1050 to 1200 individuals estimated in North America at this time. And worldwide, 5500 to 7000.
The factors above, as far as their height and their movement, are part of what drove the market down. There were never very many breeders anyway, and the few that were very committed in the past few decades ran up against those roadblocks in marketing their horses. People wanted taller. People wanted floating movement and “8” gaits. So the breeders that were in it, in several cases, just quit making more.
That led to the situation we have now which is that there are very few Lipizzans listed on sales sites, in the ideal age range that most horse-shopping riders prefer to buy. There are some new breeders coming along now and some others have stepped up, and so-- in about four or five years-- there will be a lot more young stock than what you see being marketed in 2015.
Another consideration with an aging population of horse breeders is that so many of them still just don’t “get” that the Internet is how horse people shop nowadays. They don’t update websites or worry about where their stock is advertised.
It’s a breed that attracts people who are enamored of its attributes, so many breeders have-- for decades-- simply relied on word of mouth to make sales. They feel that, if their youngsters go to buyers who want Lipizzans more than anything, then, that’s a win. They aren’t concerned with how the horse is used, or shown, or with any sort of ambassadorship for the breed. And so, in many cases, youngsters went on to become breeding stock for the people who bought them, or to be enjoyed at home but never shown out and about.
And that leads to another consideration with a breed with such a storied history, one that attracts people who dreamed of a Lipizzan ever since they were little. It’s a $$ issue, because what happens is that people save every penny and then buy the Lipizzan they can afford which is a weanling or yearling, or maybe an unstarted two year old. They finally “OWN” the dream. But, they have nothing in the bank left over for the training and the showing, and the real expenses of bringing along a young horse that once had the potential to star in its class, be it dressage or driving or something else. Instead, the person gets overwhelmed and that individual horse’s potential is lost, as far as the ambassador it might have been had a trainer been more involved.
So there are all these factors involved. Another thing that happened was that the “World Famous” touring show, which crisscrossed the Country for deceases, went out of business in or around 2010-11. Whether people loved or poo-poohed their performances, they were providing a level of ambassadorship and were generating an interest, which is now gone.
Anyway all of those things and more are part of the rarity. It’s too bad because they are intelligent, talented, willing and athletic horses. They have great feet, are not prone to colic or other sensitivities, and they live a long time and work late into their careers.
Several of us in the registry (USLF) have implemented and have been managing an ad campaign designed to at least put the idea of considering Lipizzans into the minds of competitive dressage riders. We have ads in the USDF Connection magazine, and a half page in the USDF Member Guide, and in other places. We had ads in the “baroque” issues of Horse Illustrated and Dressage Today, this year. We have more ads coming up.
I’m curious whether people who get the USDF publication or Dressage Today have noticed these ads. Anyone? We are planning to expand to some online banner ads, and are trying to identify prime sites. This website (COTH) has been discussed.
My hope is that, if we can continue with this kind of branding and general marketing, it will generate some interest over time which will have an impact when some of the young stock that are weanlings and yearlings now will be for sale as newly under saddle horses in three and four years.
It’s really a cycle, as Shagya said above. There are few horses because the market isn’t there. The market isn’t there, because there are few horses. One feeds the other, and many Lipizzan breeders who were once enthusiastic have been giving up when it comes to making more of these great horses.
