Lipizzaner Foals

The Breeding Program

The main task of the Lipizzaner stud Piber lies in breeding the best stallions for the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and in preserving the Lipizzaner breed in its purest tradition. About 40 Lipizzaner foals are born at the stud in Piber every year. Young horses grow up in a herd and spend three summers on alpine pastures which is good for their health, their balance and strength. All horses are documented from the moment of their birth to the completion of their training.

 

The Mares

The mares at the stud carefully preserve the Lipizzaner ancient bloodlines. They guarantee the offspring for the Spanish Riding School and thus they receive special attention at the stud. In the middle of the 18th century, the Imperial Court Stud produced such exceptional horses that those mare bloodlines are still found in the stud books today.

 

The rearing of a horse takes three years, and during all that time they are under the care of one of our skilled staff members. When the mares’ performance test starts, they first slowly get accustomed to their new surroundings. They are then introduced to bridles, long lines and the harness so that they slowly gain confidence in their new tasks. The physical training on the long line and later in the harness directly improves their fitness. At the age of five, work under the saddle starts. Today, the stud farm is a modern breeding, event and tourism location.

 

About Piber Federal Stud

The Piber Federal Stud is 555 hectares in size. Approximately 250 horses are kept there, including 70 brood mares. Two stallions from the Spanish Riding School are brought to Piber each breeding season. Only stallions from the Spanish Riding School are used as breeding stallions, and all six classic stallion bloodline families are used. Approximately 40 foals per year are born at Piber. Young horses grow up in a herd and spend their first three summers on alpine pastures. Meticulous records are kept on every horse from the moment of their birth to the completion of their training.

 

The Piber Federal Stud is the only location containing foundation bloodstock from all 15 classically recognized mare families. The facility includes stables for stallions, but also extensive grazing and pastures. At the age of four, selected stallions come to Vienna, while the others are sold. After several years of training in Vienna, the stallions chosen for breeding purposes come back to Piber. To avoid inbreeding, Piber works in cooperation with other Lipizzana stud farms in Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Romania, to periodically exchange breeding stock.

 

Adoption Program

To help support the breeding program, Piber offers an "adoption" program where individuals and corporations can sponsor an individual animal with an annual monetary donation.