Lipizzaner world tour comes to Hollister
A rare breed of horses, one that barely escaped extinction
during World War II, has traveled the world around. The
”
World Famous
”
Lipizzaner Stallions will be stopping in Hollister July 11 for a
one-night performance by the graceful white stallions.
Lipizzaner world tour comes to Hollister
A rare breed of horses, one that barely escaped extinction during World War II, has traveled the world around. The “World Famous” Lipizzaner Stallions will be stopping in Hollister July 11 for a one-night performance by the graceful white stallions.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity if you know horses to be thoroughly entertained by the best,” said Troy Tinker, narrator of the show. “But one of my jobs it to explain everything to the audience, to bring them up to speed. It’s a Lipizzaner 101.”
Tinker has been with the Lipizzaner show for nearly 15 years. He has traveled throughout the United States and other countries with the stallions and their riders. The horses are more pampered than the people, he joked.
“They’ve helped us make a good living so we treat them well,” Tinker said.
When they head for an overseas engagement, Federal Express airplanes ship the horses.
“We can’t put them on a boat because they would be too confined,” he said. “They fly and they get there absolutely, positively overnight.”
After 36 years of touring, the white stallions still draw audiences from around the world and while they perform in traditional dressage style, Tinker talks about the history of the horses.
As the horses leap in a segment called “Airs Above the Ground” and other portions of the show, audience members learn that the horse was saved from extinction by General George S. Patton at the end of World War II. A 1963 Walt Disney movie, “The Miracle of the White Stallions,” portrayed the story of the horses and Patton.
During the war, allied bombers attacked Vienna, home of the famed Spanish Riding School and most of the Lipizzaner stallions alive at the time. The head of the school, Colonel Alois Podjahsky, sent the horses to St. Martin’s in Upper Austria, though hungry refugees tried to steal the horses for food along the 200-mile train ride.
In St. Martin, Patton and Podhajsky connected. The stallions became wards of the U.S. Army until they could be returned to Vienna. Patton protected the horses from Russian and German soldiers before returning control of the horses to Podjahsky. The Spanish Riding School in Vienna remains in business and several of the horses in the Lipizzaner Stallion show were purchased from it.
The stallions are born black or brown and take on their pure white color slowly until they are 6 to 10 years old.
In its 36th year, the tour features 12-14 stallions performing feats such as the capriole, in which the horse leaps into the air, draws his forelegs to his chest and kicks out violently with his hind legs.
“It’s one of the things that made them the war horse of choice in Europe,” Tinker said, eluding to the centuries the horses and its ancestor, the Spanish Andalusian, served military troops.
Though the horses and the riders retire or move on, the show has remained largely the same over the years.
“People come to see us for what is a tradition,” Tinker said. “But there is something for everyone…military history, dressage, horses. Mozart used to write music for the horses to dance to so there is even classical music.”
How to see the show
The “World Famous” Lipizzaner Stallions will be performing at the San Benito County Fairgrounds, Tuesday, July 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $19.50 for adults, $17.50 for children under 12 and seniors 60+.
Tickets are available at Ranchers Feed, 354 First St., in Hollister, www.tickets.com or by calling 1-800-882-8258. For more information, call 831-628-3421.
