Lipizzan Q&A: My Lipizzan Is Weird!

Q: Everybody tells me Lipizzans are no different from any other smart, sensitive horse.  They kept telling me their Arabian, Quarter Horse, Thoroughbred, Warmblood, whatever acts just like this, and I'm just getting carried away by the mystique.  How do I explain to them that there are times when this horse just does not act normally, and whatever I try to do with him that worked with my Arabian/Quarter Horse/Thoroughbred/Warmblood/whatever is (literally) biting me on the butt?

A: You can't explain.  Nobody who hasn't been there will understand.  What you can do is accept that these are not horses, they are Space Aliens in horse suits, and just smile and be polite to the "MY Horse Does That TOO" crowd.

The following things are completely normal for a Lipizzan: 

• They're smart.  I believe that in general they're about as bright as a three-year-old human child.  They're not so good on abstracts, but concrete concepts get through just fine.
• They're sensitive.  You can't bully a Lipizzan.  Either he shuts down and turns to stone, or you discover that he really is genetically predisposed toward the Airs Above the Ground.  He is also a warhorse, which means that where another horse might run, he may stand and fight.  This can backfire severely with trainers who view horses as purely flight animals, and don't allow for a horse who fights back.
• They understand English (or French or German or Spanish or whatever language you like to speak to your horse).  You can talk to them, and in fact explaining a new exercise before you execute it can be very helpful.  If you treat your Lipizzan like a fellow sentient being, he'll respond in kind.
• They are powerful one-man horses, sometimes to the point of trouble.  They are not good at generalizing from the Chosen Human to anyone else, and have to be taught to acknowledge any other human's right to tell them what to do.  This is a great deal of fun in a boarding situation, as too many of us know.
• They have really low idiot tolerance.  Inept handling on the ground and poor or imprecise riding will result in a horse who is difficult or impossible to handle.  This is particularly evident in connection with vets and farriers. My first Lipizzan ran through three or four farriers in her first year before we found one who understood about a horse who can feel the nails go in for the shoes.

Yes, any individual horse may do all of these things, too. But with Lipizzans, it's a breed trait.

Once you survive the learning curve and find horse pros who don't argue when you tell them how your horse needs to be handled, you find that every horse you meet (once he gets over the shock) responds favorably to being handled that way. You may, in some cases, find the horse practically weeping on your neck, he's so glad to be approached softly, with respect, and listened to when he says something.

Lipizzans are teachers before they're anything else. Even before they're Space Aliens.