Lipizzan Show at
Fifth Annual Exceller Farm Open House
By John M. Benson
June 30, 2007
The famous Herrmann’s Royal Lipizzan Stallions provided a magically wonderful show for the guests at the Fifth Annual Exceller Farm Open House on June 30 in Poughquag.
Exceller Farm is the local site of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF), the oldest and largest foundation in the country devoted to the rescue, retraining, and adoption of Thoroughbreds after the conclusion of their racing careers. Exceller Farm is managed by Michele Oren, and the farm property is made available to TRF by John and Betty Hettinger of Pawling. Visit the website at www.trfinc.org .
Gabriella Herrmann has taken the reins of the family heritage, the majestic Lipizzan breed that is descended from the Austrian war horses of earlier centuries.
Visit the website at www.hlipizzans.com to find all the information about this wonderful breed and the family that continues to maintain it.
At Exceller Farm, it was a breathtaking demonstration of these Lipizzans and the horsemanship of Gabrielle Herrmann and her fellow riders.
The skills of these exquisite horses are the same as those taught to their forebears, as they rear up high on their hind legs to allow a commanding officer to see over the troops, jump high in the air to afford the view over the soldiers, stand high on their hind legs and flail out with their front hooves to smash opposing foot soldiers, or kick out violently with their hind legs to crush those soldiers on the ground.
According to the Herrmann Lipizzan literature:
Foremost among the world’s leading breeders of Lipizzans is Colonel Ottomar Herrman, scion of the Herrman family who, for six generations, have been recognized for their meticulous stewardship of the six major bloodlines which are the foundation of this brilliant breed. Colonel Herrmann, like his forebears, witnessed history’s many challenges to the Lipizzans’ survival.
From the demise of the great war horses of the pre-Napoleonic era, brought about by the onset of advanced techniques of warfare, to the threat of virtual extinction near the end of World War II, it is a modern miracle, of sorts, that this most aristocratic of breeds has, indeed, survived.
Lipizzans have been in the Herrmann family since the reign of Austrian Emperor Ferdinand II, who gifted the great white stallions to the Knight Ritter von Schoevel to lead his finest officers into battle. Direct descendants of von Schoevel, Colonel Herrmann’s family has trained and ridden Lipizzans for six generations, a period spanning nearly three hundred years.
Gabrielle Herrmann told the appreciative crowd at Exceller Farm that the family has shown the Lipizzans in large venues from Madison Square Garden in New York City to the Cow Palace in San Francisco.
But Herrmann said they prefer doing shows at intimate settings like Exceller Farm where the audience can see and experience the incredible Lipizzans near at hand.
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