Famous white stallions will perform on Sunday Flathead on Sunday

The Daily Inter Lake

It will be a horse of a different color for the cowboy country of Montana on Sunday.

A Florida-based troupe - "The World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions" - will perform at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday at Majestic Valley Arena.

For baby boomers, these are the horses featured in the 1963 Walt Disney flick "The Miracle of the White Stallions" about American GIs and a Viennese riding school rescuing the animals from impending death during World War II.

This troupe is not part of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna - the top Lipizzaner training institution in the world and the subject of the Walt Disney movie.

But it buys many of its horses from the Spanish Riding School and is the only Lipizzaner troupe based in the United States.

"I fell in love with this horse and the history of these horses," said Gary Lashinsky, the troupe's founder and producer for the past 37 years. "They are so rare. They're so unique. They've been through so many wars [such as World War II and Bosnia] that they almost became extinct."

The Lipizzaners perform classical dressage, a formal-oriented, dance-like performing art of both horse and rider with its roots going back to ancient Greek battlefield cavalry movements.

Classical dressage consists of precise moves, trots, skips, leg and hoof moves, gymnastics and maneuvers by individual horses or groups.

Vaguely like martial arts, dressage has many increasingly difficult skill levels with "Grand Prix" and "Airs Above The Ground" at the top. Sunday's Lipizzaners perform at these top levels, with a few pushing beyond those limits, Lashinsky said.

Several breeds can perform at the Grand Prix level. But the Lipizzaners' strength, intelligence and flexibility give them a boost in reaching the top of the classical dressage world.

Lipizzaners are rare with about 3,000 worldwide, according to Wikipedia.

The American troupe does not begin to train its Lipizzaners for

the traveling show until they are 4 years old and have already passed the first four levels of classical dressage. It takes about six years to get a horse to the Grand Prix level, Lashinsky said. But those horses also can perform into their 20s and early 30s.

Twelve to 14 horses will perform Sunday.

One of the featured collections of feats will be the "Airs Above The Ground," in which the horses do maneuvers while standing on their hind legs. These moves developed out of old European cavalry techniques in which horses reared up to protect the riders and also act as offensive weapons. A drawback is that it exposed a horse's belly to the enemy's weapons.

There are several difficult-to-learn moves in the "Airs Above The Ground" repertoire, which also take great strength and balance by the horse. Literature on the subject says that most horses at this level are limited to two "Airs Above the Ground" moves in a show.

A pair of Andalusian horses also will be in Sunday's shows.

The Andalusians represent part of the Lipizzaners' ancestry.

The breed's origins can be traced to roughly 800 A.D. in Spain when horses from North Africa were crossbred with Spanish horses to eventually create the Andalusian breed.

In the 1500s, the Hapsburg royal family ruled both Spain and Austria. And in 1562, a Hapsburg emperor took some Andalusians to Austria to crossbreed them with an Austrian breed, a Neapolitan breed and some horses of Spanish descent imported from Germany and Denmark.

These eventually evolved into the Lipizzaners - named after a stud farm near Lipica, which is now in Slovenia.

Originally, Lipizzaners were of several colors.

Today, they are almost always technically gray, although they eventually turn white. They usually are born bay or black - turning gray and then white as they get older. The Spanish Riding School still keeps one or more rare bay Lipizzaners around as a good luck charm.

During World War II, Alois Podhajsky, head of the Spanish Riding School, kept the horses and their classical dressage tradition alive.

The Disney movie takes place in 1945 when the horses ended up in Hostau, which is in today's Czech Republic. Hostau fell behind the advancing Soviet lines, with both Austrians and Germans fearing the horses would be slaughtered for food.

Podhajsky and Gen. George Patton were friends from prewar equestrian competitions. A few weeks before the war ended, Podhajsky convinced Patton to send an American force behind Soviet lines to round up the Lipizzaners and take them to American-occupied territory.

Only 250 Lipizzaners survived the war, Wikipedia said.

Regular adult admission to each of Sunday's two-hour shows is $22.50. Children under 12 and adults over 60 will be charged $20.50. A limited number of VIP seats will be available for $26.50.

Tickets are being sold at the arena, Corral West Ranch Wear, and Murdoch's Ranch & Home Supply.

Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com