Lipizzaner Show

Of all the places we have been and things we have seen in Florida, this is my favorite.  At the Herrmann Lipizzaner Ranch in Myakka City, Florida, they have practice sessions with the horses that are open to the public Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. 

Most young horses are born black and gradually lose all color until they are pure white.  An occasional brown Lipizzanner is born, and is considered good luck to have on the farm.  This is the youngest stallion that is in the act.

It's hard to decide if the trainers or the horses are the better athletes.

The horses were trained to jump so that a general could view the battlefield.  During WWII, 500 Lipizzaner horses that had been stolen by the German Army were rescued by General Patton and protected until the war was over and they could be returned to Austria.

This short video clip gives you a taste of the hour and a half presentation.  For anyone in SW Florida, I can't stress enough that a short trip outside Sarasota to visit this farm is well worth it!

A Ride to the Lipizzaner Farm

We fully appreciate the warm sunny days in Florida in the winter.  On the last day of 2012, we rode the motorcycles with our friends Patti and Fran.  They had found a farm near Myakka City that raised the famous Royal Lipizzaner horses.

 The gate was open so we rode in, hoping to find information on when they had shows.

We found a very picturesque farm with tidy barns, beautiful horses and gorgeous old oak trees.

Even the manure pile was neat and tidy.

We wandered around looking for someone to talk to, even looking into the large barn

Where beautiful horses munched on hay and looked at us curiously

Clearly, someone was home at one of the several homes on the premises, but no one came out to talk to us.

Multiple trailers for their road trips filled a huge building.

Bleachers to the side of the horse barn gave us hope that they did hold shows here.  In checking on-line, we found that we were on the wrong day for a show.  Saturday we plan to go back to check it out when someone is there!