Lipizzaner stallions to perform

The Lipizzaner stallions of Austria were once bred for battle, but now they are trained to entertain, in a tradition rooted in the Spanish Riding School of Vienna.

On Thursday, a troupe of 12 to 14 horses known as the “World Famous” Lipizzaner Horses and patterned after the great Spanish Riding School will perform in Columbia.

The horses perform a show that includes leaping, jumping, prancing in place on their hind legs and a variety of other complex maneuvers. For example, they perform a Capriole, in which the stallion leaps, drawing his forelegs under his chest, and kicks out hard with his hind legs.

In another act, eight horses perform a ballet.

“Everything you see them do, they do naturally,” said master of ceremonies Troy Tinker. “You’re just teaching them to do what they do naturally, on cue.” After 45 minutes of training every day for six to nine years, the horses are ready for the show.

Many of them were purchased at the Spanish Riding School and at the Piber Stud Farm, also in Austria.

Lipizzaners have bloodlines tracing to the mid-1500s. Drawing

their name from Lipizza, Austria, they were originally trained as war horses to intimidate enemies in battle. Many of the moves are the same; for example, they were taught to rear up on their hind legs in a display of size and power.

The famously white horses bear black foals, which take several years to change color.