The Lipizzaner can be traced to AD 800.

The Moors brought the Barb horses in the 7th century to Spain and crossed bred with the Spanish native stud the Andalusian horse and Iberian horses.

In the 16th century the Habsburg ruled Spain and Austria and a powerful but agile horse was required for military purpose and the growing fashion of riding school for nobility.

In 1562 the Habsburg Emperor Maximillian II brought the Andalusian horses to Austria and started a court stud at Kladrub in 1580. His brother the Archduke Charles II started a stud in Lipizza (Lipica) in today's Slovenia from which the breed got its name.

Bothstuds cross-bred with the native Karst (Kras) horses and followed on with the now extinct Neopolitan from Italy and other Baroque horses. The breeding stock was exchanged between the two breeding studs. Kladrub produced heavy carriage horses while Lipizza produced riding and light carriage horses.

During 1572 the Austrian Emperor insisted the now famous Spanish Riding Hall was built and it is the oldest in the world. The Spanish Riding School located in Vienna, Austria was named after the original Spanish heritage of the horses. The famous Spanish Riding School has highly trained Lipizzaner stallions in public performance showing classic dressage movement and training.

1729 Charles VI build the Winter Riding School in Vienna. Completed in 1735 and it is still to be seen today.

One interesting and amazing fact, the Lipizzaner horse is born complete black and becomes white after about two years.

The Lipizzaner experience quite a lot of re-locations due to wars.

March 1797 during the First War of Coalition the horses were evacuated from Lipizza and during the journey 16 mares foaled. November 1797 they returned but the stables were ruined.

1805 they were evacuated again because Napoleon invaded Austria. They kept the horses in hiding for 2 years.

After the Peace of Schoenbrunn (Austria) in 1809 the horses were evacuated three times because of the unsettled times of Austria. A lot of the horses were lost and also the stud books prior to 1700. The horses returned to Lipizza in 1815 and remained there till the beginning of 20th century

In the First World War they were placed in Laxenburg and Kladrub. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken up and the place Lipizza became part of Italy.The animals were divided between stud farms in Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia. Austria kept the stallion for the Spanish Riding School and some breeding stock.

1920 A breeding stud was allocated in Piper, Austria.

WW II high ranking Nazis transferred Europe's Lipizzaner breeding stud to Hostau, Czechoslovakia. The stallions for the Spanish Riding School were transferred to St. Martins, Austria.when the bombing neared Vienna in 1945. Therefore, Colonel Alois Podhajsky prevented the breed being destroyed

Spring 1945 the horses in Hostau were in danger from the approaching Soviet Army, to be slaughtered and eaten as horse meat.

The rescue came from the US Third Army commander Colonel George S Patton. The army was station near St Martin and they heard that the Lipizzaner were near-by. Patton like Podhajsky was a horseman and competed in the Olympic Games therefore he was aware of the quality of these horses.

7 May 1945 Podhajsky put on a show for Patton and Undersecretary of War Robert Patterson and requested Patton to give them the US protection.

At the same time the Third Army's US second Cavalry, a tank division, commander Colonel Charles Reed discovered the horses in Hostau and 400 Allied prisoners of War.

"Operation Cowboy" resulted in the recovery of 1200 horses including 375 Lipizzaner. Patton heard of the raid and made Podhajsky fly to Hostau.

12 March, American soldiers were riding, trucking and herding the horses for 35 miles across the border to Kotzrinz in Germany. The Lipizzaner were settled in temporary shelters in Wimsbach until 1952. Then they were returned to Piper. The stallions returned to the Spanish Riding School in 1955.

In 2005 the Spanish Riding School celebrated the 60th anniversary of Patton's rescue by touring the United States. There was also a film made by Disney called 'The white Stallion'.