LipiData

5 Years of LipiData 🎉

It's hard to believe, but today marks the 5th anniversary of LipiData.

Looking back on that night during the Covid lockdowns when the idea of a lipizzaner database came into being, it's incredible to see how far that original idea has come. What began as a simple software project has grown into something far bigger than I ever imagined. LipiData has truly taken on a life of its own and is fostering a wonderful international community.

Over the past five years, LipiData has been fortunate to:

🦄 Partner with universities to support PhD candidates in their research.
🦄 Provide a secure online platform that enables breed associations to manage their studbooks and memberships.
🦄 Run a global High Point competition, encouraging lipizzaners to compete, helping raise public awareness of the breed.
🦄 Provide sponsorship to breed societies for their annual lipizzaner events.
🦄 Grow from 1,500 recorded pedigrees to more than 13,000 (!!).
🦄 Implement a kinship (COI) calculator that has become one of LipiData's most popular features, helping breeders find good matches for their breeding stock.
🦄 Publish articles in multiple magazines and breed society publications.
🦄 Watch daily visitors grow from just five people a day, to 30, then 50, and now regularly more than 150 visitors every single day. A little achievement that still gives me a bit of a thrill whenever I check the site's analytics.

But on a personal level, LipiData is far more than a database to me.

LipiData has given me opportunities beyond my wildest dreams. I've had the privilege of connecting with breeders around the world, hearing their stories, seeing their passion for this incredible breed. I've toured state stud farms and private breeders, meeting in person the horses whose pedigrees I've spent the past five years entering, and walked down barn aisles to find LipiData pedigrees pinned to stable doors.

I have been incredibly humbled by the support you have shown LipiData, by the warmth and generosity you have shown to me, and I hope that LipiData can continue to be here for years to come, to help showcase your lipizzaners, and to share their significance with the broader community and to continue connecting people (sometimes with rakija!).

These five years have been a privilege and a gift.

Here's to five more, and hopefully they are bigger and better than the last 🎉

Nikki
Team LipiData

🎉🎉Meet LipiData's newest, and youngest, addition 🎉🎉

This is Neapolitano Krabbe XIII-1, bred by Ivan Banović, and born only a few hours ago.

He's by Neapolitano # # -40, owned by Antonio Mačinković, and is the first foal of very proud mum, 316 Krabbe XIII.

He's a lovely mix of Croatian and Romanian breeding.

https://lipidata.org/db/pedigree/neapolitano-krabbe-xiii-1/

📸 Ivan Banović

The daily crossing

The quiet machinery of this centuries old tradition forms part of the daily rhythm of the Lipizzaners whilst they live within the Stallburg.

It is a strange meeting of tradition and modernity, where the Lipizzaners and their handlers still tread the same ground that has carried generations of these white stallions through Vienna.

When we arrived in Vienna, naturally the first thing we did was head to the Stallburg, home of the Lipizzaner stallions during their time in the city.

As we stood outside the Stallburg, a call of “Achtung” rang out and cars, bikes and pedestrians all stopped to watch the stallions cross between the Stallburg and the Hofburg.

There’s something oddly emotional about the crossing itself though. It’s one of the ways Vienna keeps its traditions alive. It’s continuity. A living thread from imperial Vienna somehow still stitched into ordinary city life.

Whilst we were busy discovering Slavonia, we were lucky enough to manage a side quest into Serbia to visit the Kelebija stud farm.

Kelebija has an almost fairytale quality to it - white stallions, carriages and stables with chandeliers and turrets.

Watching the stallions run out was a highlight. It was fascinating to see how each stallion expressed individuality, both in breeding and temperament. Some were Kelebija-bred over multiple generations, while others showed Croatian influence, and their personalities ranged from outright showmen to consummate professionals.

The consistency within the Kelebija mare herd was particularly intriguing. The mares were strong, refined, and possessed a very clearly defined type. It gives the impression of a stud with a distinct vision and a strong understanding of what it wants from its breeding program.

Thank you to Miloš Ilovac for showing us the horses and the stud farm. It was a wonderful experience.

It is so often we go in with a plan, with an idea of how we think things will be. They never turn out that way of course, but for our journey into Croatia it was because we discovered first hand the cultural heritage, traditions and connections these people have to the lipizzaner. We have discovered that lipizzaners very much exist outside of pedigrees and evaluation marks and exist in culture, tradition, and every day life. We discovered people who have so much love and pride for their horses, and were eager to share their stories, knowledge and experiences with us.

Thank you to everyone who welcomed us so warmly into your homes, and showed us your wonderful horses. It was a truly humbling experience and we are forever grateful for the experiences and memories you gave us.

Ivan Alatrović
Davor Tubanjski
Antonio Mačinković
Ergela Dorić
Alen Milković
Dragan Žigić Žiga
Lorenc Klaić
Ergela Ćorić
Filip Grgacevic

After spending their first three years at Ivandvor, the young stallions are moved to the stallion station located in the township to begin their training.

The young stallions begin their training in harness or under saddle, and are given time, often years, to mature properly before undergoing a breeding evaluation where they will have the opportunity to earn a breeding license.

Even if a stallion earns his breeding license, he may not be required in the breeding program for a number of years, and even then is likely only to be used for one to two seasons.

However there is plenty to do outside of the breeding program with many of the Đakovo stallions competing (and winning!) in the dressage arena up to Intermediate I.

You can follow what the stallions are up to at Državna ergela Đakovo .

📸 Nikki Harding / LipiData - 534 Neapolitano Batosta

Ivandvor is the heart of Đakovo's breeding program. It is where the mares live out their lives, where foals are born and where young stallions live until 3 years of age before moving to the stallion station in Đakovo to begin their training.

It is a place of peaceful horses, caring handlers and where the next generation Croatia's lipizzaner tradition continues.

Whilst touring Ivandvor with Filip Grgacevic , we met the stallion 400 Maestoso Mara XIV-5 who is being used for breeding duties this season, mares with foals at foot and the young colts and fillies.

Spending time with the horses, it was apparent how much their caregivers love and respect them. The mares happily approached us in the paddock looking for attention, excitable stallions were calmed with a whisper from their handlers - the horse-human connection is undeniable at Ivandvor.

https://lipidata.org/db/pedigree/400-maestoso-mara-xiv-5/

📸 Nikki Harding / LipiData - Ivandvor

LipiData has always been extremely intertwined with the Croatian lipizzaners. Right from the moment the site launched almost 5 years ago, the Croatian people have been submitting studbooks, horses, photos and providing information.

We are extremely privileged to be spending the week with Filip Grgacevic of Djakovo stud farm.

In the past few days we've visited at Djakovo's two locations, met some wonderful people who have been so lovely to open their home to us and show us their horses, and even managed a visit to Kelebija in Serbia.

We're a bit overwhelmed with the amount of kindness we're receiving, the horses we're seeing and the people we're meeting, so our social media has been a bit quiet as we eventually try to convey our thoughts and emotions at finally experiencing Croatian lipizzaners and their people.

📸 Nikki Harding / LipiData - Ivandvor

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And our adventure in Slovenia begins

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