Lipizzaner. How much significance is there in that one word?! A symbol of life energy. Uniqueness. Beauty. The grace of gait. Multifunctionality. Tame character. Life. The unity of man and animal. And when the adjective Lipik is added to that word, the complexity of the story goes beyond the space bounded by paper. How to summarize in a few lines a story that permeates life and death, demolition and construction, beauty and ugliness, the weight of the past and the view of the future, the mud of history and the inexhaustible source of life.
Let's go back in time a bit. Bishop Strossmayer also advised the Slavonian man to buy and breed a Baroque Lipizzaner, this special type of horse. The breed has a specifically calm character, colder temperament, trusting man, not timid, calm, suitable for training, learns very well, does not run away, is not afraid, quickly bonds to man as his neighbour, friend, whom he trusts. Obviously, Slavonian man pleased this breed. Probably because he is a man who is distinctly blended to an animal, with a song, joy, life. It is a symbol of life energy and strength that is best known to those who have ever embarked on a riding adventure. This horse found its home in Posavina, Đakovo, Lipik. These are the places with the highest concentrations of Lipizzaner farming in Croatia. The breeding of the Lipizzaner horse in this area has been brought to perfection, one could say to world fame, precisely because of the love that people here have for the horse. Lipik thus, along with the other mentioned places, became the world centre of Lipizzaner breeding.
Due to many years of hard work and professional approach, the State Stud Farm Lipik deserved this epithet, due to the technology of keeping, working with horses, breeding technology, technology of preventive procedures, technology of therapy, every type of technology that must be applied in such a stable. All this was interrupted in October 1991. Shooting and killing of innocent horses, destruction of the stable with napalm, a sixteen-year exile and return to the stable on October 13, 2007. It all fits into 2 words: Lipik Lipizzaner.
The intertwined destiny of the Slavonian man and the Lipizzaner, judging by their unity and similarity of character, walks upright and solemnly through the beauties of this western Slavonian paradise. The supernatural work of art "Wounded Horse" by the academic sculptor Hrvoje Dumancic perfectly "hits the wire" in the intertwining of these lives. It perfectly depicts the core of the Lipik reality, and one could also say the nature/core of the Croatian people/man. The wounded horse is actually still a proud Lipizzaner made in a classic, most beautiful pose, but a deeper meaning of suffering is shown through its cracks. The scars are there, but the indestructible rays of life breaks through them. This life-size sculpture will not be placed on a high pedestal but on the same level as a man, in the Lipik Family Park.
The Lipizzaner horse is a national treasure in our nation. He is vitally attached to our man. He is a synonym of Slavonia. It is a breed that originated a long time ago and is bred in pure blood. The love that our people have for that horse has led it to the world fame.
The Lipizzaner horse is a symbol of Slavonia, but also of the indestructibility of both Slavonian and Croatian man!
