163 – 188 
21 S TUDIA MYTHOLOGICA SLAVICA 2018
The Lipizzaner Horse: Cultural and 
Natural Heritage or Free Non-Human 
Subjectivity
Marjetka Golež Kaučič
This article discusses the Lipizzaner horses, now a part of the natural and cultural heritage 
of the Slovenian nation, claimed also by the Austrians, and in the past an imperial heritage 
of the Habsburg Empire. Lipizzaner horses are typically perceived as a national cultural 
monument (trained stallions) owned by the human community, and not as non-human 
animals that were, only by way of domestication and (even worse) the way they were 
raised genetically, destined to serve people, first at a feudal imperial court. Based on the 
interactions of zoofolkloristics, anthropology and philosophical and legal discourses, 
this article reflects the role and importance of Lipizzaner horses through folklore and 
literature, and reconsiders the human/animal relationship by establishing non-hierarchy 
between the animal and the human on the basis of ecocritical analysis. The focus of the 
analysis is on folkloristic materials (texts), customs and traditions associated with the 
horse/human community, as well as the literary works that discuss the Lipizzaner horses.
KEYWORDS: Lippizaner horses, domestication, genetically breed horses, heritage, 
folklore, literature, human/animal relationship
PREFACE
Robert Musil’s short story “Can a Horse Laugh” (2012/1935)
1
 is an excellent introduction 
to a reflection on the issue presented in the title. This short story is about a horse that 
shows a feature that is only ascribed to human beings: it laughs in its interaction with 
the human being, typically opening its jaws and neighing. Can this story confirm that 
the human view of animals is first and foremost full of ignorance and lack of knowledge, 
while also underestimating and disregarding the individuality within a species? And that 
it needs to be changed?
1
 Napoleon’s quote is anthropocentric, but it also includes a reflection on the value of animals: “There is a 
link between animals and the Deity. Man is merely a more perfect animal than the rest. He reasons better. 
How do we know that animals have not a language of their own? ... My opinion is that it is a presumption 
in us to say no, because we do not understand them. A horse has memory, knowledge, and love”: O’Meara 
Voice from St. Helena.: The Montly Magazine. Internet: (https://books.google.si/books?id=iGY3AQAA-
MAAJ&pg=PA638&lpg=PA638&dq (14. 5. 2015). 

MARJETKA GOLEŽ KAUČIČ 164 
HORSES AND THE ISSUE OF DOMESTICATION
Lipizzaner horses are typically perceived as a national cultural monument (trained stallions) 
owned by the human community, and not as non-human animals that were, only by way 
of domestication, destined to serve human. The aim of the contribution is to acknowledge 
the intrinsic
2
value of the animal and cultural patterns that exist irrespective of human 
intervention, which deprived the animal of its “wildness”, separating the animal from its 
natural environment, and Lipizzaner horses were raised for dressage, which is even worse. 
According to Regina Bendix “Lippizzans are white breed horses, and they were initially 
bred to carry noble-bred humans. Horses with carefully monitored genetic heritage for 
people with carefully monitored genetic heritage” (Bendix 2000: 46). 
There are very few animals with such a rich paleontological genealogy as horses 
(Equus caballus). Sixty million years ago, Eohippus lived in North America. The genus 
Equus, which the horse as known today belongs to, developed at the end of the Pliocene. 
The predominant belief today is that modern horses originated in the steppes of Central 
Asia and the plains of Central Europe. Two subspecies of wild (feral) horse were found in 
this area in the past century: the tarpan and Przewalski’s horse (Equus ferus przewalski). 
These were the only true wild (free) horses, whereas the only semi-feral horses known 
today can be found in the French region of Camargue.
3
 Horses were domesticated by the 
nomadic livestock-breeding peoples of Central Asia as late as the third or fourth millen-
nium BC. According to Visković (2009: 238), this animal has had the greatest impact 
on human civilization. Horses can be ranked by how they are used: horses for meat, war 
horses, and draft horses; horses as symbols, racehorses, and horses as beauty or motifs 
in painting, the arts, and literature—and also in folklore.
According to Mullin (2002: 389), domestication is “the most profound transformation 
that has occurred in human-animal relationships,” whereas Cassidy believes that in the 
past domestication entailed “human control and the conversion of animals into property” 
(Cassidy & Mullin 2007: 2), which means this involved a biological-cultural process of 
the animals’ entry from nature into human society, in which the animals consequently 
became its property. Cornevin claims that domesticated animals are those that are part of 
the house and home; they are subordinated to the master’s power, to whom they provide 
products and whom they serve; they procreate in some sort of a prison and give birth to 
offspring that will also be subordinated to the master (Cornevin 1891, cited in: Visković 
2009: 184). “Domestication, Ducos writes, “can be said to exist when living animals 
are integrated as objects into the socio-economic organization of the human group” 
(1978: 54; 1989, cited in: Ingold 2006: 6; cf. Ingold 1986: 113, 168, 233). Sigaut divides 
2
 Will intrinsic ecological ethics ever be established? According to Ljubo Mohorič, an instrumental, pra-
gmatic or at least abstract, and also value-related intrinsic ecological stance can be perceived in the Slovenian 
ecological awareness at the onset of the third millennium; a stance that ascribes an intrinsic value to natural 
entities regardless of human benefit (Mohorič 2011: 82). The “new ecological paradigm” (Dunlap et al 2000) 
is directed towards the claim that nature is an ecosystem with all its intrinsic rights, regardless of what meaning 
it has for humans.
3
 Perhaps also in some parts of Turkey and Georgia.

THE LIPIZZANER HORSE: CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE OR FREE NON-HUMAN ... 165 
domesticated animals into utilitarian animals and pets (1988: 59–70). Domestication re-
sults in the extinction of wild predecessors (e.g., the tarpans) and the deformation of their 
anatomical, physiological, and psychological properties; only the properties that humans 
wanted due to economic and other reasons are developed. The question is whether these 
domesticated animals, which were able to survive in the wild, could be returned to the 
wild and whether they would become feral. According to Visković, they could regain 
their ability to survive in the wild despite it being atrophied. This is what happened to 
abandoned and runaway Spanish horses in the US (mustangs), and the goats, dogs, cats, 
pigs, and birds that have gone feral in natural environments and cities around the globe
4
 
(2009: 197). Domestication was brought about by the paternalistic model of society, 
which was an expression of archetypal social subordination, including among people (e.g., 
man to woman). Various types of domestication also pointed to social stratification; for 
example, horses and dogs were the domesticated animals of the aristocracy (especially 
the Lipizzaner horses), whereas cows and pigs were the domesticated animals of the 
rural population. Social inequality was also built through this. The humans beings who 
domesticated wild animals
4
 (horses) also raised them from one generation to the next and 
selected individuals that contained specific genetic characteristics. Initially, a horse was 
a slave, who later became more important, but that only happened when it entered the 
aristocratic environment.
5
 It has been personified or anthropomorphized because even 
today we say that it has four legs and not four paws. This is also what happened with 
the Lipizzaner, a horse that was crossbred to make it fit for dressage. Horses are thus 
being exploited, and the only taste of wildness that they enjoy is when they are allowed 
to graze and run free in their pastures. For the remainder of their time they are subjected 
to dressage and have to be obedient, tamed, and available to humans whenever they so 
demand. Domestication was harshly criticized by Nietzsche: “To call the taming of an 
animal its ‘improvement’ sounds almost like a joke to our ears” (Nietzsche 1980: 57, cited 
in: Visković 2009: 201).
6
 The success of breeding horses, in particular, can be explained 
with Darwin’s (1859)
7
 claim that taming is possible primarily with “social animals” and 
ones that live in hierarchic communities. Humans take control in these hierarchic com-
munities and “imprint” their hierarchic dominance on the young, which later becomes 
self-evident and leads to subordination. In the domestication of horses, and especially 
the Lipizzaners, the dominant’s relation to the subordinate corresponds to the human’s 
relation to valuable property, and in modern times also to natural and cultural heritage. 
Therefore, one should nevertheless be aware that the Lipizzaner horses are living creatures, 
and that the civilization of horses is not inferior to human civilization. However, because 
4
 This is confirmed by introducing thirty wild horses from Mongolia, which were raised in zoos, into the 
Russian steppes.
5
 Jordan Rufus wrote in thirteenth-century Italy: “No animal is more noble than horse, since it is by horses 
that princes, magnates and knights are separated from people and because a lord cannot fittingly be seen among 
private citizens except through the mediation of a horse.” Cited from Joyce Salisibury, 1994: 28-30.
6
 One should not forget how Nietzsche reacted to the suffering of a horse in Turin that was being beaten 
mercilessly by a coachman. He shouted out to the coachman to stop beating the horse, ran to the horse, and 
hugged it to protect it.
7
 Darwin denied human superiority as early as 1859 in his The Origin of Species (1954).

MARJETKA GOLEŽ KAUČIČ 166 
humans used the horses’ trust to dominate them, today the human-horse relationship still 
remains unequal (perhaps the situation is a little better in organic farming); horses are 
exploited animals that suffer quietly and endure pain with dignity and pride. But is this 
really true or it is only that we do not hear their pain? People have used horses in various 
ways, but they should have regarded them as inherent beings, from which they can learn. 
Namely, a foal, only a day old, may be faster than the fastest human—what does that 
mean for this human supremacy that we presume? Horses can symbolize a wide variety 
of things: the cosmos, fertility, eroticism, nobility, and freedom. But are they truly that 
different from humans? Westerman wrote the following:
In a series of drawings made around 1500, Leonardo da Vinci had com-
pared the facial expressions of humans, horses and lions—the expressions 
he made were so interchangeable that one wondered which face belonged 
to which creature. Darwin
7
 had taken the notion of man as the God-ap-
pointed ruler of flora and fauna and knocked it on the head, but the peculiar 
thing was that man never stopped acting that way: as the tamer of nature 
which, once subdued, had to serve him in everything. The wild horses of 
the steppes had been captured with lassos, they had given birth to progeny 
that were converted into beasts of utility and then—with the exception of 
a few Mongolian Przewalskis—they were annihilated. Was that progress? 
Did the subjugation of a species always lead to improvement? (2013: 44)
This undoubtedly only involves a misuse of non-human animals and this merely 
based on the assumption that humans as the most highly developed beings are superior 
to others, which is merely a myth, of course. Klampfer (2010: 259) believes that “the 
animals’ awareness or ability to feel may indeed secure them membership in the moral 
community, but their status in it is and will remain second-rate until their lives also begin 
enjoying the same moral protection as those of humans, alongside the abundance that is 
already a matter of our concern.” Why this equal membership in the moral community 
has not been realized can be illustrated with Hearne’s claim (2000: 233) that this has to 
do with an epistemological fear that animals are nevertheless independent creatures that 
have the chance to take action. Unfortunately, the two-tiered nature of the human mind 
continues to prevent the basic law of “Thou shalt not kill” from applying to all living 
creatures and also being sanctioned as such. Humans justify the fact that they send horses 
that do not meet breeding conditions to the slaughterhouse by claiming that they are an 
inferior species that lacks self-awareness. But is this true? How can humans claim that 
horses do not know about their past or future? The deprecating attitude towards a living 
creature that is not human of course benefits the human legitimacy of killing millions 
of living creatures for food. However, today a new ecological paradigm of awareness is 
being established, according to which any form of using and killing animals is imper-
missible (Francione 1995, 1996, 2000, 2009; Engel 2000; Klampfer 2010: 269–270). 
The intrinsic value of animals is what guides the author in discussing horses through the 
history of culture (folklore and literature), cultural heritage, and their relation to humans.

THE LIPIZZANER HORSE: CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE OR FREE NON-HUMAN ... 167 
THE LIPIZZANER HORSES AS CULTURAL OR NATURAL HERITAGE?
First, it should be determined where the Lipizzaners actually belong—to cultural or nat-
ural heritage—or what type of heritage in general? According to the definition of integral 
heritage—”a heritage that is formed by units of the human environment or nature in which 
elements of natural and cultural heritage are intertwined and whose value is increased by 
the fact that both forms of heritage are genetically, functionally, or substantively linked and 
dependent on each other” (http://www.zvkds.si/sl/zvkds/varstvo-kulturne-dediscine/o-kul-
turni-dediscini/kaj-je-kulturna-dediscina/)—they could belong to this framework. Does this 
mean that cultural heritage necessarily entails human influence in order even to be able to 
talk about it in the first place? All of the criteria suggest this. However, can it be assumed 
that animals also have their own culture and cultural patterns that they transfer from one 
generation to the next, only that they do not develop a conscious heritage structure or do 
not establish an awareness of this? Does this involve behaviour or “behavioural variants” 
as behaviourists would put it, or truly an establishment of culture? Proceeding from an an-
thropocentric perspective and speciesism (Ryder 1970; Dunayer 2009), culture is truly only 
a matter of the human species; however, from the viewpoint of the ecocentric paradigm, 
culture is not reserved only for humans. What about cultural heritage? Is it only connected 
with the human awareness of the past, present, and future, or is the awareness of cultural 
heritage as a human construct? Hence, where does the heritage of the Lipizzaner horses 
belong and where are the cultural patterns that people built into the genetic material of 
these horses; what makes up the pure “horse culture”,
8
 if one can even use this somewhat 
awkward syntagm? Is this some type of protoculture or subculture (Whiten 2001; Gašperič 
2005)? The symbolic pattern that animals use in their communication with one another could 
definitely be referred to as a cultural, rather than natural, pattern because it varies from one 
animal to another; of course, proceeding from the viewpoint that every animal is a person 
or personality in its own right (Ingold 1994). If this is the case, then animals can also have 
a typical cultural pattern that is part of the symbolic patterns within the single species they 
belong to. However, there are certainly differences between the cultural patterns of animals 
that have been tamed and wild ones or ones that do not live in a community together with 
humans. In the case of wild animals, their cultural patterns do not depend on human presence 
and influence. The key fact in this regard is that animals have a mental life and that they are 
mental subjects (Rowlands 2002: 23–24; Klampfer 2010: 250–251).
9
 Thus, it can be said that 
8
 By definition, horse culture is an expression used for all activities connected with taming, breeding, and 
selling horses or, in short, with the ownership of horses and the prevention of their freedom. It originates from 
the period when Spanish conquerors brought their horses to the US and then this culture also began to be used 
and developed by the Pueblo people (e.g., in New Mexico; http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/
early-settlements/essays/impact-horse-culture). Of course, what I have in mind here is the indigenous horse 
culture and not the one created in human interaction with horses.
9
 One wonders if the cultural heritage of lacemaking is truly worth so much more than spiders creating webs, 
and if one is truly so haughty to believe that creating webs only serves the function of feeding, then one has 
not truly seen a spider web in the morning dew in a meadow, when the spider knows exactly that it is going 
to be a sunny day and its spider web will not be destroyed by rain. This lace disappears after a while, but it 
becomes reestablished. This is a heritage of constant change.

MARJETKA GOLEŽ KAUČIČ 168 
the Lipizzaners combine the cultural patterns of horses as an animal species and the cultural 
patterns of the human pretension to create a kind of horse with artistic skills envisaged by 
humans that were enforced in the process of domestication, genetic breeding, and selection.
Today, the Lipizzaner horses in Slovenia are part of the Lipica Stud Farm, which was 
declared a cultural monument of outstanding importance for Slovenia through a special 
law adopted in 1996. Article 1 of the Lipica Stud Form Act reads as follows: “Through 
this act, the territory of the Lipica Stud Farm, which encompasses the entire protected 
area of the Lipica Stud Farm and its cultivated karst landscape, herd of Lipizzaner horses, 
and architectural and art heritage, is hereby declared a cultural monument of national 
importance for the Republic of Slovenia” (http://www.lipica.org/en/.) Thus the Lipizzaners 
in Slovenia became a cultural monument and are no longer merely living creatures. In 
his book Žival, nadžival (2013), the Dutch author Frank Westerman explores the history 
of the Lipizzaner horses from the beginnings of their breeding to the modern times in a 
journalistic manner. He determines that “when you touch a Lipizzaner you are touching 
history” (Westerman 2013: 44.) Through four centuries of “improvements,” exceptional 
results have been achieved with the Lipizzaners, which is why they are considered the 
oldest breed; however, as Westerman critically ascertains, the human species does not 
like to transform and change and is unwilling to improve itself (2013: 36). This is a 
kind of paradox. While critically analyzing this type of breeding, Westerman goes on 
to compare the Austrian breeding standards—because strict criteria apply to purebred 
Lipizzaners—with the Aryan forms and tables used under Nazism (75). Discrimination 
within one species spread to a different species.
But what is the history of the Lipizzaner horses and what are these “hallowed” 
horses like? Ivo Mihelič wrote an extensive book on them titled Otroci burje: Lipica 
in Lipicanec / Kinder der Bora: Lipica und die Lipizzaner (The Children of the Bora 
Wind: Lipica and the Lipizzaners, 2004). The following can be summarized from 
this book: his breed developed from the local Karst, Spanish, and Neapolitan horses, 
as well as Arabian horses later. It is a known fact that strong, fast, and sturdy horses 
were bred in the Lipica area as early as Roman times. The stud farm was established 
by Austrian Archduke Charles, the regent of Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Istria, and 
Trieste at that time. He purchased the village of Lipica and its associated land from 
the archbishop of Trieste. He wanted to breed elegant carriage and riding horses at 
Lipica for his stud farms in Graz, where he had his residence. To this end, stables and 
residential buildings were built, and meadows and pastures were arranged at Lipica. 
The first Spanish horses arrived in Lipica as early as 1580, and then more horses came 
in 1581, 1582, and 1584, when they also bought horses from Palestrina (Italy), which 
strongly resembled the Spanish ones. Only five of the stallions managed to create 
their own bloodlines that have survived until today: Pluto, Neapolitano, Conversano,
10
 
Maestoso, and Favory. 
10
 Frank Westerman writes about Conversano’s (Conversano Primula) descendants in Brother Mendel’ s Perfect 
Horse.

THE LIPIZZANER HORSE: CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE OR FREE NON-HUMAN ... 169 
Johann George Hamilton, The Lipica Stud Farm, 1727.
Johann Georg de Hamilton (1672-1737), Lipizzaner Horse.

MARJETKA GOLEŽ KAUČIČ 170 
Today, the Lipizzaners are bred at seven state-owned stud farms: the Piber Stud Farm in 
Austria, the Džakovo Stud Farm in Croatia,
11
 the Fara in Sabina Stud Farm in Italy, the Szil-
vásvárad Stud Farm in Hungary, the Sâmbăta de Jos Stud Farm in Romania, the Topoľčianky 
Stud Farm in Slovakia, and the Karađorđevo Stud Farm in Serbia. The work performed by 
numerous breeding organizations around the globe is also exceptionally important for the 
establishment of the Lipizzaner horses in a breeding and equestrian sense. These operate 
in all of the countries mentioned above and even in the US, Australia, and South Africa. 
The Lipica Stud Farm and the Lipizzaners experienced several hard blows in the course 
of history. The first time they had to leave the stud farm was in 1796, when they were 
taken to Hungary; they returned in the fall of 1798. In 1805, they fled to Džakovo and 
then Karád, from where they returned in 1807. The third exodus occurred in 1809, when 
they were taken to a place near the Mezőhegyes stud farm in Hungary, where they stayed 
in exile for a full six years. However, the Lipica Stud Farm suffered the hardest blow 
during the Second World War. After Italy capitulated, it was taken over by the Germans, 
who moved all 179 horses to Hostouň in Czechoslovakia as early as October 1943. This 
is where the horses from the Piber Stud Farm in Austria, the former Yugoslav royal stud 
farm at Demir Kapija, the former Yugoslav stud farm at Dušanovo near Skopje (where 
Arabian horses were bred), and the Polish stud farm in Janów were also sent. At the end 
of the war, the “combined” stud farm came under American control. The Americans gave 
part of the herd and the entire archive to Italy, and a significant number of horses were 
also sent to the Piber stud farm, which renovated and expanded its breeding facilities. 
It was not until 1947 that Lipica, which then belonged to Yugoslavia, was given back 
eleven horses. However, thirty years of efforts resulted in a completely renovated stud 
farm, which now again houses representatives of all the stallion and mare bloodlines. 
What are the characteristics of a Lipizzaner, what does it look like, and what are its 
agility skills? Even though the Lipizzaners are almost always associated with white or at 
least light gray, which is the only color desired among Lipizzaner breeders (the horses’ 
natural color is gray), they can also have dark-gray, coal-black, brownish-gray, and dark-
brown coats. The foals are always dark. The Lipizzaners became the most suitable horses 
for the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, whose origins date back to Ancient Greece 
and Xenophon as the founder of classical dressage. This is the highest possible level of 
dressage a horse can attain. Classical dressage entails extremely demanding artistic rid-
ing, which means that the main purpose of breeding the Lipizzaners was art. Westerman 
describes his visit to the Lipica Stud Farm and its history, in which his description of the 
galloping herd, reminiscent of the times when horses ran freely across the steppes and 
meadows, is most picturesque:
11
 Horses do not have a nationality and, therefore, they cannot be appropriated by individual countries. Westerman 
shows the horrific human attitude towards these horses by using the example of the horses stolen from Lipik, 
Croatia (Džakovo); they were transported to Serbia during the war following 1991, where some of them died 
of hunger, locked up in stables, because a businessman from Novi Sad was unable to sell them (219–232). In 
2007, sixty-six Lipizzaners returned to Lipik, after the person that had stolen them notified the world about 
their fate. This is another example of human cruelty, of which no other animal species is capable.

THE LIPIZZANER HORSE: CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE OR FREE NON-HUMAN ... 171 
Never before had I witnessed so many horses racing towards me simulta-
neously. Their hooves flung sand and pebbles from the ground. The noise 
they made was not a ruffle, not a stamping, but a wall of sound. (2013: 72)
After gaining independence, Slovenia began to file applications to obtain these 
stud books, but all in vain. However, in 1999 it succeeded in protecting the Lipiz -
zaners’ geographical origin as a brand name. This is discussed in an interview with 
Bojan Pretnar, who says that Slovenia managed to register the Lipizzaner’s name in 
the European Union with a protected geographical indication (GPI) status. Howev-
er, it remains unclear which country has the right to keep the principal stud book. 
Nonetheless, Slovenia managed to establish the Stud Book of the Lipizzaners of the 
Slovenian Breed (1999). At that time, EU legislation did not allow the use of protected 
geographical indications on live animals. However, the TRIPS Agreement extended 
this protection to any type of goods, including horses (http://www.mladina.si/52214/
dr-bojan-pretnar-varuh-intelektualnih-pravic/). This means that the Lipizzaners as living 
creatures have been placed on an equal footing with Carniolan sausage, honey, White 
Carniola cake, and Cviček wine. They are thus objects. Therefore, the next question 
one should ask is whether animals can be used for any purpose or whether animals 
can be manipulated and included in cultural practices in order to serve people? Regina 
Bendix states: “In [the]case of the Lippizaners, this transfer from heredity to heritage, 
from feudalistic power structure to a democratic one is fully transparent” (2000: 47). 
This question in particular is connected with cultural and natural heritage, which of 
course is humanist and anthropocentric per se, and is protected only in relation to the 
human, and not living creatures or nature. Cultural heritage, which animals become 
a part of, has been created due to human cultural preferences and hence it is merely a 
human value, whereas the animals that end up in specific cultural practices (e.g., the 
Lipizzaners’ trot or the Spanish riding school) are actually forced to take part in these 
practices. They will not even exist without that is the common opinion that is at its 
core very anthropocentric and denied the Lippizaner horses their intrinsic value. The 
ownership right of individual countries seems even more perverse: they claim owner-
ship over the Lipizzaners as part of their natural and cultural heritage, but they could 
not care less about these horses as beings with an intrinsic value. Claiming ownership 
over the Lipizzaner as the national horse that represents national cultural and natural 
heritage, as well as rulers and statesmen, has been common in history. Hitler referred to 
the Lipizzaners as German horses, Mussolini called them Italian horses, Tito referred to 
them as Yugoslav horses, and Slovenians as Slovenian horses.
12
 Westerman illustrates 
12
 Thus, the following can be read online: One of Piber’s ... major objectives is “to uphold a substantial part of 
Austria’s cultural heritage and to preserve one of the best and most beautiful horse breeds in its original form.“ 
Austria can be replaced with Slovenia and the sentence remains completely the same. The official website of 
the Lipica Stud Farm contains the following sentence: “Lipica is the cradle of the Lipizzaner horse (1580).” 
The struggle for primacy over breeding the Lipizzaners and their origins does not work to the benefit of the 
horses. The living creature, which could not care less about which heritage it belongs to because it already has 
its own, is simply being disregarded.

MARJETKA GOLEŽ KAUČIČ 172 
this hot-tempered appropriation in his book by describing how Austrian tourists visiting 
Lipica found it outrageous that Slovenia dared to depict two Lipizzaners on its 20-cent 
coin (2013: 62). 
Hence, it can be concluded that it is clearly still true that even non-human subjectivities 
are only protected as long as they serve a specific human purpose and are part of human 
cultural heritage (UNESCO).
13
THE CULTURAL ASPECTS OF HORSES: THE HERITAGE OF SONGS AND 
NARRATIVES
Tim Ingold wrote: “Just as humans have a history of their relations with animals, so also 
animals have a history of their relations with humans. Only humans, however, construct 
narratives of their history” (2006: 1). Yes, only humans can tell stories of our shared 
relations or, as an African saying goes: “Until lions have their own ‘storytellers’, tales 
of a lion hunt will always glorify the hunter.”
Slovenian folklore has thematized the relation between horses and humans in various 
ways. In the folksong tradition, horses are not only part of the aristocratic world, but also 
part of everyday agricultural life. They were valuable and symbolized wealth. In various 
13
 In 2015, efforts started in Slovenia (and Austria) for entering the breeding and training of the Lipizzaner 
horses on the UNESCO World Heritage List, albeit together with the Piber Stud Farm in Austria. The protection 
of the Lipizzaner is to move from the national to a supranational level, and become part of world heritage. See 
the Delo article “Lipica bi skupaj s Pibrom v Unesco“ (Lipica Going for UNESCO together with Piber) from 
May 11th, 2015.
20-cent coin with two Lipizzaner horses (Wikipedia)

THE LIPIZZANER HORSE: CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE OR FREE NON-HUMAN ... 173 
ballads, horses are part of the world of the military, knights, and heroes,
14
 but they also 
appear in fairytales and mythological ballads. Frye (1957; 2000: 34, 152–153) believes 
that in epic and romantic poems horses symbolize fidelity, belongingness, chivalry, and 
aristocracy. However, in tales, fairy tales, and fables, horses are depicted almost allegori-
cally (with a lesson in fables), but they can also be read in a literary manner and otherwise 
(Harel 2009), which evokes sympathy towards oxen and admiration for horses as “su-
perior animals.” In her book Tipni indeks slovenskih ljudskih pravljic. Živalske pravljice 
in basni (Typological Index of Slovenian Folktales: Animal Tales and Fables), Kropej 
Telban lists several examples: Konj in vol (Horse and ox; ATU 207, 1877, Kocijančič: 
Kropej Telban 2015: 328); Vol in konj vprežena skupaj (Ox and horse yoked together; 
329); Konj in vol (Horse and ox; 329); Vol in osel (Ox and donkey; 330); Trdosrčni konj 
in osel (Cold-hearted horse and donkey; 331); Konj in osel (Horse and donkey; 331), 
and Konj in vol (Horse and ox; 332). All of these fables depict the relationship between a 
superior and inferior animal and thematize the status of individual animals in the human 
community. Horses were considered superior to other draft animals. Despite this, horses 
themselves were often used as draft animals. The thematization of the horses’ destiny also 
reveals human destiny, which means horses also had a symbolic function. However, the 
aim here is to read these songs from the perspective of animal folklore and ecocriticism 
because these ballads feature classic anthropomorphization: placing horses into the animal 
world, which is subordinate to that of humans. Stories can also reveal the true destinies 
of horses in the past and present.
In Slovenian folk tradition, the Lipizzaners were referred to as šimelni (“white hors-
es”). This word is derived from German Schimmel (‘white or grey horse’). In ballads 
(especially heroic and historical ones), horses are depicted as helpers to humans; people 
ride them. Horses can also have supernatural power; for example, the song “Pegam in 
Lambergar” (Pegam and Lambergar; SLP I/1(10)), features a horse that has not seen light 
for seven years and so it has a special power. It becomes Lambergar’s helper. It is well 
fed: they feed it with yellow grain and water it with sweet white wine. It is completely 
clear that this horse-rider relationship involves mutual dependency and trust. The horse 
has the characteristic of a hero and can even speak (cf. Piskač 2012: 1071–1089). King 
Matthias rides a “bridled white horse” (belču brzdem; SLP I/3 (18–19)). Horses, especially 
white ones, symbolize royal blood and aristocracy, and so they can be found in songs 
thematizing the castle environment. A girl soldier is riding a “bridled horse” (konjcu 
brzdnem; women were only supposed to ride horses without a bridle; SLP I/7 7/ (55)). 
In the song “Ravbar Gathers His Army and Wins the Battle of Sisak) the horses are fast: 
“brze konjče napravlajte, / jih sedlajte n vobrzdajte, / se na vojsko naravnajte” (prepare 
fast horses, / saddle and bridle them, / and prepare for war; SLP I/12 (75)). In the song 
“Prošnja umirajočega junaka” (A Dying Hero’s Request), a hero asks for his black horse 
to be tied to a plait of rosemary that he will hold in his hands when he is buried; this 
means the horse should mourn him and die together with him (SLP I/19 (101)). In one 
14
 According to Assmann (2005: 317), in chivalry horses symbolized ““superhuman speed.”“ Cf. Škopljanac 
(2012: 511–538).

MARJETKA GOLEŽ KAUČIČ 174 
of the versions, the hero declares the horse his little brother (107). In the song “Dekle z 
ugankami rešeno hudiča” (The Girl Saved from the Devil by Riddles), the prince saddles 
and mounts a fast horse, the horse neighs, and the girl takes it to the stables it by its reins, 
where she feeds it some grain so that it cannot neigh (SLP I/36 (189)). In another song, a 
dead man comes to get his sweetheart on a horse (SLP I/59/323). The song “Kamenjanje 
sv. Štefana” (The Stoning of St. Stephen) depicts the arrival of a white wild horse that is 
supposed to bite St. Stephen and the saint tames him immediately (SLP II/ 129/397–399).
A surprisingly equal relationship with an animal as though with a human can be found 
in the lyric love song “Konjiče kupim, da v vas pojezdim” (I’ll Buy Horses to Ride into 
the Village; Š 1788). A young man wishes that his horse were as strong as a bear, so that 
it could carry him to his beloved all through the night. And this is what truly happens: 
when the horse neighs three times, the girl opens her door and: “Konjiča je djala v štal-
ico, / mene pa v svetlo kamrico. // Konjiču je dala čop sena, / meni pa vinca sladkega. // 
Konjiču je dala pšeničice, / meni pa rudeče ličice. // Konjiču je dala mal ovsa, / meni pa 
malo kovterca” (She took the horse into the stables, / and took me into her bright little 
chamber. // She gave the horse a wisp of straw, / and some sweet wine to me. // She gave 
the horse some grain, / and her red cheeks to me. // She gave the horse some oats, / and 
shared her blanket with me). The song “Konju postreže, kakor ljubemu” (She Entertains 
a Horse the Same as Her Beloved; Š 2155) indicates that horses were valuable animals, 
even though in this case it has more to do with opposing her boyfriend: “Konjiči je jesti 
dala žolte pšeničkice, / ljubemu je jesti dala, / maličko ovseka. // Konjiču je piti dala 
/ vinca z vedre srebrne, / ljubemu je piti dala / veliki škaf mrzle vode. Konjiči pa je 
postljala na blazine pernate, / ljubemu pa je postljala / malo suje praproti.” (She fed the 
horse yellow grain, / and fed her boyfriend / some oats. // She watered the horse / with 
wine from a silver bucket, / and gave her boyfriend / a big tub of cold water to drink. She 
prepared feather pillows for the horse, / and only some dry ferns / for her boyfriend.) The 
boyfriend becomes angry and threatens to leave her for another girl.
HORSES IN CUSTOMS, BELIEFS, AND SAYINGS
Horses are certainly extremely important animals in Slovenian customs and traditions. 
St. Stephen is the patron of horses and is commemorated during Christmas time, on De-
cember 26
th
 (for more, see Kuret 1989, vol 2: 382–397). This saint may even announce 
the arrival of a new creature, a foal, during Christmastime. White Carniolan Christmas 
carols include the motif of a black stallion, which symbolizes youth and life force. Kropej 
(1998: 98–99) writes about a belief that has been preserved in Istria, according to which a 
little Christmas horse came to eat grain below the table on Christmas Eve, which is why 
children in Gažon fasted the whole day on Christmas Eve
15
 because they believed they 
would see the little horse in the evening that way. St. George rides a white horse, heralds 
the spring, and defeats the dragon with its help. St. Martin also rides a white horse. Horse 
15
 Known in the local dialect as božična vilja, literally “Christmas vigil”.

THE LIPIZZANER HORSE: CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE OR FREE NON-HUMAN ... 175 
processions were common during the Feast of Corpus Christi (Kuret 1989, vol 1: 365). 
Slovenian sayings and idioms testify that horses were closely connected with humans. 
The positive seems to be combined with the negative: for example, delati in garati kot 
konj (“to work and toil away like a horse”) as a negative aspect versus biti na konju (“to 
be on a horse”), meaning to rise and advance higher (this is connected with the fact that in 
the past riding horses was mainly in the domain of aristocracy or higher social classes) as 
a positive aspect. Biti fjakarski, paradni konj, pa trojanski konj (“to be a hackney horse, 
a parade horse, or a Trojan horse”) are well-known idioms; ješča kot konj (“to eat like a 
horse”), konjski obraz (“(to have) a horse face”) or konjski zobje (“(to have) horse teeth”) 
thematize people with such characteristics. One of the best-known Slovenian sayings is 
Še kovačeva kobila je zmeraj bosa “The blacksmith’s mare is always unshod”, equivalent 
to “The cobbler’s wife is the worst shod” (for more, see Keber 1996: 148–174.)
HORSES / THE LIPIZZANERS IN LITERATURE
Three literary thematizations of horses / the Lipizzaners in Slovenian literature have 
been selected that reveal the relationship between humans and horses / the Lipizzaners. 
In all three, hierarchization is highlighted in terms of ecocritical analysis. It is established 
that ecocritical discourse emerges from Kocbek’s poem “Lipicanci” (The Lipizzaners; 
Poročilo 1969) via Novak’s play Lipicanci gredo v Strasbourg (The Lipizzaners Go to 
Strasbourg, 2008) and escalates into an ecocritical climax in Komelj’s poem “Hipodrom” 
(Horse Racetrack; Hipodrom 2006).
Edvard KocbEK , Lipicanci (1969)
LIPICANCI
Časnik poroča: 
lipicanci so sodelovali 
pri zgodovinskem filmu.
16
Radio razlaga:
milijonar je kupil lipicance, 
plemenite živali so bile mirne 
ves čas poleta nad Atlantikom. 
In učna knjiga uči:
lipicanci so hvaležni jezdni konji, 
doma so s Krasa, prožnega kopita, 
gizdavega drnca, bistre čudi
in trmaste zvestobe.
THE LIPPIZANER
A newspaper reports:
the Lippizaners collaborated
on a historical film. 
The radio explains: 
a millionaire had bought the Lippizaners, 
the noble animals were quiet
throughout the journey over the Atlantic. 
And a textbook teaches: 
the Lippizaners are graceful riding horses, 
their origin is in the Karst, they are of supple hoof, 
conceited trot, intelligent nature, 
and obstinate fidelity. 
16
  This allegedly refers to the 1959 film Ben Hur, on which the newspaper Slovenski Jadran reported in 1960. 
The best-known film about the Lipizzaners is Miracle of the White Stallions, made in 1963 (perhaps Kocbek 
was referring to this movie), which depicted the rescue of the Lipizzaners at the end of the Second World War. 
The Lipizzaners were also featured in the movies The Tempest and Crimson Tide.

MARJETKA GOLEŽ KAUČIČ 176 
In vendar ti dodajam, sinko, 
da teh nemirnih živali
ni mogoče spraviti v razvidne obrazce: 
dobro je, kadar sije dan,
lipicanci so črna žrebeta,
in dobro je, kadar vlada noč, 
lipicanci so bele kobile, 
najbolje pa je,
kadar prihaja dan iz noči,
kajti lipicanci so beločrni burkeži, 
dvorni šaljivci njenega veličanstva, 
slovenske zgodovine.
But I have to add, my son, 
that it isn’t possible to fit these
restless animals into any set pattern: 
it is good when the day shines, 
the Lippizaners are black foals. 
And it is good, when the night reigns, 
the Lippizaners are white mares, 
but the best is, 
when the day comes out of the night, 
then the Lippizaners are the white and black buffoons, 
the court fools of its Majesty, 
Slovenian history. 
Drugi so častili svete krave in zmaje, 
tisočletne želve in leve s perutmi, 
samoroge, dvoglave orle in fenikse, 
mi pa smo si izbrali najlepšo žival, 
izkazala se je na bojiščih in v cirkusih, 
prepeljevala je kraljične in zlato monštranco, 
zato so dunajski cesarji govorili
francosko s spretnimi diplomati, 
italijansko z zalimi igralkami, 
špansko z neskončnim Bogom 
in nemško z nešolanimi hlapci,
s konji pa so se pogovarjali slovensko.
Others have worshipped holy cows and dragons, 
thousand-year-old turtles and winged lions, 
unicorns, double-headed eagles and phoenixes, 
but we’ve chosen the most beautiful animal, 
which proved to be excellent on battlefields, in circuses, 
harnessed to princesses and the Golden Monstrance, 
therefore the emperors of Vienna spoke
French with skilful diplomats, 
Italian with charming actresses, 
Spanish with the infinite God, 
and German with uneducated servants: 
but with the horses, they talked Slovene. 
Spomni se, otrok, kako skrivnostno 
sta spojena narava in zgodovina sveta 
in kako različna je vzmet duha
pri slehernem ljudstvu na zemlji.
Dobro veš, da smo zemlja tekem in dirk. 
Zato tudi razumeš, zakaj so se beli konji 
iz Noetove barke zatekli na naša čista tla, 
zakaj so postali naša sveta žival,
zakaj so stopili v legendo zgodovine 
in zakaj razburjajo našo prihodnost, 
nenehoma nam iščejo obljubljeno deželo 
in postajajo zanosno sedlo našega duha.
Remember, my child, how mysteriously
nature and history are bound together, 
and how different are the driving forces of the spirit
of each of the world’s peoples. 
You know well that ours is the land of contests and races. 
You, thus, understand why the white horses
from Noah’s ark found refuge on our pure ground, 
why they became our holy animal, 
why they entered into the legend of history, 
and why they bring the life pulse to our future. 
They incessantly search for our promised land
and are becoming our spirit’s passionate saddle. 
Kar naprej sem na beločrnem konju, 
mili moj sinko,
kakor poglavar beduinov 
sem zrasel s svojo živaljo, 
vse življenje potujem na njej,
bojujem se na konju in molim na njem, 
spim na konju in sanjam na konju
in umrl bom na konju,
vse naše prerokbe sem spoznal 
na skrivnostni živali,
in tudi to pesem sem doživel 
na njenem drhtečem hrbtu.
I endlessly sit on a black and white horse. 
my beloved son, 
like a Bedouin chief
I blend with my animal, 
I’ve been travelling on it all my life, 
I sleep on it, and I dream on it, 
and I’ll die on it. 
I learned all our prophesies
on the mysterious animal, 
and this poem, too, I experienced
on its trembling back. 

THE LIPIZZANER HORSE: CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE OR FREE NON-HUMAN ... 177 
Nič temnejšega ni 
od jasne govorice
in nič resničnejšega ni od pesmi, 
ki je razum ne more zapopasti, 
junaki šepajo v svetlem soncu
in modrijani jecljajo v temi,
burkeži pa se spreminjajo v pesnike, 
krilati pegazi vedno hitreje dirjajo 
nad votlinami naše stare zemlje
in poskakujejo in trkajo, 
nestrpne slovenske živali
še vedno budijo kralja Matjaža.
Nothing is darker than
clear speech, 
and nothing more true than a poem
the intellect cannot seize, 
heroes limp in the bright sun, 
and sages stammer in the dark, 
the buffoons, though, are changing into poets, 
the winged Pegasi run faster and faster
above the caves of our old earth
jumping and pounding —
the impatient Slovenian animals
are still trying to awaken the legendary King Matjaž. 
Kdor še ne zna zajezditi konja, 
naj se čimprej nauči
ukrotiti iskro žival,
obdržati se svobodno v lahkem sedlu 
in uloviti ubrano mero drnca, 
predvsem pa vztrajati v slutnji,
kajti naši konji so pridirjali od daleč 
in so daleč namenjeni,
motorji radi odpovedo, 
sloni preveč pojedo, 
naša pot pa je dolga
in peš je predaleč.
Those who don’t know how to ride a horse, 
should learn quickly
how to tame the fiery animal, 
how to ride freely in a light saddle, 
how to catch the harmony of the trot, 
and above all to persist in the premonition, 
for our horses came galloping from far away, 
and they still have far to go: 
motors tend to break down, 
elephants eat too much, 
our road is a long one, 
and it is too far to walk. (Kocbek 1977: Internet)
Kocbek’s poem about the Lipizzaners remains within the context of a symbolic depic-
tion of horses as national symbols and does not establish a critical discourse. According to 
Čeh Steger, when analyzing a text portraying an animal, one must determine whether the 
animal is using its own voice or whether it merely speaks through the voice of the poet. In 
this case, this is not its autonomous voice; it still involves a personification of nature and 
a symbolization of the animal as part of national heritage (Čeh Steger 2012: 207). Novak 
wrote the following in his introduction to Kocbek’s poem “Lipicanci” (The Lippizzaners):
17
“The Lipizzaners” is one of Kocbek’s most typical poems. It was pub-
lished as the last, concluding, poem in his collection Poročilo (Report). In 
it, the poet elevates the Lipizzaners to the level of a national symbol. He 
poetically expresses the basic characteristics of this noble white horse ... 
In terms of diction, the poem is an exalted ode imbued with noble humor 
at the same time … The narrative tone, which mimics a journalistic report, 
deepens to reach mythological dimensions and descriptions of things grow 
into metaphors, which Kocbek uses to lyricize the Lipizzaner as a “holy 
animal.” (Kocbek 1999: 7)
17
 In 2005, the Krainer publishing house published this poem in six languages with illustrations by Slovenian 
artists (http://www.delo.si/clanek/2131).

MARJETKA GOLEŽ KAUČIČ 178 
Kocbek compares the Lipizzaners with the Slovenians because even the Viennese 
emperors were said to converse with the Lipizzaners in Slovenian. Thus it is no longer a 
living creature, but a symbol, a holy animal that unites the nation and places it within the 
global context. Everybody knows the Lipizzaners, but few know where they come from.
b oris a. n ovaK ’s pLay Lipicanci gredo v StraSbourg  
(ThE LipizzanErs Go To s TrasbourG , 2008)
18
The substantive core of Novak’s satirical play is dedicated to the Lipizzaners that go 
to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to seek justice for themselves 
because their habitat is becoming smaller and smaller, a golf course is being built there, 
tourism is becoming increasingly commercial, and the Lipizzaners are only a means for 
generating profit and a mere tourist attraction. Or, in the words of the horse Maestoso: 
“If we jumped through people’s bedroom windows like they jump across the fences into 
our pastures, the men’s nervous, tired organs would also go soft. We used to enjoy our 
moments of miraculous pleasure right out in the meadows, in privacy. I have no desire 
to touch you or have intimate relations with you in front of tourists” (2008: 170). They 
are taken seriously at the court because, legally speaking, human rights can also apply 
to horses. They press charges against Slovenia and all the other countries that Lipica, as 
the cradle of the Lipizzaner horses, belonged to over the centuries (from 1580 onwards). 
The Lipizzaners also complain about the way they are treated.
19
 After this, the history of 
the Lipizzaners and their life in various countries and under different masters is revealed. 
The horses also explain to the judicial council why Lipica is the cradle of the Lipizzaner 
horses by singing the following verses: “Na Krasu je dom najlepših konj, / na Krasu je 
hlev za burjin vonj, / na Krasu je bor, visok kot dan, / na Krasu je teran, kot noč teman, 
/ na Krasu je črn podzemni svet, / na Krasu je bel kamniti cvet, / še črni konj postane 
bel / in je svet na Krasu cel” (The Karst is home to the most beautiful horses, / the Karst 
is where stables smell like the Bora wind, / the Karst is where the pines are tall as the 
day, / the Karst is where the Terrano wine is dark as the night, / the Karst is where there 
is a black underground world, / the Karst is where there are white stone flowers, / even 
a black horse turns white, / and makes the world there whole; 2008: 244). Novak even 
introduces a transformed love lyric folksong into the play. He transforms the original 
verses “Moj očka ima konjička dva / oba sta lepa, bela šimelna” (My daddy has two 
horsies, / two beautiful white horsies) into “Moj očka ima konjička dva, / oba prodal je za 
mercedesa” (My daddy has two horsies, / he sold both of them to buy a Mercedes; 2008: 
246), which is an obvious criticism of modern Slovenians and their leaders. Novak also 
uses the traditional Slovenian love song “Na planincah sončece sije” (The Sun Shines in 
the Mountains) to criticize the activities of Slovenian politicians in Brussels. A lawyer 
of Slovenian descent by the name of Volk (which may be read as Folk), who goes on to 
become a minister, sings this song to the Lipizzaners:
18
 The play premiered at the Ljubljana City Theater during the 2006/2007 season.
19
 In the past few years, several Lipizzaners have died at Lipica, either from poisoned hay or improper treatment.

THE LIPIZZANER HORSE: CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE OR FREE NON-HUMAN ... 179 
Na planincah sončece sije,   The sun shines in the mountains,
na planincah sončece sije,   The sun shines in the mountains,
na planincah sončece sije,   The sun shines in the mountains,
na planincah luštno je.    It’s lovely in the mountains.
The two judges sing this song completely differently:
Nad Evropo sončece sije,   The sun shines over Europe.
v Strasbourgu sončece sije,   The sun shines in Strasbourg,
in v Bruslju sončece sije,   And the sun shines in Brussels,
in v Bruslju luštno je!    And it’s lovely in Brussels!
And the horses sing the following in a sad tone:
Lipicancem sonce ne sije,   The sun doesn’t shine for the Lipizzaners,
lipicancem dežek ne lije,   It doesn’t rain for the Lipizzaners,
lipicancem trava ne kljije,   The grass doesn’t sprout for the Lipizzaners,
lipicancem strašno je!    It’s horrible for the Lipizzaners!
Together with a veterinarian that has her own voice and represents the horses, the 
horses make an appeal to the high court. This appeal reveals criticism over the depiction 
of rural life and the inappropriate attitude of the state towards the Lipizzaners. A female 
judge at the court asks what the Slovenian government ministers are doing and the horses 
reply to her very informatively: the minister of the environment would like to build in 
a karst field; the minister of finance is collecting taxes from the casino, the minister of 
the economy plans to build an industrial empire in the Karst, the minister of transport 
is looking for an appropriate site in the Karst to build a racecourse or even an airport, 
the minister of agriculture is selling horses (is a horse trader), the minister of culture 
only speaks of horses as national symbols, the prime minister likes to play golf, and the 
president prefers dogs (2008: 335–336). 
At the time this play was written, the Slovenian government did not show much interest 
in the Lipizzaners’ fate. The horses say the following: “Nadarjeni za plese in dresuro, / 
združujemo naturo in kulturo” (Having a talent for dancing and dressage, / we combine 
nature and culture; 2008: 267). “The word Lipizzaner denotes the place of origin, the cradle 
of these (once imperial) horses, and etymologically it is connected with the linden tree 
[Sln. lipa], which Slovenians celebrate as their symbol” (2008: 264). Novak highlights 
the problem of the horses’ “ownership”: “Now they are fighting over who these horses 
belong to. The Austrians claim that the Lipizzaners symbolize the House of Habsburg, 
the Italians are convinced that these cavalli bianchi are theirs, not to mention the Slo-
venians, who like to brag that these are purebred Slovenian horses” (2008: 282). Novak 
inscribes harsh criticism of the Slovenian policy regarding the Lipizzaners into his play: 
after Slovenia’s independence, comprehensive commercialization of Lipica began and 
the horses became nothing but objects of tourism and generating profit. The protection 
of natural and cultural heritage became nothing but a cover for exploiting animals and 
establishing the commercial interests of the capital. Horses as living creatures do not 
exist in the neoliberal capitalist world.

MARJETKA GOLEŽ KAUČIČ 180 
MaEsToso V Sloveniji ne živijo samo Slovenci. 
Tam smo tudi mi, prastari lipicanci,
konjski državljani! Prav mi, lipicanci
mi smo avtohtoni prebivalci Krasa!
Mi, vztrajni konji, zmagovalci časa!
Če smo preživeli Avstro-Ogrsko, Italijo
in Jugoslavijo, bomo pa tudi Slovenijo 
(2008: 372).
Not only Slovenians live in Slovenia.
We’re also there, the ancient Lipizzaners,
Horse citizens! We, the Lipizzaners,
Are the indigenous Karst residents!
We, the persevering horses, the conquerors of time!
If we survived Austria-Hungary, Italy,
And Yugoslavia, we’ll survive Slovenia, too.
Novak’s play contains a critical barb aimed at Slovenian politics and a society that 
shows no interest in the rights of the Lipizzaners, which means it is already approaching 
ecocriticism; however, it still proceeds from the human viewpoint, despite the fact that the 
horse speaks through the poet, presenting the government’s indifference towards cultural 
and natural heritage, and ultimately also towards horses as living creatures. According 
to Grewe-Volpp (2004: 89), this involves a cultural representation of relations between 
culture and nature, and man/animal/environment relations; moreover, it is actually about 
getting rid of the dualist relation between man and nature. In Novak’s play, the horse 
is personified and has its own voice, but the main aim is to protect the Lipizzaner as a 
horse that is not a free entity, but that deserves to be treated decently. In any case, Novak 
dissects Slovenian policy’s indifference towards the Lipizzaner issue within the Slovenian 
and EU context thoroughly and in detail. A voice can also be heard in support of viewing 
this creature as such, but it is weak and insufficiently critical of the human relation to the 
animal within the Lipica Stud Farm itself.
Miklavž koMelj: “HipodroM”
(ExcErpT )
Deske ograd so nagrizene,
tla ponekod razkopana z nemirnejšimi koraki.
Edini zapis o nekem uporu.
[...] Zatohla norost perfidne retorike ne 
zakrije strašne, neme podobe:
konja, ki nemo drvi mimo v galopu.
Električni sunki, poviti v gazo,
ne premočni – da ne razdražijo.
Polži, ki prečkajo v nožicah
kasaško progo ob stalnih urah,
preden je dan, ki jo zasuje s kopiti.
Kanje sedijo na belih drogovih, zadrtih v 
zemljo, pozimi v sneg.
– Mama, ali ne gledajo konji oblačkov?
The boards of the fences are chewed,
The ground is dug up in places from the restless treads.
The only record of some kind of resistance.
[...] Stuffy craziness of perfidious rhetoric does not 
conceal the terrible, mute image:
A horse galloping past mutely.
Electrical shocks wrapped in gauze,
not too strong, so that they don’t upset.
Snails that cross the harness racetrack with their little 
legs always at the same times,
Before daylight buries it with hooves.
Buzzards sit on the white poles driven into the ground, 
and into the snow in winter.
– Mom, don’t the horses look at the clouds?
20 

THE LIPIZZANER HORSE: CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE OR FREE NON-HUMAN ... 181 
Obupanost! Ki je nimam pravice nikomur 
pripisati. To je ne zmanjša.
To jo veča. Ko se vpisuje v podobo moči 
in lahkotnosti, v emblem svobode.
Desperation! That I have no right to ascribe to anyone! 
That doesn’t diminish it.
That enhances it. When it inscribes itself into the 
image of strength and lightness, 
Into the emblem of freedom.
– Si kdaj videl svobodnega konja?
20
 
– Si videl nesvobodnega?
– Si videl svobodnega?
[...]
Krogi, neskončni krogi.
Aktiviranje krčev bega v dresuri.
Smrtna izčrpanost.
Skozi zrak šine brez teže telo, težko 500 kg.
dva fanta se pogovarjata v baru:
– Vsi konji, ki so zmagali na derbijih – 
nikjer več jih ni bilo [...]
Muhe, ki lezejo po robovih ogromnih oči
in v rano pod belo liso na čelu.
konji, ki niso več isti.
Pogovori ljudi med seboj:
zehanje, omedlevanje.
Voda, ki teče iz gumijastih cevi
po nedosegljivih nogah, ki se prestopajo,
po hrbtih, ki v čudnem miru divje trzajo,
se umakne pred očmi. [...]
(str. 12–15).
– Have you ever seen a free horse?
– An unfree horse?
– A free horse?
[...]
Laps, endless laps.
Activating the escape reflexes in dressage.
Deadly exhaustion.
A 500 kg body darts through the air weightlessly.
Two young men chat at the bar:
– All of the horses that won the derbies—They were 
all gone [...]
Flies crawling along the edges of huge eyes and into 
the wound below the white blaze on the forehead.
Horses that are no longer the same.
People talking to one another:
Yawning, fainting.
The water from rubber hoses
Running over unreachable, shuffling legs,
Over backs twitching in awkward peacefulness,
Disappears before the eyes. [...]
(pp. 12–15).
[...]
Svojo skrivnost je Nietzsche
zaupal le enemu spominu –
da je srečal to bitje! –
konju v Torinu.
Ki je na trgu drhtel
od udarcev in stal, stal, stal.
Nekdo ga je v solzah objel
in se zrušil ob njem na tla.
[...]
Nietzsche only entrusted his secret
To one single memory –
That he met this creature!
To a horse in Turin.
That trembled in a square
From the blows, and stood there, stood there, stood there.
Someone embraced it in tears
And collapsed to the ground next to it.
20
 The instrumentalization of the Lipizzaner or the horse for promotional reasons can also be observed in the 
ad by the Triglav insurance company (2014) featuring a Lipizzaner running freely along the beach, with a 
voice saying the following in the background: “Someday I’m going to be free.” But this is only a metaphor 
for a human being. After this, the voice focuses on the life insurance offered by this insurance company that 
promises freedom to people if they sign an insurance policy.
The poem “Hipodrom” also thematizes the traditional training of harness horses in the Slovenian region of 
Prlekija, which dates back to Austria-Hungary. The first proper harness races were held on September 12
th
, 1874 
on the 2,000-fathom country road between the cross on the Lukavci karst field and the bridge over Globetka 
Creek near Ljutomer. The attraction of racing and the glory of the best-ranked breeders are connected with the 
suffering of horses. The tradition of harness racing was commemorated by the Harness Racing Museum and 
the horses’ suffering by a poem. Such tradition needs to be redefined. However, this is about criticism against 
horse races in general, not only in Slovenia.

MARJETKA GOLEŽ KAUČIČ 182 
[...] (str. 20).
Konji pustijo,
da jih pobožam,
in medtem gledajo
v svoje smeri.
Ko se zaustavijo,
da jih pobožam,
je to del njihovega
sproščenega, mučnega bega
pred mano. (str. 39).
[...] (p. 20).
Horses let me
Stroke them,
Staring in their
Own directions.
When they stop
For me to stroke them,
This is a part of their
Relaxed, painful escape
From me. (p. 39).
From the perspective of the ecological paradigm about the human/environment, 
human/animal, and human/plant hierarchic dualisms of Western consumer society, and 
the introduction of a cultural-ecological model of studying literature, it can be concluded 
that the poem “Hipodrom” is one of the utterly ecocritical representations of this dualism 
and that Miklavž Komelj is a markedly ecocritical and zooethical author (Marjanić & 
Zaradija Kiš 2012: 11–19). This poem defines or verbalizes the relation between humans 
and horses, even though it refers to horses and not explicitly to the Lipizzaners. These 
horses are thematized such that one can see the critical-creative energy flowing through 
the poem (Zapf 2002). The poet uses poetic devices to draw attention to the suffering and 
torturing of horses in horse races; consequently, this suffering could also be transferred 
to the unnatural Spanish riding school, in which horses (the Lipizzaners) were trained to 
dance using the whip and other types of force, instead of racing around the Karst meadows.
Vičar (2013: 38) establishes that this poem problematizes the appropriation of an 
animal or the ownership of an animal, whereby “Komelj problematizes the specific 
abuse of horses (their commercial use).” This means that Komelj used poetic language 
to directly criticize the humans’ forceful handling of horses; he shows the forced nature 
of this handling in the first lines when the horse resists this treatment that leads to deadly 
exhaustion and even death. Therefore, this poem is markedly ecocritical; moreover, it 
portrays the human/animal relation in purely utilitarian dualism and shows the type of 
human attitude towards the animal that is typical of speciesism (Dunayer 2008). It is the 
horse’s lack of freedom in this poem in particular that can be associated with problem-
atizing any type of a human ownership relation to an animal, which is harshly criticized 
and completely rejected by Garry Francione’s abolitionist theory presented in his book 
Animals, Property, and the Law (1995), and Rain without Thunder (1996):
A central thesis of Rain Without Thunder (1996), as well as my later work, 
is that, if animal interests are to be morally significant, we must accord to 
nonhumans the basic right not to be treated as property, and this requires 
that we seek to abolish, and not merely to regulate, institutionalized animal 
exploitation. The status of nonhumans as property, however, militates 
strongly against significant improvement in our treatment of animals, and 
animal welfare will do little more than make animal exploitation more 
economically efficient and socially acceptable. On the social and legal 

THE LIPIZZANER HORSE: CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE OR FREE NON-HUMAN ... 183 
level, there needs to be a paradigm shift as a social matter before the legal 
system will respond in a meaningful way. This is why education and social 
change are so important and must precede legal change. There is simply 
no political base to support any radical legal change at this time. The first 
task of the animal-rights movement was to educate society about why 
such a movement was necessary in the first place and to shift the paradigm 
away from the commodity status of nonhumans. Those who were trying to 
develop “no kill” options to the problem of the companion animal popu-
lation; those who sought to stop the round-up and removal of wild horses 
from federal lands and to prohibit the killing of deer in suburban areas; 
and those who wanted to organize lawful boycotts to stop particular forms 
of animal exploitation. (http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.
cgi?article=1407&context=lcpGarry Francione)
Komelj
21
 determines that, even though horses do not allow people to touch them, this 
is only because they are not free, although freedom radiates through their eyes. They 
would like to run away from humans (i.e., strangers), but they can only do this in their 
spirits; unfortunately, this is impossible in reality.
CONCLUSION
Hence, is it a utopia to list all of these academic findings about animals as persons 
(Ingold 1994: XXIV), the necessity of cultural and critical animal studies, animal folk-
lore and literary studies, and ethnozoology (Golež Kaučič, Marjanović, Zaradija Kiš, 
Visković, etc.); the criticism of the capitalist system that supports the exploitation of 
animals (Tapper 1994: 53; cf. Serpell 1996; Vičar 2013; Best 2009); the disregard for 
the suffering of animals (Cavel, Diamond, McDowel, Hacking, & Wolfe 2008: 146); the 
philosophical discourses such as that of Derrida (as presented in discourses by Deleuze 
& Guattari, 2000, 2002); and ultimately the end of speciesism and the establishment of 
abolitionism (Ryder 2000, Dunayer 2009, Francione 2008). What does this mean for the 
Lipizzaners? Will they simply remain part of the natural and cultural heritage of various 
nations, whereby their grace, beauty, and nobility will be celebrated, but there will be 
no reflection whatsoever on their own interests? Will the criticism of this endless and 
repeating human/animal dualism ever achieve its purpose, will animal folklore studies 
and ecocriticism ever be able to position their findings within the wider social context 
21
 In his collection of poems Roke v dežju (Hands in the Rain, 2011), Komelj also problematizes the use of 
horses in circuses. “V cirkusu je / konj / delal gibe, / ki niso bili / njegovi gibi, /ampak /njegova smrt. // Njegova 
popolnoma / razločna govorica. / Njegova smrt.” (At the circus / the horse / performed movements / that weren’t 
/ his movements, / but / his death. // His complete / clear language / His death). It is clear that it is only in death 
that the animals speak up about and to the people that force them into slavery for their own fun. The language 
of horses is their movements, but humans are deaf and blind to this type of non-verbal communication, and 
hence death is inevitable in the end. For Komelj animals are creatures from other worlds.

MARJETKA GOLEŽ KAUČIČ 184 
and be heard? Thematizing horses / the Lipizzaners in folklore is truly only a reflection 
of heritage, whereas the disruptive logic of the human exploitation of animals has already 
been verbalized in literature. What can be predicted for the future? Will the Lipizzaner 
still be used as a dancing horse and a horse for entertaining people? Even if one day it 
becomes part of UNESCO’s world cultural and natural heritage, it will still be regarded 
merely as a highly trained animal only for human purposes rather than a superior animal 
(Übertier). As long as it remains nothing but human or government property, a brand 
name with a protected designation of origin, and part of world heritage, rather than a 
free entity, it will remain a domesticated and enslaved horse about which no one asks 
where its pastures and free fields are—even though it will still be able to race and gallop 
around the peaks of the Vremščica Hills and other hills and meadows. And even when 
it is half free and grazes in a nature park, along comes a lunatic
22 
who stabs a mare nu-
merous times and he is let free because of the inadmissibility of DNA as evidence. The 
horse did not even defend itself; it could have easily trampled its attacker, but it trusted 
the human instead. What a mistake!
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THE LIPIZZANER HORSE: CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE OR FREE NON-HUMAN ... 187 
LIPICANEC KOT KULTURNA IN NARAVNA DEDIŠČINA ALI 
SVOBODNA NE-ČLOVEŠKA SUBJEKTIVITETA
Marjetka Golež kaučič
V članku razpravljam o konjih, predvsem lipicancih, ki so percipirani kot del 
naravne in kulturne dediščine Slovencev in Avstrijcev, v preteklosti pa so bili del 
Habsburškega imperija, kjer so bili izšolani in zdresirani. Konji so obravnavani 
le kot predmet in last nacionalne človeške skupnosti, ne pa kot bitja, ki so šele 
z domestifikacijo in gensko selekcijo vstopila v prostor služenja človeku. Na 
podlagi novih spoznanj zoofolkloristike, antropologije, kritične animalistike, 
filozofskih in pravnih diskurzov ter teorij speciesizma in abolicionizma je pred-
stavljena reflektirana vloga in pomen teh konjev in konjev kot vrste, hkrati pa je 
na podlagi ekokritične analize ponovno presojano razmerje človek – žival, in sicer 
z vzpostavljanjem nehierarhizacije živalskega in človeškega. 
V poglavju o vprašanju domestifikacije razmišljam o človekovem načinu 
prilagajanja živali svojim potrebam, genetskem vzrejanju in razplodu lipicancev 
za služenje aristokratskim elitam. Domestifikacija je bila tista transformacija v 
živalsko-človeškem odnosu, ki je tudi konja postavila v območje človekove lastnine. 
Posledici domestifikacije sta iztrebljenje divjih prednikov, npr. konjev tarpanov, 
in deformacija anatomskih, fizioloških in psihičnih značilnosti divjih prednikov 
– razvijajo se le tiste lastnosti, ki jih je človek želel zaradi ekonomskih ali drugih 
namenov. Na začetku je bil konj suženj; kasneje je pridobil na veljavi, a šele takrat, 
ko je vstopil v aristokratsko okolje. To se je zgodilo tudi z lipicancem, konjem, ki 
so ga s križanjem vzgojili tako, da je primeren za dresuro. Odnos nadrejenega do 
podrejenega je pri domestifikaciji konj in še posebno lipicancev, ki so bili vzrejeni 
in gensko manipulirani za točno določene namene, odnos človeka do dragocene 
lastnine in v današnjem času tudi do naravne in kulturne dediščine. Pod vprašaj 
postavljam ta tradicionalni hierarhični odnos do konj, še posebej do lipicancev. 
Poudarjam intrinzično vrednost živali (kar pomeni, da je lipicanec vreden sam po 
sebi in ne kot žival v služenju človeku), ki je bila tisto, kar nas je vodilo tudi ob 
obravnavi konja skozi zgodovino kulture in razmerja do človeka. 
V nadaljevanju raziskujem, kam sodijo lipicanci in kam kulturni vzorci, ki so 
jih v genski material teh konjev vgradili ljudje, in kaj je tisto, kar je popolnoma 
»konjska kultura«. Simbolni vzorec, ki ga uporabljajo živali v medsebojni komu-
nikaciji, bi gotovo lahko imenovali kulturni in ne naravni, saj se od živali do živali 
razlikuje, če seveda zastopamo stališče, da je tudi vsaka žival oseba ali osebnost 
zase. Če je tako, potem ima lahko tudi kulturni vzorec, ki je zanjo značilen, se pa 
uvršča znotraj simbolnih vzorcev tiste vrste, ki ji pripada. Prav gotovo pa gre za 
razlike med kulturnimi vzorci živali, ki so udomačene, in tistih, ki so t. i. divje 
oziroma ki ne živijo v skupnosti s človekom. Tam so kulturni vzorci neodvisni od 
človekove navzočnosti in vplivanja. Ključno pa je dejstvo, da imajo živali mentalno 
življenje in da so mentalni subjekti. Tako lahko rečemo, da so se ob lipicancih 

MARJETKA GOLEŽ KAUČIČ 188 
združili kulturni vzorci konj kot živalske vrste ter – ob procesu udomačevanja in 
genetskega vzrejanja in odbiranja – vsiljeni kulturni vzorci človekove pretenzije 
doseči vrsto konj, ki bo izvajala artistične spretnosti, ki si jih je zanje zamislil človek. 
Nato je predstavljena zgodovina lipicancev in Lipica kot zibelka teh konj, 
opisana so tudi prizadevanja za njihovo zaščito v EU. Pri tem sem zelo kritična 
do percepcije lipicancev kot kulturne dediščine, ki je nastala zaradi človekovih 
kulturnih preferenc in je zgolj človeška vrednota, žival pa, ki se znajde znotraj 
nekih kulturnih praks (npr. lipicanci v kasu ali španska jahalna šola idr.), je prav-
zaprav v take prakse prisiljena. Še bolj problematična pa se zdi lastninska pravica, 
ki jo posamezne države uveljavljajo na lipicancih kot delu nacionalne naravne in 
kulturne dediščine, a jim za lipicance kot bitja per se pravzaprav ni mar. 
Članek nato preide v analizo konj v pesmih in pripovedih, izbranih šegah in 
pregovorih. V ljudskem pesemskem izročilu konj ni bil le del aristokratskega sveta, 
temveč tudi vsakdanjega agrikulturnega življenja. Bil je dragocen in je simbolično 
predstavljal bogastvo. V različnih pripovednih pesmih/baladah je konj del vojaške-
ga, viteškega in junaškega sveta, hkrati pa se pojavlja v pravljičnih in mitoloških 
baladah, navzoč je tudi v pregovorih in rekih ter nekaterih šegah. V razdelku o 
lipicancu/konju v literaturi izpostavljamo tematizacijo hierarhizacije glede na eko-
kritično analizo. Ugotavljamo, da ekokritični diskurz narašča iz Kocbekove pesmi 
Lipicanci (Poročilo 1969) prek Novakove drame Lipicanci gredo v Strasbourg 
(2008) in doživi ekokritični klimaks v Komeljevi pesmi Hipodrom (Hipodrom 
2006). Kocbekova pesem o lipicancih je še v območju simbolne podobe konja 
kot nacionalnega simbola in ne vzpostavlja kritičnega diskurza. Novak vpisuje v 
dramo ostro kritiko slovenskih oblasti glede lipicancev, saj se je po osamosvojitvi 
Slovenije začela celostna komercializacija Lipice in konji so postali le objekti tu-
rizma in zaslužka, varstvo naravne in kulturne dediščine pa je postalo zgolj krinka 
za izkoriščanje živali in uveljavljanje komercialnih interesov kapitala. Konji kot 
živa bitja v neoliberalnem kapitalističnem svetu ne obstajajo. Komeljeva pesem 
Hipodrom pa je prav gotovo ena izmed popolnoma ekokritičnih reprezentacij 
razmerja človek – žival, kar ga uvršča med ekokritične in zooetične avtorje. 
V sklepu je ponovno izpostavljena kritika te neskončne in ponavljajoče se bi-
narnosti človek – žival. Sprašujem se, ali bo lipicanec v prihodnosti ob morebitni 
uveljavitvi nove ekološke paradigme svobodni konj ali pa bo še vedno le upora-
bljen kot plešoči konj, ki je ljudem v zabavo, zasužnjeni konj, podvržen nenehni 
dresuri. Zato je po mojem mnenju nujno, da bi konjem (lipicancem ali drugim) 
priznali, da imajo intrinzično vrednost in svoje kulturne vzorce, ki obstajajo ne 
glede na človeško bližino ali oddaljenost, s tem pa bi se bistveno spremenil tudi 
njihov položaj v odnosu do ljudi. 
Dr. Marjetka Golež Kaučič, Research Advisor, Associated Professor, 
Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Science and Arts, 
Institute of Ethnomusicology, Novi trg 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; 
Marjetka.Golez-Kaucic@zrc-sazu.si