The White Horses - Lipizzaners

 After an excellent night's rest, we had a wonderful Slovene breakfast, and then we set out to see the famous Lipizzan horses, shown here so it will be the Meme for this post.

These were just walking back to their stable, but even then they are walking in step.

Prosciutto, salami, sausage, and soft cheese.  I also got two eggs, sunnyside up.

And deep-fried croisants filled with apricot jam.

It turns out that the original Lippizan horses were bred at a place called Lipica, in Slovenia, just across a smallish mountain from Trieste, Italy.  We drove just 10 minutes from our gasthaus and found the 600 acre stud farm where Lipizzan horses have been bred, trained, and shown for hundreds of years.

We had hoped to be able to see a dresage show, or at least see them training, but that is only done on Saturdays and Sundays.  However, we did schedule a carriage ride for a small fee.  They had to make a phone call to arrange it, because all the regularly-scheduled carriage rides were already booked, and ours would be the last one.

While we waited, we watched the little foals in a coral with their mothers.  Many of these still had the umbilical cords drying on their bellies.

These two foals posed for my camera while their mothers ate their hay.

Pretty little darlings.  Lipizzans are born dark, and gradually turn white or grey over the next 2 or 3 years.

This one is still uncertain on its feet.

Next coral has the expectant mothers.  This mare seemed very curious about the little foal.  The mare just beyond soon had enough and came over to have words with her.

Here comes our cart.  This team is just learning to work together.

The cart driver was a big guy - he was very friendly, with good English.  The guy in back got out and we got in for our ride around the property.  The wheels had no springs, so it was too bumpy for photography.  As we talked, he asked us why we had come all the way from Texas, and we told him we were spending two years here working to support the mission of the church.  Even though we told him the full name of the church, he decided we were Catholic and decided to give us a GRAND tour, including giving us very detailed instruction on how to visit the most unique shrine in the World (according to him) in a doline grotto on the grounds.  

As we drove around the property we passed doline after doline.  It reminded me a lot of my teenage years, hauling hay in Flowell while dodging the sink holes in the fields.  These were much larger than the ones in Flowell, and they all have trees growing in and around them.  However, none were as large as the ones around the town of Skocjan.

We asked why the fields had tall grass and no horses in them.  He told us that they don't let the horses in until after they cut the first crop of hay, and then they let the horses in them for only 6 hours per day.  The young foals are kept separate from the other horses for 2 years, after being with their mothers for six months.

He said there are over 300 horses and 120 workers on the farm, plus there is a military academy there where the young officers learn to ride white horses in the Habsburg fashion.  The people who ride the horses in shows are employees of the farm, and they train with the horses every day.  During our extended tour we saw them working with individual horses in small, sandy paddocks.  

The driver's name is Mitch to Americans, Mitja to Slovenes.  He told us he goes to a carter's show every year in Ocala, Florida, and he invited us to come see him there next spring.  We told him we would do it, but it seems like we've lost his phone number.  Liz is going to call the stables and see if she can retrieve it.

We went to the stables with the cart at the end of our long tour, and saw the horses in the stables.  They are each kept in their own " loose box" with their name and ancestry on a plaque on the doors.  It seems strange to me to keep a large animal like that in such a small space, but they seem quite content.  When they unhitched our team from the cart, they simply walked past the workers and straight into their boxes to receive a rasher of ground grain.

Of course, horses are sloppy eaters and there was spilled grain all over their stalls.  There were sparrows and swallows flying in and out the open windows constantly, the sparrows for the grain, and the swallows for the bugs.  I have always loved swallows.

A swallow perched on a wire running just below the stable ceiling.  Their nests were at the beam ends and in the electric lights.

After the tour we walked back to our car and decided to visit a small rock hut we'd seen from the cart.  Rock houses were the typical home for people in the coastal area of Italy, Slovenia and Croatia in ancient times, and a few of them still survive, although nobody lives in such drafty places now.

This was built on the farm as a student project.  It is a "shepherd hut", square outside, but round inside, with a narrow stone bench built into the back wall for a bed.

"Lipica  <C  Class of 2011  Shepherd's Hut  April 2012  BC. DO. VR"

This Doline is immediately behind the Shepherd's Hut and is probably 30 feet deep, and not much wider than that.

Another view of it.  I could see the cliff at the back, but it is hard to see in the photo, and I wasn't about to go down there with my knees like they are.

After we got our car, we decided to honor Mitch by visiting the shrine he told us about.  With his directions, it was easy to find.  He told us the story of it, but it is better on the sign.  He promised us, as good Catholics, that all our illnesses will be healed after a visit to this shrine.

DOLINA  MARIJE  LURŠKE   ==>   Doline of Our Lady of Lords

Liz examining the shrine.  I think she was lighting a candle.  It is a remarkably calm, peaceful, and beautiful place.

As we approached the shrine on foot, I saw a small deer on the path ahead, but it disappeared in a flash.  After we got around the next bend in the trail I that it was only an extraordinarily large cat.

Another view into the shrine (without braving the steep stairs).  I assume they hold services here on occasion.

There were many beautiful flowers planted here.  It is clearly well cared for.

And with that we lit out for home.  I was exhausted, so I took a nap as soon as we got on the freeway.  I awoke to find Liz totally frazzled after driving through a downpour, and a massive traffic pileup in one of the tunnels where they are resurfacing one of the two lanes.  Traffic has been considerably heavier in Slovenia since they loosened travel restrictions.  Who knew?

This all took place on Friday.  Saturday was to be the day of our first branch social event since the combining of the Maribor and Celje branches into one.  Liz was in charge and was anxious to get home and get ready.  So, I drove the rest of the way home and we went to bed early.

Next post will include the branch party, a walk in the park, yadda, yadda, yadda.