Lipizzans have been a part of European history for over four hundred years. A man by the name of Charles II founded the stud in 1580 after importing nine stallions and twenty-four mares from the Iberian Peninsula, to create a showy, predominately white horses for the ducal stables at Graz and the court stables in Vienna (Pickeral 328). The Lipizzan is the aristocrat, the royalty, the light, the nimble dancer, and the aeralist of the equestrian world (Lashinsky 2). The bloodlines, color, confirmation, stages of training, and the great rescue collectively make the Lipizzaner horse one of the most desired breeds throughout the history of the world.
             The Lipizzaner breed is established on six foundation sires, whoses bloodlines remain in existence today. These stallions were Pluto, a grey Spanish stallion, foaled in 1765 and bought from the Royal Danish Sud; Conversano, a black Neopolitan stallion, foaled in 1767; Neapolitano, a brown Neoopolitan stallion, foaled 1790; Favory, a dun stallion. Foaled at the Kladruby stud in 1779; Maestoso, a grey stallion, foaled 1819 at the Hungarian stud of Mezohegyes; and Siglavy, a grey Arabian, foaled 1810 (Pickeral 328). Each stallion is represented by a particular symbol that is branded on the left shoulder of a six-month old foal. Colts get an additional brand of the left croup of the capital letter "P" underneath the Australian Crown, and registered foals are branded with a number on the right side of saddle indicating the register number. Lipizzans have been bred with Neopolitan, Danish, Arab, and German descents and have inhereited many ideal traits from these purebreds. Thouroubreds were introduced at one time, but the match was somewhat unsuccessful.
             Along with being bred for traits, Lipizzans have been bred for color. A young Lipizzan horse can almost always be distinguished by its color. Lipizzan foals are born black or dark brown. Not unt...