(Not So) Wordless Wednesday ~ Lipizzaner

 

This is my new friend, Theresa and her horse, Zeema. He’s a handsome, spirited Lipizzaner/Hungarian Warmblood cross.

 

I first saw the two of them at the Mother Road Parade that the kidlets and I attended in August. They also live in the mountains, only a few miles away from our little ranch.

 

Teresa and Zeema attended the Renaissance Fair last weekend, too. And they will be participating in The Parade of Horses this weekend at the Harvest Festival. I can’t wait to see them together again, showcasing the gorgeous Lipizzaner breed.

 

Zeema is quite the character, too. He gets bored easily and likes to entertain himself by performing the typical "airs above the ground" , which are the difficult  dressage movements made famous by the Lipizzaner horse breed.

The levade is a position when the horse raises up both front legs, standing at a 30 degree angle, entirely on its hind legs in a controlled form that requires a great deal of hindquarter strength. A less difficult but related movement is the pesade, where the horse stands at a 45 degree angle.

Zeema does both the levade and the pesade, and he does them very well. Unlike rearing up, his movement is very controlled, and he is obviously enjoying himself and the attention he receives when he does these maneuvers and is not doing them to remove his rider or because he is spooky or crazy. Like other horses that get bored and shake their heads, stamp their feet and prance in place, Zeema shows his boredom by acting out and performing his own unique moves.

    

Theresa told me that she tried to help Zeema satisfy his ‘airs above the ground’ urges by allowing him to do them at home. She encouraged him to do the courbette, which is a movement where the horse balances on its hind legs before jumping, keeping the forelegs off the ground and hind legs together as it essentially "hops." And Zeema seemed to enjoy the opportunity to do this as often as he could.

One of Zeema’s favorite ‘airs above the ground’ movements to do, but not Theresa’s, is the capriole, which is a jump-in-place where the horse leaps into the air, tucking his forelegs under himself, and kicking out with his hind legs at the height of elevation. Theresa said it can be a little unsettling to ride the capriole.

Teresa finally had to succumb to the fact that Zeema wasn’t satisfied with only being allowed to perform his ‘airs above the ground’ at home. So she now permits him to do his levade and pesade, as long as he does it in a controlled manner. And he never does them when people are standing close to him. He seems to understand the ‘right’ time to perform, and especially when he has an audience.

 

But his gorgeous, painted Draft buddy, born as a PMU foal, never seems very impressed by Zeema’s actions or maneuvers.

From the Tower of,