THE South African Lipizzaners from Kyalami, Midrand enchanted the 1500 spectators at the Durban Shongweni Club when they performed as part of the FEI World Dressage Challenge.
The sold out evening performance, organised by KZN Dressage and sponsored by EPOL, took place under spotlights, showed off the magical floating movements and unity of horse and riders, including some aerial movements during the one hour performance by twelve majestic stallions.
Afterwards visitors could meet and greet the beautiful horses and their riders.
Historically, originally based in KZN, after the Second World War, Count Elemer Jankovich-Besan, who had owned a Lipizzaner stud in Hungary, moved to South Africa with what was left of his breeding stock, settling in Mooi River.
In 1951, at the Royal Agricultural Show in Pietermaritzburg, Jankovich-Besan met a Polish immigrant, George Iwanowski, and gave him a horse to train, and it wasn’t long before Iwanowski hit on the idea of establishing a team of performing horses similar to those in Vienna.
