June 20 2014 Basovizza, Lipica, Trieste

---

Our evening in Basovizza was punctuated by the sound of church bells which rang every quater of an hour 24/7. Lol there was no need to check your watch during the night.
We left Basovizza with the intent of finding accommodation in Trieste before returning to Basovizza on route to Lipica to see the famous Lipizzaner horses. Easy ride in to Trieste with a 10 km down hill stretch. Found the hotel which had the smallest lift in the world. What is it with people in this part of the world. The shower cubicles are so tiny that if you drop the soap you have to perform a dead lift manoeuvre to retrieve it from the tray or open the door in order to fit your rear end out whilst you bend down. Now they've started designing lifts in the same fashion. (See photo)
Booked in and then faced the task of cycling 10 kms up hill to Basovizza. For the Aussies it was like cycling up Anderson street hill for ten kms and for the poms it was like cycling to top o't world but was a grande ride down!!
We rode in to Lipica stud farm to find a bunch of horses who were just as curious to have a look at us as I was to see them. The tour was amazing. Lots of horses and foals to touch. The history behind their breeding and training was all covered. Really interesting tour and well worth the 20 km cycle to get there. We had about an hour to blow before the actual show which was enough time for a couple of glasses of wine and some scoff.
The show was amazing and I had hoped that some of the attached video gives you a glimpse of what these horses can do. But sadly the video side of this program struggles. The solo horses are all stallions and the ones pulling the carriage are mares. The mares don't have the time to train to become solo performers due to pregnancy and generally don't have the strength required for some of the other tricks. They are pregnant for 11 months. All the horses are born black or brown and gradually turn white or grey with age, similar to humans and Michael Jackson. 2% stay brown (see attached photo) All horses are micro chipped now but up until a few years ago were branded on the back with a number and a face with an L. The horses are reshod every 5 weeks. See I was paying attention.!!! They grow to about 15-16 hands high and weigh 500 kilograms. It takes about 8 years to train them and they are worth 250,000 Euros at that stage.
Each day the stallions are put out in their own paddock as they fight but the mares can all go in the same paddock.

Where I stayed

Alabarda Hotel - Via Valdirivo 22, Trieste, Italy

---