The origins of the breed date back more than 400 years, when on May 19, 1580, a decision was made to establish a princely stud farm in Lipica, located on a rocky karst plateau. The aim was to produce horses for the imperial court that were excellent, stable, and displayed pomp and wealth in every way. In keeping with the fashion of the time, breeding began with Spanish horses, but stallions and mares that seemed to meet the desired criteria were sought throughout Europe.
The first to arrive in Lipica was a gray stallion named Pluto, also of Spanish ancestry, born in 1765 in the Danish royal stud. Pluto was followed in 1774 by Conversano, a black stallion from the best Spanish stud in the Kingdom of Naples. The dun stallion born in 1779, the founder of the Favory line, which has achieved outstanding results in modern carriage driving, came from Kladruby in the Czech Republic. Together with Favory, the Lipizzaner stud also purchased Maestoso, born in Spain in 1773 and already 10 years old at the time. In 1803, the 13-year-old bay Neapolitano from Naples was purchased for the stud farm. By the early 1800s, even the Lipizzaner stud farm could not stay away from the Arabian breed, which had been outstanding in breeding for centuries. Thus, in 1816, Siglavy, an Arabian stallion bred by Prince Schwarzenberg in 1811, but descended from original Arabian ancestors, arrived as the founder of the sixth original Lipizzaner line.
During the historical turmoil of the centuries, the stud farm was not always able to continue its desirable, peaceful existence. During various wars, fear of falling into foreign hands forced the stud farm to flee several times. On several occasions, they were evacuated to Hungary for shorter or longer periods of time. For example, between 1809 and 1815, the stud farm lived in Mezőhegyes for six years. During the retreat of 1815, the extra variants that existed in the herd remained in Mezőhegyes. The seventh line appeared during the Mezőhegyes period of the Lipizzaner horse, from the offspring of Incitato, who was born in the Transylvanian stud farm of Count Pál Bethlen.
The eighth line, Tulipán, was born from an original Spanish mare on the Jankovich-Bésán family's estate in Terezovac, Croatia-Slavonia. The Tulipáns were mainly bred in Croatian and Romanian stud farms, from where their descendants entered the breed.
After the establishment of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1870, the Fogaras stud farm was established in Alsószombatfalva, Transylvania, in 1874, which is still one of the most significant stud farms of this breed today. In preparation for World War I, the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture transferred most of the Fogaras stud's brood stock to the Bábolna Stud in 1912, where, despite the very different environmental conditions, the stock developed very well. Its quality was considered outstanding even compared to other European stud farms. Nevertheless, in the early 1950s, attempts were made to relocate the Lipizzaner stud farm to an environment similar to that of Lipica. Csipkéskút, located on the Bükk Plateau, seemed to be the most suitable place for this purpose. Thus, in 1953, the Lipizzaner horses began to be relocated to the Bükk Mountains, first with the foals, then with the construction of the Szilvásvárad facility in 1954. By 1959, all Lipizzaner mares had been relocated from Bábolna to Szilvásvárad. In the meantime, the mares scattered during World War II from the former distinguished private stud farms (Esterházy in Tata, Biedermann in Mozsgó, and Pallavicini in Pusztaszer) also found a home in the Szilvásvárad stud farm.
