Legendary horses gallop into Baker

People performing on horseback aren’t exactly a new subject for folks who’ve visited the Baker Arena before. But the horses and riders coming Tuesday evening are in a whole different league — and have their origins on an entirely different continent — than the rodeos many have enjoyed in the past.

The Lipizzaner Stallions trace their lineage back more than 2,000 years to ancient Carthage and, later, to the famed Andalusian horses of ancient Spain. When Archduke Maximilian, and later Archduke Karl, of Austria started breeding their descendants in the hills above Lipizza in the 1500s, a new breed of horse — and a legend — was born.

The elegant pure white Lipizzaner and Andalusian horses are the aristocrats of the equine world. While the males — the stallions — were bred as battle horses for the aristocracy, the females — the mares— became the preferred horses to draw the carriages of the nobility.

Today the mares continue to bare the horses that thrill audiences around the world, while the stallions perform acts of dressage that exhibit the classical school of equestrian art refined at Vienna’s world-famous Spanish Riding School and display the mystical bond between these highly intelligent horses and their human partners.

Some of the stunts the audience will enjoy are interpretations of centuries-old battle maneuvers that both terrified foot soldier enemies and protected the horses’ noble riders. The performance, set to a stirring score of classical and contemporary music, will include the famous “Airs Above the Ground,” in which the horses seem to take flight in a leap called a “capriole,” which takes many years of training to perfect.

With demonstrations of the horses’ discipline, balance, strength and skill, the Baker performance will be a sort of an equine Cirque du Soleil that will thrill any audience member, young or old, and whether they know anything about horses or not.

The north county, and indeed, the entire region, has Bill Barnhill, a charter member and two-time past president of the Crestview Rotary Club, to thank for the extraordinary opportunity presented by the World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions’ appearance in Baker during its 41st World Tour.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a couple years,” said Barnhill, who is on the Baker Arena board of directors. He noticed that the horses’ previous winter tours had taken them to Pensacola and Dothan, Ala., but passed right over the Crestview area. “I asked them and they said yes,” Barnhill said.

The Lipizzaners’ appearance in Baker is sponsored by the local Rotary Club, which will benefit from the event by selling concessions and receiving a percentage of the admission. Barnhill said the money will benefit Rotary International’s many worthy events and causes, including healthcare, scholarship and combating childhood hunger.

Mr. Ed may talk, the Budweiser Clydesdales might have snowball fights, but no other horses on the planet possess the grace, elegance and artistry that will wow audiences in the Baker Arena Tuesday evening.

Ticket Information

Tuesday, Jan. 19, 7:30 p.m., Baker Arena, Hwy. 4 in Baker. Tickets are $22.50 (adult) and $20.50 (children 12 and under and seniors 60+) and are available at Ace Hardware in Crestview, at www.tickets.com, or charge by phone at (800) 882-8258.