The Lipizzan Connection is dedicated to promoting the classical Lipizzan horse for breeding and performance.

In 1978, Barbara Gjerset started breeding Lipizzan horses after she had the opportunity to purchase the mare Sagana 67.  Sagana was born at Piber in 1959 and later imported by El Capitan ranch.  She was 20 years old at the time, a lovely mare on her way to Japan after the dissolution of El Capitan ranch, and unloaded from the airplane in the last minute with her 4-year old daughter, Alanya, to remain in the US.  If you visit the Lipizzan Museum, across the street from the Spanish Riding, school, as you go into the museum, to the right you will find her name in a hand written studbook.  The Lipizzan stallion, whose pedigree and all pertinent data is listed on the two displayed pages, is a son of 67 Sagana, Conversano Sagana, who was standing as a breeding stallion in Piber for many years.  While looking for a suitable stallion to breed Sagana to, Barbara located Siglavy Dalea in the San Francisco area.  Eventually Barbara became the owner of Siglavy Dalea, born 1974 at El Capitan, and he became the foundation stallion for the Lipizzan Connection horses. 

At the first Lipizzan show on the West Coast, to date the largest held in the US with 45 entries, judged by Dr.  Jaromir Oulehla , Director of the Spanish Riding School, Dalea was the Champion over 13 other stallions from as far away as Arizona, Washington and Texas.  In third place was his 4-year old son, Siglavy Gaetana XX-II. 

Siglavy Dalea was shown successfully in dressage competitions and his offspring have followed in his footsteps.  During his lifetime he sired 65 foals of which 60 were purebred Lipizzaners.  Siglavy Dalea sired athletic foals with exceptional rideability and confirmation, many of which are the foundation for the Lipizzan Connection breeding program. 

Ingun Littorin has represented the USA at the Annual meetings of the LIF (Lipizzan International Federation since 1996 and in 2007 was elected Vice President of LIF.  Many things of great importance to the Lipizzan breed, have happened in Europe over the last few years as a result of the establishment of the European Union.  The in depth study of the breed, physically and genetically, by representatives of 5 different Universities in Europe, the Copernicus project, was funded by the EU.  This study has been finalized and should be published in the fall of 2007.

The Lipizzan Connection, in conjunction with several other large breeders, were instrumental in founding the American Lipizzan Breeders Association, to improve the quality of the breeding stock in the USA. To this effect, ALBA has set up a program, where an expert from Europe, comes to the USA to inspect Lipizzan breeding horses.  This assists us in staying true to the breeding standard established since centuries in Europe. To date, Dr. Oulehla from the Spanish Riding School has conducted several inspections on both the East and West Coast, and in the future other experts will be invited. The hope is, that by regularly having our horses inspected by European experts, the purity and quality of the Lipizzaners in the USA will remain high. ALBA Published its first Stud Book, listing all the approved horses, with pictures and pedigrees.  The second Stud Book is planned for 2008. If you are interested in this program, please contact us or ALBA direct. The Lipizzan Connection is also supporting, through membership the other two Lipizzan organizations, LANA and USLR. Good progress has been made on combining the three organizations and the Lipizzan Connection fully supports this endeavor.

If you are interested in more information, in regards to issues and/or horses posted on this Web-site, please feel free to contact us at any time.

The Lipizzan Connection has a few select horses for sale ( see the sales list).  Pictures of the sire and dams can be seen on this website. If you are interested in more information about these horses, please feel free to contacts us by phone or e-mail any time.