Big Easter adventure for Lipizzaners

It was a day for chickens, bunnies and beautiful horses as the South African Lipizzaners put on a special performance on 21 April.

The organisation hosts performances every Sunday where the Lipizzaner stallions put on a show for members of the public. As this performance fell on Easter Sunday, organisers decided to incorporate this theme into their performance. The Easter show told the story of Big Bunny and Little Chicken, who are given a beautiful horse to help them as they hide Easter eggs for their friends. After they accidentally lose the horse, the pair search for him everywhere, meeting a number of other characters along the way and watching the moves of the talented white stallions.

After the hour-long performance, attendees were invited to visit the craft stalls which had been set up on the grounds and allowed children to use recycled materials to create little keepsakes to take home with them.

“I’m actually visiting from Durban,” said Liz Craig, who attended the day with her daughter Gillian Brown. “I’m so excited to see the performance – I actually heard the Lipizzaner organisation being discussed on the radio before I came up here!”

Organisers of the event were pleased with the turnout and how the performance was received.

“We definitely stretched ourselves for this performance,” explained Camilla Lamb, a junior rider with the South African Lipizzaners and in charge of the organisation’s social media. “It took about two days to desensitise the stallions to the chicken costume.

“Although during Easter weekend a lot of people in Johannesburg go away, there is always a lot to do here in the city. We wanted to make a performance for families and young children to enjoy during the holidays. It was nice to see so many members of the public here [for the performance] and children could take home the items they made at the craft stall and workshop that we set up.”

Lamb added that her organisation works hard to be a welcoming destination for families and children, and hopes that more families will visit in the future.

“We have some exciting events coming up: On 12 May we’ll be having a Mother’s Day performance featuring music from the Mamma Mia film, 19 May we’ll be hosting a performance in partnership with Lab Rescue South Africa, and on 17 June we’ll be hosting Father’s Day performance as well.” Performances are held every Sunday from 10:30am onwards.

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