66 out of 300 stolen Croatian Lipizzan

Horses returned home from Serbia

The returned soul of Lipik 

     The atmosphere was magical. Lipik was trembeling on its feet during the whole night. The Ergela was crowded with people, the fog has blended people with trees, the city sank into the darkness and the glow from the people's eyes was lightening the road for the horses, a road to their hometown Lipik.

     After 16 long years, Lipik's horses, of lipizzian breed, Croatian national treasure, were brought back to their home made stables of the Ergela Lipik, where they were taken from and stolen at the end of 1991, at the beginning of the attack on Lipik. After several years of negotiations and attempts for horses to be returned to Lipik, in the October 12th, 2007, the horses went from Novi Sad to Croatia. Saturday, October 13th, around two o'clock in the morning, the convoy of five trucks with 66 horses arrived to Donji Čaglić, a little village near the entrance of Lipik. The convoy of  hope with Lipik's horses was comming back the same road they were taken away in 1991. The first who welcomed horses were mr.sc. Milan Božić, the prewar director of  Ergela Lipik, the Minister of agronomy, forests and waters Petar Čobanković, the Lipik's mayor Antun Harmija, Zdravko Ronko, the mayor of Pakrac mr. Davor Huska, the reporters from Pakrački List, the members from comunities of  young people in Lipik. The convoy of hope went trough the streets of Lipik followed with sirens and lights. People went outside their houses in their yards and stood at their windows even though it was 2.21 AM. When the convoy arrived in Lipik people cried watching the comeback of their horses who were emerging out of fog and the darkness that took them and prisoned them in 1991.

     On the Ergela itself, there was a spontanious group of 200 people from Lipik and Pakrac who were up all night waiting for the moment thay thought would never come. It is hard to say who was at the Ergela that night, but every single part of Lipik was. All prayers and hopes came alive that night. On the pathway to Ergela, people were lightening candels for the horses to come to ther home. People were crying because that pride and joy of Lipik was brought back to where it belongs. Straight after arrival of convoy, the horses were shifted to the stables and comming out of the first horse was followed with joy and thrill. Sixty six horses had been brought back to Lipik, but only 8 were the originals kidnapped from the Ergela in 1991, while the rest of them are the children of the kidnapped horses. Among those 66 horses there were two ponies, who aroused a particular joy among the youngest citizens of Lipik, who were also waiting the whole night "the event of the decade". There were the representatives of all institutions in Lipik, comunities, organizations and enterprises, the television entertainer Siniša Cmrk, TV crues, the reporters of the daily and weekly newsletters...

     The members of the comunity "Lijepa naša", Lipik branch, who initiated the story involving the comeback of the horses by organizing the petition on the last streetball in August 18th 2007, which was followed by circuling the petition around the world and gave the result of comming the biggest dream truth, were the most proud.

     After initiating the petition, which was signed by almost 4.000 people by now, including Croatian medias into the story, but also keeping track of the whole situation on the world level, which should be especially thanked to prof. Darko Žubrinić from Zagreb, to our musician Nenad Bach from New York (www.croatia.org), and to proud Croatian diaspora, the question of comeback of the horses to Lipik was actualizing again. Everybody started moving, from national medias and reporters, who were truly, from the first moment, like a concious of the Croatian society and true values, they stood straight behind the attempts of returning the horses. Croatian emigrants were also in it. They felt the puls of their homeland. Proud population of Lipik and whole Croatia who kept dreaming, 16 years of persistance, and the Croatian goverment which stood behind Lipik and did everything neccesary to make this dream come truth. The first honest (emotional and factual) layout about trying to bring the horses back to Lipik, which was published by mr. Sc. Mato Čačić and finally announced the truth and problems that Croatian side went trough during the negotiations involving the return of the horses, stays remembered. It will always stay remembered the hope of all those proud man and womem in Lipik, their prayers and tears in their eyes for every time when they saw their horses on pictures or TV during this 16 years.

     Our defenders will also stay remembered. They defended our Lipik and horses those weeks at the end of 1991, when Lipik was left on it's own. Everyone who lived for Lipik all of  these years and believed that one day it will be better, will stay remembered.

     Now that we know that our horses are sleeping under the same sky as we are, everything seems easier, somehow it is easier to fight, because, if our horses survived waiting for so long to come back, than nobody of us has the right to give up of Lipik. Now that the soul of Lipik has been returned, life showed us that everything gets its meaning eventually, but also that all of the dreams really become truth.