The Lipizzaner Horse: Cultural and Natural Heritage or Free Non-Human SubjectivityLipicanec kot kulturna in naravna dediščina ali svobodna ne-človeška subjektiviteta

This article discusses the Lipizzaner horses, now a part of the natural and cultural heritage of the Slovenian nation, claimed also by the Austrians, and in the past an imperial heritage of the Habsburg Empire. Lipizzaner horses are typically perceived as a national cultural monument (trained stallions) owned by the human community, and not as non-human animals that were, only by way of domestication and (even worse) the way they were raised genetically, destined to serve people, first at a feudal imperial court. Based on the interactions of zoofolkloristics, anthropology and philosophical and legal discourses, this article reflects the role and importance of Lipizzaner horses through folklore and literature, and reconsiders the human/animal relationship by establishing non-hierarchy between the animal and the human on the basis of ecocritical analysis. The focus of the analysis is on folkloristic materials (texts), customs and traditions associated with the horse/human community, as well as the literary works that discuss the Lipizzaner horses.