Lieutenant Colonel Dr Jean Pierre Scherman, Lipizzaner's the Hungarian War Horses in South Africa

LIPIZZANER’S: THE HUNGARIAN WAR HORSES IN SOUTH AFRICA
By Lieutenant Colonel (Dr) Jean-Pierre Scherman,
Centre for Military Studies
Faculty of Military Science (Military Academy)
Stellenbosch University
South Africa

Presented on September 13, 2024

Abstract
The noble Hungarian Jankovics-Bésán family have long being renowned as influential
breeders of Lipizzan horses. During the Second World War in 1944 with the advancing
Red Army bearing down on the family stud farm then located at Oreglak in Hungary,
Count Elemér Janković-Bésán de Pribér-Vuchin, decided to flee the farm, eventually
ending up In South Africa with two stallions and six mares. Here he was to meet, Major
Jerzy (George) Iwanowski, a graduate of the College of Agriculture in Warsaw, who
had emigrated to South Africa from his native Poland. It was this chance meeting
between the Hungarian horse owner and the Polish horse trainer, that set the
foundation, for the South African Lipizzaner program, which has been performing since
1957 according to the high standards as established by the Spanish Riding School
based in Vienna, Austria.
Biography
Dr Jean-Pierre Scherman joined the South African Defence Force in 1993 and after
completing training in the South African Armoured Corps was commissioned as an
officer in 1995. He holds a PhD in Military Science from the Faculty of Military Science,
Stellenbosch University. He currently works as a researcher in the Centre for Military
Studies, Faculty of Military Science (Military Academy), Stellenbosch University,
where he specialises in South African military history.