What is a Lipizzaner Horse? Significance in Beyonce's country persona explored

Beyonce’s eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter, was released on March 29, 2024. However, after 9 months, the album has started trending again. It is because of the horse that's used on the cover image of the album. Netizens allegedly think this particular horse species is significant to the singer’s album.

Talking about the album, BBC’s March 28 report initially stated that the album cover shows Beyonce riding side-saddle on a horse identified as a Lipizzaner.

Lipizzaners have dark eyes, black skin, and, as adults, a coat of white hair. The coat is pigmented at birth, mostly with a black or gray color, and gets whiter every year as the graying process progresses. The same outlet claimed this might be a commentary on the alleged gradual whitewashing of country music.

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Beyonce’s use of Lipizzaner Horse for her Cowboy Carter album gave birth to certain theories regarding its significance

Beyonce used the horse to send a message (Image via Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

The coat of the Lipizzans horse is typically gray, powerful, slow to mature, and long-lived. Most Lipizzans are gray, except for the uncommon solid-colored horse, which is either bay or black. They have dark eyes, black skin, and, as adults, a coat of white hair, just like all gray horses.

Gray horses, like Lipizzans, have a pigmented coat at birth. Typically, Lipizzan foals are bay or black, but as they grow older, they get lighter. The process is finished between the ages of 6 and 10.

Meanwhile, once the horse appeared on the cover of Cowboy Carter, it piqued the interest of the netizens. Beyonce, dressed in red, white, and blue leather, is shown sitting side-saddle on the white horse on the cover of the album. She is also seen holding the American flag in one hand and the horse's reins in the other.

However, as per Vox’s April 7 report, considering the album's themes and its alleged reference to Linda Martell, the first Black woman country performer to sing solo at the Grand Ole Opry, the kind of horse Beyonce has chosen is seemingly appropriate.

Additionally, the same outlet suggested that the title Cowboy Carter allegedly references the whitewashed work of Black musicians throughout country music's history. One of the biggest performers in the nation, the Carter Family, drew inspiration from Black musician Lesley Riddle to create their unique style.

The media outlet again stated that in addition to teaching them his avant-garde guitar picking technique, Riddle gained the Carters access to Black establishments, such as churches. He did that to assist them in compiling Black tunes that later served as the foundation for the white country songbook.

A history lesson about the Black musicians who shaped country music and whose contributions were quickly erased can be reportedly found in Cowboy Carter. Therefore, it seems apt that Beyonce would ride a horse that was originally black but is now regarded as white.

On the other hand, as the same BBC report went viral, internet users started theorizing that Lipizzaner’s presence on the cover of Cowboy Carter suggests that Beyonce is alleging the same. An X user visited the platform on March 22, 2024, to suggest the same. They said:

“The Lipizzaner Stallion are birthed in the color black but due to genetic mutation, they experience a loss of pigmentation and turn white. Almost like what happened to Country music.”

After nine months, the theory went viral as another fan made a similar claim on the platform on December 26 and wrote:

“Hold up… so Not only was this a nod to the Black Rodeo circuit… but the breed of horse they are on is called a Lipizzaner. They start out BLACK when they are born & turn WHITE as they get older. Just like COUNTRY MUSIC, Rock, & everything else stolen from black folks. #Beyonce.”

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Nevertheless, these are all speculations and theories, and Beyonce hasn’t said anything about them yet.