Herrmann's Royal Lipizzan Stallions gives special benefit in Myakka City

As Raven, a dark-haired, 6-week-old Lipizzan filly, rolled in the sand at Herrmann's Royal Lipizzan Stallions farm in Myakka City, the question had to be asked.

Are you sure that's the mother?

Nearby, oh so near, the 12-year-old mom, the very white-haired Belle, was eying the photographer like he was wearing an apple costume.

Gabby Herrmann laughed at the thought the foal and mare didn't go together. It seems Lipizzan foals are born dark bay or black, and by the time they are 7, sport the white hair associated with the breed. Who knew?

Any question of whether this was mom was answered shortly, as Belle closed the gap and was about to take a "don't-mess-with-my-baby" bite out of the photographer, who jumped back away from the fence.

Yup, that's mom.

It was a brief glimpse at the future on the grounds of a 25-acre farm bathed in history, more than 300 years of it that includes the Herrmanns working with Lipizzans, dating back to their native land of Austria.

Gabby runs the place these days, the third generation representing Herrmann's Royal Lipizzan Stallions since the family business moved to the United States, and Myakka City, in 1963. The fourth generation, Gabby's daughter, Rebecca McCullough, is waiting in the wings while the fifth generation, represented by Rebecca's 9-year-old daughter, Sydney, already is riding in the shows.

While Herrmann's Royal Lipizzan Stallions currently offers shows on Thursdays and Fridays at 3 p.m. and Saturdays at 10 a.m., a special show will be presented on Sunday, March 4. It will be the ninth time Gabby Herrmann will host an event to benefit the Myakka City Historic School House.

Those who know Gabby, who has 26 horses at the present, understands she is a working owner, and not someone who serves tea while the ranch hands are mucking the stalls. She made it clear the farm survives on pure passion and she is going to be hands-on so her family really will have something to talk about in another 300 years.

For now, Gabby has three hundred years of horse fodder to share. On March 4, the theme is "A Tribute to Colonel Ottomar Herrmann," her dad, so she will share stories with those who attend about how her granddad, Col. Ottomar Herrmann Sr., and father rode with Gen. George Patton when they saved some of the few remaining Lippizzans from the advancing Russian army following World War II. The Russians were, well, hungry.

It's a love of history that also prompted Gabby to support the renovation of the Myakka City Historic School House over these past nine years. Isn't it a chore to stage a special show with all the other tasks around the farm?

"Here's the thing," Gabby said. "I went to school there in the late '60s. It was a fun time ... a good time. I remember Halloween carnivals there. The community looked forward to functions. People would overflow the auditorium to see their kids on that stage.

"When these historical buildings are torn down, they are gone forever."

She won't let anyone tear down her family business, either. She shared a little history about her dad after his passing in 2004.

"My dad was a visionary, but he had a sense of humor, too. He said our manure pile outside the barn was an expensive piece of land. So he said he wanted to be cremated after his death and then have his ashes shot out of our black-powder canon on to that pile. My cousins said, 'You can't be serious.'"

On Jan. 1, 2005, Ottomar's ashes landed in the pile.

Yes, Gabby is serious.