Hippogriff Contrary to popular beleif, the hippogriff was never featured ion greek mythology but was instead created by Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto in his epic, "Orlando Furioso" in 1591. This story takes place (mostly) in France thus making the creature technically one belonging to france. The hippogriff is a hybrid of a griffin and a horse based on a phrase simular to "when pigs fly" but applied to a griffin and horse. Because of this it was meant to represent impossibility. The hippogriph could also fly extremely fast.