Visiting the Spanish Riding School of Vienna

THE Spanish Riding School of Vienna has been attracting admiring visitors for centuries.

Even now, 400 years after its foundation, the school continues to draw them in.

Tourists from around the globe queue for a chance to see the famous white horses. Audiences for the morning training, let alone the performances, are routinely full. Some of those watching understand and appreciate the difficult technical manoeuvres the horses and riders execute; others simply admire the elegance with which they do it, and the grandeur of the surroundings.

The Spanish Riding School is something of a misnomer – the institution is as Austrian as it is possible to be and until only a few years ago was part of the country’s government. Its distinctive tradition of “Haute Ecole” classical horsemanship arrived in Vienna in the 16th century, courtesy of the Emperor Ferdinand I.

After childhood in Spain, he was a devotee of the fine Spanish horses which had arrived with the Moors, and brought a string back to Austria him, together with an army of Spanish speaking grooms and riders.

It was this population of Spanish horsemen and horses living in the middle of Vienna that gave the school its name and even after it opened up beyond the Imperial family, the name stuck.

It is still something of a surprise to come across the riding school in central Vienna, although the imperial city is full of grand buildings, the horses and the archaic uniforms of their riders stand out even further from the 21st century tourists and businessmen on the streets.

Soon after he arrived from Spain, the Emperor realised that importing his horses forever would be impractical and he established a stud farm at Lipica – in modern day Slovenia – to supply his riding school.

That stud gave the horses of the Spanish Riding School their name of Lipizzaner, and even though the First World War forced the Imperial stud to move, every single one of the stallions – almost always white – is bred at its modern day stud at Piber in the Austrian hills south of Vienna.

Piber, the “crown jewels” of the Spanish Riding School, represents the height of equine breeding. Each one of the horses has to meet ancient and exacting standards for the Lipizzaner breed. Any that fall short are not bred from in order to maintain the integrity of the distinctively short, strong, but fine-limbed breed.

Every one of the 40 foals born each year can have its parentage traced back to the early 18th century, and all come from one of six stallion lines, and 17 mare families.

Those that are not destined for the Spanish Riding School's performances live out their days in luxury at Piber, train in carriage driving as exhibition horses to show off the breed or, occasionally, are sold off to other breeders and riders.

Since the stud and the riding school became a PLC and were taken out of direct state control, they burden of funding its elaborate operations has fallen on company, and the sale of horses as well as the tours it will launch in London and Sheffield this autumn, are all part of that process.

The riders

After 38 years with the Spanish Riding School, Herwig Radnetter is one of its most experiences horsemen, but even after almost four decades he still feels the anticipation and excitement of being on horseback I front of an excited crowd.

"I don't get nervous anymore, but there is a special feeling just before a performance, and I hope that never goes," he said.

Now the administrative director, as well as a rider and trainer for the horses, he has the unenviable job of juggling the school's riders, each with seven or eight stallions, between the centre in Vienna and their retreat at Heldeberg, where they have a rare and valued chance to rest and train their horses in the countryside.

"Keeping a horse happy in the middle of a city like Vienna is not easy," he said.

This autumn Herwig is one of the 28 riders who will leave Austria for England for their shows in London and Sheffield.

And on the tours – now almost annual for the riding school – that anticipation before a big show is even stronger, he said.

Like him, rider Florian Bacher started life at the riding school as a teenager. Now 28, he's been with the SRS for 15 years. Even though his day job sees him riding and training horses for long hours, he rides in his own time and competes at Grand Prix level in dressage, riding warm bloods rather than the distinctively short, strong and high-stepping Lipizzaner.

He too will be performing in Sheffield and London:

"I've been performing for 12 years now – I still get a bit nervous before show, particularly in front of a big audience. I was only 11 when I decided I wanted to work here. Everyday is different, and everyday we deal with another problem and have to find a new way to train the horses."

Carl Hester

WHEN the Spanish Riding School arrives in Sheffield this autumn, the Austrian and German riders will be joined by a pair of British Olympic equestrian stars.

Carl Hester OBE and Lee Pearson MBE are 2012 gold medallists for the team dressage in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Performing with the SRS, they are lined up to give an insight into what makes their modern sport of dressage. They will demonstrate ridden movements to explain just how a horse can execute the unique movements of dressage, and show just how the modern sport has evolved from classical equestrianism.

TV presenter Nicki Chapman will also be at the shows, hosting the events and narrating the centuries old story of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, while the Lipizzaner stallions display the classical moves such as Capriole, Levade and Courbette.

The Spanish Riding School of Vienna at Sheffield’s Motorpoint Arena featuring Carl Hester and Lee Pearson from Friday, October 31 – Sunday, November 2. Tickets from livenation.co.uk