The Lipizanner Stallions

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Vienna, Austria

A short cruise from Durstein and we arrived in Vienna. It is a complex city with both old, ornate architecture and new modern buildings.

Mickey and Frank arranged tickets for me to see the Lipizanner Stallions rehearse at the world famous Spanish Riding School. Normally there was plenty of seating but this was a holiday and the arena was packed. Originally we had standing room only (the vantage point from which I took all the pictures) but they shortly opened a seating section at the end of the arena. Micky quickly grabbed us seats and for almost two hours I was entranced by the horsemanship.

We were at the morning training session so we didn’t get to see them training the more advanced horses, but what we saw was amazing. It takes eight years before a stallion is prepared for their first performance. Each rider has eight to ten stallions that they train every day. In our time there we saw them work with three different horses.

The horses are chosen according to their temperament and ability and do only certain tricks. I don’t like the word ‘tricks’ but couldn’t think of another. The horses we saw were being trained all the way from the most basic pacing steps, to controlled trotting, controlled cantering, changing leads, crossing the arena in side steps, and two that were just beginning to learn to rear on their hind legs.

The riders and the senior trainer (who walked around the arena helping with the horses’ performance and talking to the riders about their technique) had infinite patience. The senior trainer carried a long whip, actually more of an extremely long riding crop. When helping a horse he would lightly and gently touch the end of the crop to the leg that needed correcting. With rare exception it was hard to tell the cues the riders were using to lead the horse into the next step. A slight touch on the rein, or gentle knee pressure provided almost imperceptible guidance for the horse’s performance. The bond between horse and rider was very evident. Plus the riders at all times sat perfectly erect in the saddle.

Pictures: The Lipizanners in training.

Reflections: The infinite patience of the trainers is an example I will find easy to emulate but hard to perfect. To think of working eight years with one horse before you see the fruit of your efforts! I think God must really get tired of my impatient rushing helter skelter instead of letting the roots grow deep. I keep pulling up the carrots to see how they’re growing!