School for stallions

The Spanish Riding School in Vienna is where centuries-old tradition meets art and science in classical horsemanship, writes …

The Spanish Riding School in Vienna is where centuries-old tradition meets art and science in classical horsemanship, writes Eileen Battersby.

A white horse appears through the double gates at one end of a magnificent formal hall enclosing a sand arena. The ceremonial-like silvery space has a subtle opulence, and is painted in shades of white and grey, decorated with banners of red and white. Horse and rider are followed by another pair, then a third, and so on. Beneath vast shimmering chandeliers, the scene is stately, imperial, evoking all the splendour of a distant epoch.

Years have gone into this, centuries in fact. This is where tradition meets art and science in classical horsemanship at its most sublime. The gates close, recorded music begins and these eight handsome young stallions (three of them are still dark grey, others are yet to lose their dappled markings) move as one around the arena at walk, trot and then in a rhythmic, collected canter, barely disturbing the sand. But first, the riders bow to the portrait of Emperor Charles VI who commissioned the hall and initially summoned the empire's finest riding masters here to Vienna to establish a tradition that has endured through generations.

These six-year-olds are in their first or second year in training at the famous Spanish Riding School. Two of the riders, although wearing the distinctive brown tunic and cocked hat of the riding school, are still students or "élèves", and are yet to graduate to the level of assistant rider, before rising to the rank of rider.

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The white grey Lipizzaner horses in Vienna are part of a story begun more than 400 years ago in the pursuit of excellence. As early as 1540, Maria, one-time Queen of Hungary and Emperor Charles V's sister, introduced Spanish-Neapolitan horses to Vienna. Heavier than Arabs and lighter than the traditional war horse, they became popular. In 1580, a breeding programme was established in Lipizza, now Lipica, a village high over the Adriatic on the limestone-rich Carso plateau.

The plan was to crossbreed Andalusians of Arabian and Berber descent with horses from the Kingdom of Naples and the Italian Polesine regions. Over the centuries major bloodlines emerged. Siglavy, one of the most influential stallions, was a white Arab foaled in 1810. The Lipizzan broodmares also descend from the stallion lines and there are 18 foundation mare families. Foals are branded with symbols representing their sire and their dam's sire.

For the audience seated around the tiered arena, known as the Winter Riding School, it is more than a spectacle; it is living history presenting an insight into life as lived in Imperial Hapsburg Vienna, once heart of an Austro-Hungarian Empire that could claim 54 million people speaking 35 languages.

The spectators, tourists as well as newly arrived diplomats, have gathered from all over the world to watch this morning's performance in the hall in which, during the Congress of Vienna, Beethoven once conducted a performance of his Wellington's Victory Op 91. That was almost 200 years ago. This morning the young stallions complete their programme. The adoring audience is already in love. There really is nothing quite like a beautiful horse, and we have just seen eight in action. The riders remove their hats and make a slow, deep, sweeping bow. In turn, the young horses leave the arena. One of them has had enough of poise and elegance - the sudden applause causes him to dance towards the gate. It is to be expected - he is only beginning.

Next, a quartet of seasoned performers enter to a Strauss polka. These are experienced horses, heavier, more physically developed, and at the point at which youthful beauty has become refined magnificence. They demonstrate the steps and movements of the High School of classical equitation.

Each pair, horse and rider, having ridden in formation, then executes an individual dressage programme of pirouettes and flying changes in canter, before again joining together in a final formation. They bow and leave. Next into the arena, to the familiar sound of Mozart's Symphony No 40, are two pairs. Both of the stallions are from the Conversano line. Dating from 1767, it is another of the six foundation stallion bloodlines from which the Lipizzaner or Lipizzan is descended. The pairs perform a pas de deux. It is perfection. Both horses are outstanding, and one of them, whose action can only be described as silken, is 16, and became blind in one eye three years ago following a mysterious infection. That bad luck has not affected his timing or his generous attitude. A US dressage rider sitting nearby whispers, "this is world class, that horse is a genius". And so he is.

The next seven horses are worked in hand from the ground. Boccherini's minuet begins as several of the horses demonstrate how well they can stand on their hind legs and jump at verbal command without the weight of the rider. This is the first stage to performing such exercises when ridden. The sequence underlines the school's careful, meticulous approach to training; the horses are given time to develop and mature. It explains why they have such long careers. One of the finest performances of the morning is given during the majestic finale, the Schoolquadrille, by a 20-year-old moving to the Blue Danube with the ease of a horse half his age. Another stallion, standing between the pillars executing the piaffe, a cadenced trot moving from one diagonal to another, is 25 - these horses age well.

It is about care and time, privilege and - from the humans - a near-religious devotion. Lipizzaner horses are blessed. Hours earlier we arrived at the Hofburg Palace, across from which, in an arcade-like annex linked to the palace by an archway, is the Stallburg, the old Imperial Stables, which was built in 1572 by Maximilian II and now also houses, in what had once been a court pharmacy ordered by Maria Theresa in 1744, one of the finest specialist museums I have ever visited. A long film is playing in German. Three women are watching intently. One of them announces in a south Dublin accent, "Aren't the horses gorgeous? I'm terrified of horses but they're so beautiful." Her friends agree.

There are several film displays, including one with footage of the US army, under Gen Patton, receiving evacuated horses from the defeated German Wehrmacht. It is possible to peek in at the stables from a viewing monitor in the museum, and also from the passageway outside the Stallburg, and see a few loose boxes. A couple of the familiar beautiful white heads are visible, alert and interested; these are intelligent horses, the Lipizzan is prized for its temperament as well as its talent. Stable hands are already mucking out, barrows are being emptied, pitch forks and sweeping brushes are at work. Like a trolley dispensing morning coffee, hay is being wheeled to each of the stables. Even a yard as elegant as this one depends on the routine chores.

The night before we had met Resi, a 15-year-old mare from the Czech Republic. Her life is very different from that of a Spanish Riding School horse. Resi pulls a carriage throughout Vienna's Innere Stadt, the oldest section of the city. These are the streets once walked by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and Mahler as well as Klimt, Schiele, Musil, Thomas Bernhard, Joseph Roth and Freud. Vienna is the world capital of classical music, but the prevailing sound is of horses' hooves. Two-horse carriages patrol the old city. Long-backed and plain, Resi is a sweet character, if not too keen about being a carriage horse. We keep meeting her around the old city, giving her pats and mints, assuring her that if it were possible we would take her home.

Her young driver, Ondrej, a native of Prague, is fond of Resi, understands her moods, and agrees that life pulling a carriage around a city is not ideal. Inside the Stallburg, a horse's experience is very different; it is one of privilege, activity, stimulation and three daily meals. The horses are distinguished living heritage, not numbers. The stables are bright and airy. Some of the horses have straw bedding, others have wood shavings. The air smells of sweet feed and hay. Some 68 stallions are stabled here and all are content - the mares are at the Piber Federal Stud in the mountains of southern Styria, some two hours away and home to the breeding and young stock since 1920.

There is no tension, no kicking of stable doors in Vienna. These are the elite performers, selected at three-and-a-half. Lipizzaners are Baroque riding horses, bred to meet the requirements of classical equitation. Many great stallions have spent their riding lives here. A roll of honour on the Stallburg wall recalls some of the finest. Each horse has a groom as well as a rider. In most cases when a rider is assigned to a young horse, he remains with that horse throughout its career. As the horses perform into their 20s, it is a long relationship.

As for the riders, this is a priestly vocation begun at the age of 15. The student spends the first four to six years of his training under an experienced rider. During this period the student learns about stable management as well as riding. He is assessed not only as a rider but in his ability to pass on his skills. If considered sufficiently advanced, he will then become an assistant. He then will work for a further four to six years with the chief riders. Meanwhile, each year, between four and six selected young stallions arrive in Vienna from the Federal Stud, and so an art is passed on through the generations as riders and horses are trained to carry on the tradition.

About 90 minutes before the performance, the young stallions are completing their morning exercise in the outdoor arena known as the Summer Riding School. This is in an attractive garden setting, overlooked by old stone buildings, and it is both sheltered and welcoming. Some are still being worked, others are cooling down. Ernst Bachinger, the son of a former rider at the school, is the current head. His deputy, chief rider Johann Riegler, joined the school 38 years ago and is personally in charge of five stallions. A slight, intense man, Riegler has little interest in conversation and, conscious of the performance, less time. His face does soften when asked about particular horses and, looking to the roll of honour, he points to one name. "There, that one, he was a great horse, a wonderful horse, oh and that one there, another great horse, and yes him too. So many great horses."

One of the grooms is slowly brushing one of Riegler's charges. I stand in at the stallion's shoulder. He is compact and not very big, no more than 155cms (15.2hh). Powerful across the chest and hind quarters, he is as calm as his stablemates. Riegler stresses that horses need time. "They must not be rushed. All over the world horses are pushed too fast too young. This is wrong. Here we give them time."

Born at the Piber stud, the future stallions all learn together. They are weaned at six months and spend the next three years running free in mountain pastures at an altitude of 1,500m. The colts are being observed - and assessed - as they enjoy their freedom. The finest are selected not only for performance but also as future stud animals.

Looking at the meticulously groomed horses, which seem content eating hay in a stable in a busy city, it is not that difficult to imagine that, having had an idyllic start in life, they easily adapt to this urban existence. "The horses all have their summer holiday back at the farm."

Back in the grandeur of the Winter Riding School, people take their seats as if at the opera. An authoritative man gestures to his leg cast and orders us to move along. Several of the riders come over to speak with him. Was he kicked by a stallion? "No, the motor bike, it misbehaved." He becomes friendlier and is forthcoming about the horses. Riegler, deliberate and as quiet as a statue, enters the arena on Favory Superba to perform a courbette - the most difficult of movements - a series of forward jumps the horse performs without touching the ground with his forelegs. It is obvious that he is a master horseman and that he and the horse have a bond.

The final sequence, the Schoolquadrille, is a 20-minute horse ballet, performed to the music of Bizet, Chopin and Strauss's Radetzky March. The head of the school, Bachinger, at 65, proves that great horsemen are probably born. Some of the more acrobatic movements are almost circus-like, yet the riding is remarkable and the horses are magnificent. The Austrians are the first to concede that the Germans dominate international showjumping, dressage and eventing, but despite Napoleon and Hitler, the two world wars, and Slovenia now claiming the Lipizzaner horse (because Lipica is in Slovenia), Vienna still has the riding school, and Austria is continuing to breed this horse, the oldest in Europe.

It is evening. The school horses will soon be enjoying supper and are settled for the night. Out in the street, Resi is still at work, waiting for her next fare by the wall of the Hofburg Palace.

VISITING VIENNA

The Citiescapes Insiders Tour to Vienna on Nov 25, with Aer Lingus flights and four nights in the four-star City Central Hotel, includes St Stephen's Cathedral, Graben, Café Demel, Imperial Winter Residence, Albertina Square, State Opera, and the Old Greek Quarter. €479 per person sharing including taxes and charges.

Their Christmas Market Tours to Vienna leave on Dec 2 and 9, with four nights at the City Central Hotel, and walking tours of markets and the above sights. €499 per person sharing.

The Christmas Markets River Cruise on Dec 5 visits Vienna, Bupdapest and Bratislava, for €859 per person sharing.

Tickets for the following can be purchased with these tours:

- The Spanish Riding School: Gala performances on Sunday mornings, training sessions with music from 10am-noon, Tues-Sat. (Closed in January, July and most of August, as well as part of November and December.)

- Various December concerts and operas Including the Vienna Walzer Orchestra at Figaro Hall; the Mozart Ensemble Vienna at Mozart House; Die Fledermaus at Volksoper Vienna; La Traviata at Vienna State Opera; Norma at Vienna State Opera.

- Hofburg and the Sisi Museum The original state apartments of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth.

- Belvedere Palace The collections of the Austrian Gallery Belvedere range from the Middle Ages to contemporary art.

- Leopold Museum With the largest Egon Schiele collection in the world and major works by Gustac Klimt and Oskar Kokoschka.

For more information see www.citiescapes.ie or phone 01-2761222