26 SIDELINES JUNE 2014
FORHORSEPEOPLE • ABOUTHORSEPEOPLE
What’s InAName?
Why call it the Spanish Riding School when it’s located in
Vienna, Austria? The school was named for the Spanish horses
that were used in forming one of the bases of the Lipizzan breed,
which is the exclusive breed used at the school. Lipizza, now
called Lipica, was one of the original studs used to develop the
breed.
Located near Trieste inmodern Slovenia, it’s from this Lipizza
stud that the Lipizzan breed was named. Today, 72 stallions
resideat the school. Thehorsesarebrednear the villageof Piber
at the Piber Federal Stud. The Habsburg Monarchy named the
school in 1565, and the beautiful riding hall was commissioned in
1729by theEmperorCharlesVI. Aportrait of CharlesVI hangs in
theperformancehall, andwithout fail, every time ridersenter, they
pay honor with a salute to this painting.
Thewhite ridinghall is open to thepublic towatch the stallions’
training and performances. Our group was ushered into the
stables, where we visited the horses, master saddler, grooms,
tack rooms and the upstairs former living quarters where we all
received our certificates in a graduation ceremony.
Of the 20 riders, one assistant rider and three eleves are
women. An eleve is a rider who’s been admitted (from hundreds
of applicants) to the school for a three-year training and vetting
period,whichconcludeswithacceptance (ornot) into theschoolas
anassistant rider. Inaddition to these four, theschool’smanaging
director isalsoawoman. The ridersaregiven titlesbasedon their
experience: first chief rider (Wolfgang Eder), chief rider (Andreas
Hausberger), riders (12), assistant riders (2) andeleves (4).
SRS riders learn to develop that elusive harmony with the
horse that weall strive for througha combinationof disciplineand
training. The training evolved to today’s level much in the same
way any art form does – by borrowing, modifying and adapting
over time from the founding influences of classical training greats
such as Xenophon, Eumenes (Alexander TheGreat’s assistant),
FredericoGrisone (16thcentury)AntoinedePluvinel andfinally to
FrançoisRobichon de laGueriniere.
François’ attention to the horse’s mind, body and spirit was of
greatest importance. He introduced the counter canter, shoulder-
in, (the mother of all two track work) as well as today’s modern
dressage seat. François createdanew saddle specially designed
to fit the needs of this modern/”new” seat. It’s François’ training
methodology that theSpanishRidingSchool adheres to today.
AClassical Seat
Developing that beautiful seat requires many, many hours. In
the first three years of training, aneleve receives a30-minuteno-
reins lunge lesson six days a week – almost 500 hours in the
first threeyearsdedicatedexclusively to rider position! Inaddition,
all the riders including the eleves school between five and nine
stallions a day, six days a week. The training methods are tried
and true. Ridersandeleves trainunder a chief rider or older/more
experienced riders.
Nothing is left to chance. Nothing is rushed. Rewards with
sugar, voice and pats for the horses abound. Special pockets are
evensewn into the insidebackflapsof rider coatssosugar canbe
rewarded within the required four seconds tomake it meaningful
to the horse. The stallions and riders are proud, confident, happy
andwilling.
Myexperience taughtme that thegoal of classical trainingof the
horse is to teach themhow touse their entiremusculature through
tried-and-truegymnasticmovements, introducedat specific times
withproper useof equipment and rewards. I learned that thegoal
for the classically trained rider is to develop a proper seat that
allows the horse to execute the most difficult movements with
ease, balance, lightness and confidence. My takeaway is that
only through proper development of the two can true harmony
andmastery be achieved.
The lasting impact of thisexperiencehasbeen inspiration! I saw
the riders and stallions implementing deep practice, as described
by authors in The Talent Code, Outliers, Mastery, The Rise of
Superman and the like. I learned that nothing can be rushed and
there are no shortcuts. I understand the importance of classical
riding theory education, having had a taste of it myself. It was
wonderful to see stallions that are so sweet and kind, with respect
and genuine fondness for their riders. The samewas true for the
riders toward their horses.Myexperienceaffirmed that wehavea
responsibility to our horses that, if donewell, our partnershipwith
Suzie takes a lunge lesson.
The ceilings are so high in theVienna tack room, a specially
designed saddle fork is used to retrieve the highest saddle .
