🇦🇹 The Spanish Riding School

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The Spanish Riding School

The Spanish Riding School

Power, grace and harmony: striding, prancing, galloping and jumping, the magnificent white stallions of the Spanish Riding School cast their spell on their audience. The elegance of the proud horses’ movements, and the unity that reigns between them and their riders (female riders have also been permitted since 2016) are unsurpassable.

The 72 world-famous white stallions are housed in the Stallburg. Part of Vienna’s Hofburg, this is the capital’s oldest and most important Renaissance building. The Stallburg was built between 1565 and 1569 as stables for the Lipizzaner horses of the Habsburgs.

The Spanish Riding School in Vienna is the only institution in the world to keep alive the Renaissance tradition of classical equestrianism. The “High School” has been cultivated, unchanged and without interruption, for more than 450 years. Thanks to its unique nature, the institution has also been represented on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2015.

It wasn’t just the construction of the Stallburg that was commissioned in 1565, however.; that same year, a riding area was set up close by the Hofburg. That area, the Thumblplatz, is considered the foundation stone of the Spanish Riding School. In 1580, Archduke Karl II founded the imperial stud farm nearby the village of Lipica, in what was then Austria, and is today Slovenia. Horses from Spain had already begun to be used there to produce a breed with all the prerequisites needed for such high horsemanship. Only the best horses were brought to the Viennese Court.

To encourage young members of the aristocracy to be trained in horsemanship, Kaiser Karl VI commissioned Josef Emanual Fischer von Erlach to construct the Winter Riding School at the Hofburg in Vienna. Built between 1729 and 1735, it was to be “the world’s most beautiful riding hall”, providing a suitably grand backdrop to the unsurpassable show. It continues to do so to this day, indeed, since the magnificent riding hall has been preserved in its original condition, and is a true jewel of Baroque architecture.

At court, the highest value was always placed upon the “High School” on horseback. Maria Theresia extended the cult further still, with balls, masked balls and riding games being organised at the Winter Riding School during her reign. While similar institutions across Europe that also cultivated classical horsemanship were ending their work in the wake of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, the tradition was continued in Vienna. The institution was even able to survive the two world wars, despite all the adversities. In 1955, the horses, which had been evacuated 10 years previously, were returned to the Hofburg. Their first performance was held on Austria’s first National Holiday, on 26 October that same year.

With their intelligence and lively character, special physique and grace, Lipizzaners are perfectly suited to the High School of horsemanship. Since the beginning of the eighteenth century, not just Spanish, but also Italian, German and Danish stallions with Spanish blood have been used in refining Europe’s oldest pure-bred horses, as well as Oriental horses later on. The Lipizzaners have been bred at the Piber stud farm in Styria since 1920. (This has since become a popular destination for excursions, and is definitely worth a visit.)

Around 40 foals are born at the Piber each year. These are black, brown or grey to begin with; the unmistakable white coat does not come through for between four and ten years. On rare occasions, the coat remains dark. In the summer, the young horses learn their surefootedness and endurance high up in the Alpine meadows, at altitudes of some 1,500 metres above sea level. Between the ages of three and four, the most talented stallions are then taken to the Heldenberg training centre to learn their craft.

The performances of the Spanish Riding School are an unforgettable experience. The graceful stallions enchant their audiences from the moment they appear, in formation, on the riding arena. Accompanied by music from the quills of Mozart, Johann Strauss and others, they perform their complicated gaits and figures from the “school above the ground”. The way the horses execute the piaffe, passage and pirouette, the Traversale, Capriole and Courbette, is fascinating for its perfection. The high point of the display is the School Quadrille, during which eight white stallions dance the longest quadrille in the world, lasting over 20 minutes and offering the audience an unforgettable experience.

On guided tours, you can also take a look behind the scenes, and even view the stables. And if you do come across a brown Lipizzaner while there, don’t be surprised: the custom of having at least one of the magnificent animals with a dark coat in the Stallburg at all times has been around for a very long time, and is said to bring good luck!

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