Spanish Riding School in Vienna

The Spanish riding school as the name connotes, is an age old school for Lipizzaner horses. They go on to showcase their skills in the winter driving school. It is not only an official hub for classical form of dressage, but it is a tourist attraction of Vienna that encourages public performance in combination with public viewing of horses. The presentation has been modelled based on tradition coupled with experience in the domain of classical dressage. All the leading jockeys along with the horses set the stage alight by being part of regular worldwide tours.

The performances in this school took place between the years 1729 to 1735. The hall is flooded with sunlight where a replica of Emperor Charles 4 is placed above the box and opposite to the main entrance. The riders salute this statue before they go on to ride.

The history attached to the Spanish riding school

The school derives its name from the Spanish horses that was the cornerstones for the Lipizzaner breed. In the modern times the horses which are provided to the school are bred in the Piber Federal Stud that is situated in the village of Piber in Austria. Traces of the riding school has been part of the military traditions and in the modern times, Lipizzaners have solely being trained by men, though the riding school goes on to claim that there has been no ban on women training them.

The methods used in the riding school

Now let us go on to understand the methods which are adopted at the Spanish riding school

• Forward riding- this is the stage where the horse are brought to the school as old  4 year old. The main objective at this point of time is to ensure free forward movement in the ordinary. The training modules accepted at this point of time should go on to improve the strength of the animal and he should be trained for the next stage

• Campaign school- after a year of riding the horse becomes ready for the next stage. Though this time frame is being adjusted according to an individual horse. With the experienced riders, the young stallions are placed. This is done so that bad habits are not developed due to bad work practices.

• High school- this happens to be the stage where the driver is going to push the horse to the stage of perfection. This is in terms of contact, straightness along with impulsion. Most of the exercises which are taught in the campaign school are used at this point of time. The idea is to teach them the more difficult exercises.