Spanish Riding School - Check

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Today we finally got to see the famous Lipizzaner horses, well a few of them anyway. Our first stop today was to the Vienna Bag store. Vienna makes colorful, lightweight canvas bags - handmade according to Old Viennese bag making traditions. We got there at 10:58...but they didn't open until 11am. We went to a nearby book store and spent a few minutes in there before coming back to the bag store. It still wasn't open. We walked around the old city center out towards the ring road and walked around there for a while. We figured enough time had passed that it must be open so we went back to the store. It wasn't open...There was now a note on the door saying that he had gone to the post office. It was really funny though because just as we finished reading the note a postman came to the door to deliver some packages and he got very upset when he read the note.

We were getting hungry so we wandered around to find some lunch. Our noses led us to this pizza restaurant that did take-away pizza slices. We looked at the price (3 euro for a slice) that wasn't too bad a price, and then we saw the sie of the slice. It was a quarter of the pizza. We got in the very long line, but it moved quite fast. We then enjoyed a delicious quarter of a pizza on a nearby bench.

We went back to the bag store one last time, and luckily the store owner was there. He showed us the bags and was teling us a little bit about them. Then he modeled them for us! It was really quite funny, we were looking at a nice tan canvas bag with red leather handles and strap. He picked it up and took it outside so we could see it in the sunlight and he jutted his hip out and modeled it for us. They were quite expensive bags but they did look like they were good quality bags. Sydony did break down and buy one.

We then had to dash to make it to the Spanish Riding School for our 2 pm tour. We had some trouble finding the U-bahn station and wasted precious minutes circling around to find it. THen we had to wait a few more minutes for the train to arrive and we ended up getting there not 5 minutes BEFORE 2pm but 5 minutes AFTER. Luckily our tour had not gotten too far and they let us catch up.

We missed the explanation about the Horse walker, it seems though that it is a large enclosed oval with black panels that rotate and it nudges the horses bottom to keep them moving. Every once in a while it will change direction and all of the horses will simultaneously change direction.

We then got to go to the tack room where we got to see the tacks. Each horse has two saddles and two bridles. The training bridle and show bridle are basically the same, the show one is just shinier and more gold and glossy. The saddles however are quite a bit different. The training saddle is black and it has stirrups. The dress saddles are white and made of deer skin. They have no stirrups because it is safer without them because of the famous school jumps they perform. However the outfit that the riders wear, has deer skin on the pants so that the friction between their pants and the saddle is enough to help them guide the horses.

We then got to visit the stables. It was interesting, with the Lipizzaners they are actually not born white, they are born gray or brown and as they get older they turn white. They don’t become white until they are 8-13 years old. The horses spend the first 4 years of their life in the Piber stud farm southwest of Vienna. It is not until they are 4 that they come to the school to be trained. It takes 6-8 years to train them. Every summer they get a break and are taken to the alps to relax and enjoy the summer. One of the reasons they go there is because the terrain is hilly they build their muscles walking up and down.

The stallion all have two names, sadly they don’t get fancy names like Star, Tornado, or Patches, they get their dad’s name and their mom’s name. There are 6 Lipizzaner Stallion bloodlines: Pluto, Conversano, Favory, Maestoso, Neapolitano and Siglavy. They do have a lot more mares and they get swapped around in order to keep the bloodlines from getting to inbred.

We saw the Winter Riding School which is where they practice and shows are held. It was built in 1729 by Emperor Charles VI, his picture hangs in the royal box and the riders still take their hats off to him when they enter the arena.

In order to become a Spanish Riding School Rider you first have to be accepted, they only accept 4-6 rider every other year or as needed. Once accepted they are a student for 2-4 years, the first few years is spent mainly learning how to look after the horses, cleaning the stalls, the horses tacking them up, cooling them down, grooming them etc. They only have an hour of lessons a day. It is not until their third year that they start to dedicate most of their time to riding. In their first years they ride the older experienced horses to get a feel for them, then as the get near the end of their time as a student they ride many different younger horses to get a feel for riding different horses. Once they graduate as a student they become an assistant rider. They then have to train a horse from start to finish. It takes 6-8 years for that and once they have trained a horse and ridden him in the Performance that they become an official Spanish Riding School Rider! There is then a big celebration for them.

Originally the purpose of the riding school was to train young noble men on dressage riding. Noble men went into the Calvary and so addition to learning military riding they were expected to learn dressage since they would be doing ceremonial riding. Mainly because of this the riding school was an all male environment. It wasn’t until 2008 that the first women were accepted into the school. In 2008 and 18 year old from the UK and a 21 year old from Austria joined the school. It usually takes 12 years or so before a rider becomes an official Spanish Riding School Rider so we will have to wait a while before we actually see them in the performances!

It was a fascinating tour, it would have been nice to actually see the animals in action though. At the end of the tour our guide mentioned that they bring the mares and foal out at 5pm and we could come back to watch/pet them. We wandered around near the school, shopping, and went back at 5pm.

They horses are so beautiful. We watched them for a while, they mares were mostly just interested in eating the grass. Every once in a while though one of them would move and spook the others. It was funny, one of the mares had her back to me and decided to pee, then another horse spooked her and her pee just shot out, it landed just in front of the railing. If she had been standing any closer to me I would have gotten wet.

We finally made our way back to the apartment and after dropping off purchases and having a quick bathroom break we went to an all you can eat chinese buffet. It was really good! I think I ate a bit too much though, I am really stuffed.

Tomorrow we are off to Salzburg!

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Photos

Vienna
A sculpture of old Vienna.

Vienna 2
Lovely roses with some statue in the background. Vienna had a lot of statues.

VIenna Bag Store
It was actually a very small store, I was surprised at the size.

Vienna Bag Store 2
An example of a canvas bag.

Vienna Bag store 3
This was a special motif that they had on some of the bags. I didn't quite get what the store owner said it was but I think it is supposed to be a drawing that shows how Vienna was founded and it won a contest or something. It is hard when the only speak a little bit of English and you only speak a little bit of German.

Pizza
The huge slice of pizza that we got for lunch!

Spanish Riding School
The courtyard. The green area is where the mares and the foals came out. There is a kitty in the photo, they do have a few barn cats that to live in the stables.

Spanish Riding School 2
The tack room. Our guide showing us the different saddles.

Spanish Riding School 3
The black saddles are the training ones and the white are the performance ones. Each horse gets one saddle, they are good for the lifetime of the horse. They do have to be adjusted every couple of years though since the horses back changes as muscles develop.

Spanish Riding School 4
The practice bridles.

Spanish Riding School 5
Our guide explaining about the dressage bridle. It had two bits. It means that the rider has more control. However 2 bits means 2 sets of reins. They hold three reins in their left hand and one in the right. (Unless they are left handed and then it is the opposite).

Spanish Riding School 6
The solarium inside the stables. They use red lights and it is to help the animals relax.

Winter Riding School
This is the winter riding school and where they perform. Except in the summer when they are on holiday.

Cake
Yes this is a cake, made to look like a dress!

Lipizzaner Horses
There were six mares and six foals that came out to graze.

Lipizzaner Horses 2
The mares were mostly interested in eating the grass.

Lipizzaner Horses 3
The young ones had a bit more energy and were frolicking and also cleaning each other.

Lipizzaner Horses 4
They were very lovely. I did get to, briefly, pet one.