Spanish Riding School - Performances TICKETS Spanish Riding School - Performances Spanische Hofreitschule Wien Spanish Riding School - Performances

The Spanish Riding School of Vienna...
...is the oldest and last Riding School in the world where classic dressage is still practised in its purest form. This Institute was founded in 1572 and its very name gives away the fact that the horses were of Spanish origin.

The Imperial Court Stud was situated near the village of Lipizza and it was this village which gave the race its name.

After the collapse of the Danube Monarchy in 1920 the Austrian Republic became the legal successor and from this time the Lipizzaners have been bred at the federal Stud at Piber in Styria.

The Lipizzaner is regarded as the oldest classic horse race in Europe.

The superb arena - the Winter Riding School in the Vienna Hofburg (Imperial Palace) in which the Riders of the Spanish Riding School train the horses and where they perform was commissioned by Emperor Karl VI. His portrait decorates the white baroque hall built by Josef Emanuel Fischer von Erlach from 1729 to 1735. Since 1920 the presentations of classical dressage have been open to the public.

The tasks of the Spanish Riding School are:

To maintain classic dressage in perfection.
To preserve the Lipizzaner race and to supply stallions which have proved their abilities to the Federal stud in Piber as stud horses.
To present classical dressage to the public.
To represent Austria.

Privatissimum ´Insights into the traditional training methods of the Spanish Riding School´

Senior instructors and instructors use their horses to demonstrate the most striking moments in the schooling of the horses according to classical equestrian instructions methods and present a vivid description and commentary on the schooling of the Lipizzan horses from the young stallion to the school horse. Commentaries on the history and tradition as well as descriptions of the breeding of the Lipizzan horses provide visitors with remakable insight into the ´Secrets of Spanish Riding School´.

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