The White Horses of Vienna

Brno did me in. I can not blog another word about it.  (Oh, alright, maybe I can find a few -->) Speilberk castle is lovely. It's beautifully restored, an invigorating hike up the hill, and there is a museum that has a lovely local art collection and historical displays with English information. If you want to see it, please come to Brno.

Vienna! I love Vienna. Not the same way heartsong way I love Prague, mind you, but Vienna is a vibrant, gorgeous, historical city. Austria is not exactly known for its love of foreigners, but for me, it's all relative. Coming to a place where everything is familiar (versus traveling in Asia, where things tend to be more exotic) is enough for me to feel like I am at home. And, as we rented a spacious apartment in the heart of the sightseeing area, and I brought half of my kitchen supplies with me, it was a lot like being at home.

Since I was playing tour guide for my dad, I did set up a more formal agenda than our crew is used to. Day 1, Spanish Riding School, Day 2 Hofburg Palace, including Butterfly Farm, Day 3 Schonbrunn Palace, including the Zoo. As you can see, I went heavy on the activities that would keep the museum-phobic (moi) entertained.

Additionally, my dad wanted to experience some of the real, live culture available everywhere in Vienna, so I bought him a ticket to hear a string quartet perform at Mozart's house. The kids and I opted out, instead indulging in our brand of culture, watching Shaun the Sheep DVDs on the Big! Screen! Television! in our apartment. Hey, everyone has their own definition of High Brow.

Day 1, The Spanish Riding School. This was a cruel move on my part, as Tom is dramatically allergic to horses, and our past experiences would suggest that spending two hours watching horses indoors would not be in his best interests. However, as a life long horse lover, and someone who has all her life wanted to see the White Horses of Vienna, Tom lost. I brought and applied Benadryl and told him to buck up; there would be something in it for him later (candy, if you are wondering what sorts of things I bribe my children with).

Here is the exterior of the entrance area to the Spanische Hofreitschule. The Winter Riding School is just inside to the left. The stabling area is down the road a piece and we visited that later in the day. The performance horses were on holiday while we were visiting, returning for performances in mid-February. We were there to see the Morning Training to Music, with a Tour of the Stabling Area to follow later in the afternoon.

The riding school was first named during the Austiran Empire in 1572 and is the oldest of its kind in the world.  A wooden riding arena was first commissioned in 1565, but it wasn't until 1729 that Emperor Charles VI commissioned the elaborate white riding hall used today. It is a rather astonishing thing to have in the center of a large metropolitian area, I think. 

The "Spanish Riding School," if you are not up to date on your equine history and were wondering what in the heck a Spanish school was doing in the heart of Austria, was originally named for the Spanish horses that formed one of the bases of the Lippizan breed, which is used exclusively at the school. Today the horses delivered to the Spanish Riding School are bred at the Piber Federal Stud located near the village of Piber.

We arrived about half an hour early, as I was beside myself. No kidding. I have seriously wanted to see these horses since I was ten years old and first read  Marguerite Henry's White Stallion of Lippiza.

We browsed in the gift shop a bit, and were able to peek out the windows and see the horses exercising in their "walker." My photos are, alas, not anything you would actually be discernible as a "horse walker," so I am not even going to bother, but there is a rather largish rectangular area that is set up to allow the horses to be walked for some period of time each day as a warm up to work, as well as a way to stretch their legs. Vienna is lovely, but has a sreious shortage of turn out for the hard working equine.

My photos from this day are quite tragic in that the rule is, you may not take photos inside the Winter Riding School. And so I did not. I took photos of the DVD playing in the waiting area. Weird and tragic, but exactly what a ten-year old horse crazy child would do, n'est–ce pas?

Others, perhaps less rule bound than myself, had no problem snapping away, so we shall swipe their photos from the internet. One good turn deserves another, and all that.

The training sessions were brilliant to watch. Four horses are worked at a time, for 25 minutes each. They were at various stages of learning, from old timer who was getting a refresher on piaffe to a four year old who took advantage of every opportunity to careen around the corners, bolt down the long side and generally cause the sort of ruckus one rather expects from a four year old.

The riders are require to dress formally. As we learned later in the tour of the facility, no one is allowed to enter the Winter Riding Hall without a jacket on. It did look a bit confining to me, but they've been doing it that way for 500 years, so one imagines they've worked out the kinks.

Of the 16 horses we saw work, there were maybe ten riders? I am not quite sure, and there was not a running commentary nor did they were distinguishing numbers on their backs. What was so interesting to me was the absolute precision of the riding by the majority of these riders. They were uniformly light, effective, quiet and utterly straight. Inspiring, I would say, to someone who has never managed more than two of the above at one time on the back of a horse.

Oddly, there was one, who did not seem to fit in. The fellow struck me as "older," as in, certainly not a young Eleve (trainee rider), but he did not ride with the same fluidity as the others. He was bent, twisted, insecure and so obviously out of place with the other riders, that I noticed him immediately in every group. And he did seem to ride in all four groups. Alas, a mystery that we shall never solve.  

While my father and I watched, transfixed, the wee children, unfortunately behaved exactly as four-year old horses are wont to behave. No, wait, that was unfair to Tom, who bucked it up rather bravely, and was let down by his immune system. Hope just got bored. Two hours of watching what all looked pretty much the same to her was past her ability to stay focused.

What a horse allergy looks like. He looked much better after the application of candy.

We left a little bit early. But not too much. And we went back in the afternoon for our scheduled tour of the barns. My father, in a bit of good thinking, though, hit the apothecary and brought back something to help Tom out.

It worked a charm, and the child was much happier. The stable is to the left below. The horses walk across the road each day to enter either the walker area or the Winter Riding Hall.

The stables themselves are gorgeous and quite grand in appearance. Although, if you are the sort who likes to see the turn out area, you will be disappointed. The performance horses do get time off for the summer, as everyone heads to the Summer  Stables in Heldenberg-Wetzdorf-Lower Austria for seven weeks. where they are kept in stalls with paddocks. The horses are not schooled during this period, but instead are hacked in the nearby forest.

The interior reminded me quite a bit of the U.S. Equestrian Team barns in Gladstone. Loyal reader Jen and I spent a good deal of our ill-spent youth romping around those barns causing trouble. No, wait, we were the ones keeping other people out of trouble? I can't even remember, as the sands of time have quite gotten away from me. 

But, this barn has similar brass fittings, dark woods stalls, and large spaces, with lots of fluffy bedding. Straw, of course, for the majority (now that brings back memories - ah, the mushroom men!) Although, the Lippizans are notoriously easy keepers, so the chubbier of the lot are kept on shavings, to discourage them from eating their beds.

The building is quite elaborate, as it was built by the rather showy Hapsburgs. Note the many chimneys. They are fake. Apparently a large number of chimneys gave a building an air of being expensive and important. The Hapsburgs were all over appearance, but did not think that the folks who actually lived in the apartments over the stalls required heat. Alas, these days, people do require heat, so the apartments are not occupied. At least, that is the story we were told during our tour.

And so, our day with the horses ended. Two things are clear. The first is that I must get back to see an actual performance. I will go alone, if I must, because I will certainly not take the children. The second is that I would like an Andalusian, please. I can move back to the US to get one, or perhaps Spain. But I would like my next horse to be a White Horse, please.

Comments

[Rweiant]

the amount of jealousy I have right now is OVERWHELMING.

[Ellen]

They have been there for over 500 years; they will wait for you to get there. ;-)

[Gwynna]

But...but...BUT...was it DURIAN candy???

Bwahahahahahaha!

(note the studious lack of commentary on how.freakin.cool this looks)

[Jen]

You are sooooo lucky. I also, and jealous. When we finally go to Europe, that is the first stop...then I want to head up to the stud..Did you ever read the Dancing White Horses (I think that is the title) My horsey grandmother went and saw them years ago when they traveled to Germany for geneology research with my aunt and uncle - side trip. She was so thrilled to go.

[Debbie Hanson]

Hmmmmm.....the apartments are empty? What a waste....I would love to see inside one of them....yes, I am nosy. Poor Tom, what a trooper. What a cool, cool place!

[citydog]

I spent two weeks in Vienna in the late 80s (I was on break from university in Germany) and went to the morning training sessions almost every day. Some of my best memories.

[Monica]

Your dad is so smart and considerate!