Slow to mature, the young stallion does not being training until he is nearly four and will not be fully trained until he is eight.

At the age of two, when a Thoroughbred is earning his oats on the race track, a Lipizzan is still spending long carefree days on Piber's Alpine meadows, unfamiliar even with a saddle. On the other hand, at 25, the Lipizzan may still be a star performer the riding hall, and the Thoroughbred be long since dead or retired to pasture. At three and a half years, the young stallion joins the school troupe. His life of freedom is now behind him. Henceforth, his world will consist of the stables along the Reitshulgasse and the riding hall across the street.

While all Lipizzans take part in the "school on the ground," that is, the stylized walks, trots, cantors, pirouettes, piaffe and passage, and lateral movements, only a few especially gifted stallions go on to master the great leaps of the "school above the ground." Of these disciplines, each horse will concentrate upon one particular exercise: ballotade or capriole, courbette or croupade. No one Lipizzan has ever learned to do them all. Colonel Podhajsky was quite certain none ever will. The process of learning in the school is curiously reciprocal. Older horses teach fledgling riders and veteran instructors school the young stallions. A wise and learned Lipizzan can provide a rich education for a novice rider, but he also can - and sometimes does - make a fool of his master. Many a tale is told in the stables of pretentious pupils who took their mount's effortless performance as a tribute to their own equestrian skill and then were dumped onto the sand by an unscheduled capriole or courbette. The bond between the rider and horse, however, is more apt to be close and even uncanny. Each man has four horses that he alone may ride and educate and which, in turn, educates the rider. He lives and works with them, day in and day out, until he knows their moods and idiosyncrasies.

The objective of the Spanish Court Riding School is still to this day to retain and cultivate the art of horsemanship in its highest form of perfection: to "High School" and hand-in-hand with this, to test the Lipizzaner Stallions with regard to endurance, strength, character and temperament, in order, to introduce as sires, only stallions of the very best quality. Besides, the great value of the school is to be accessible to riders in general through giving instruction. The culture of the classical horsemanship is in the hands of instructors and, therefore, particular attention must be devoted to the training of capable school riders and to an adequate number of school horses. Trainers and school horses are at the disposal to give instruction as qualified teachers; here the manifold knowledge and experience bequeathed by the many teachers of this School are of exceptional value. Riders and trainers attending the School are equipped by a thorough schooling to be good horsemen and considerable teachers.

As riders, they should be capable of training their horses up to the highest requirements, whether it is to educate the needful School stallions or to produce horses trained for the increased demands of the modern horse show that finds their culminating point in the Olympic Games. As good instuctors, they must possess the gift of being able to place themselves in the position of rider and horse at any given time - a sense of judgment they develop at the Spanish Court Riding School. This requires an exact study of the anatomy and mental capacities of the stallion: knowing how to make demands of him without provoking opposition of any kind. Here, one learns to judge when one or another of the exercises is unsuccessful due to incapability or unwillingness on the part of the horse. Analysis, of the causes is most important to prevent errors through which the rider, but more so the horse, will suffer. The School stallions retain their youthful pleasure in work and their good will up to their old age, in part, as a result of this psychological training.

The School places great importance to obtaining a "good seat", during this period of instruction, since this is the basis of all types of riding especially for the High School. A supple, easy - yet upright, deep seat prevents the rider from disturbing the horse when he performs difficult exercises; not hindering the horse, in turn, helps the rider. For aesthetic reasons, the executions are intended to reveal riding as an art. Rider and horse must give a harmonious picture of two living creatures blending perfectly into one beautiful work of art. Rider and horse must give a harmonious picture of two living creatures blending perfectly into one beautiful work of art. This seat is obtained by lunging without stirrups and is meant to express the entire self-command of the horseman because, only then will he be able to control his horse, too. It is from the experienced stallion that the young rider learns the correct use of the aids and their effects and becomes acquinted with the details of the speech between rider and horse.

In this way, the Spanish Riding School continues to cultivate tradition when doing the most important - and practical - part of training. The young rider learns from the old School horse and the young stallion from the experienced trainer. Indeed, it goes so far that the trainer almost takes with him the feeling of complete confidence, given by the perfect School horse, in order to attain the same achievements with each remount.

The Lipizzan, a horse that develops later in life, is trained cautiously. During the first years of training, the stallion, after starting off on lunging, is schooled from six to twelve weeks, in straight lines in as natural a position as possible, and made acquainted with the simple aids, furthered and strengthened in his development. Only in the second year should he be made flexible, supple and obedient through riding turns and rounds, changes in steps and paces as well as by stoppping and preparing for his later tasks by systematic gymnastic exercises. After this time, the Lipizzan passes from the Campagne or Lower School, which is similar to the general training of a specially trained horse, to the "High School." The aim of this work is to get the horse into absolute balance and thereby to increase his dexterity - this is particularly visible in the shortened paces, narrow turnings and changing at the canter - to improve his carriage and make his gait more effective. The liveliness of the horse must be seen in his paces, in short steps, ulterior movemnts, small and smallest turnings, for example the Pirouette, Piaffe and Passage.

This page and all contents, are Copyright © 1997, 1998 by The Royal Lipizzaner Stallions Inc., Oviedo, FL, USA.

Royal Lipizzan Stallions keywords:Airs Above the Ground, Andalusian, anniversary world tour, Arabian horses, An Evening in Vienna, Austria, Australia, breeders, breeding farms, canter, Capriole, Carthaginian, calvary mounts, Courbette, Dressage,entertainment, English-style riding, Entertainment Specialists, equestrian,equestrian arts,equine, Europe, events, Excalibur, family entertainment, family four package, fan clubs, fan club newsletters, Gary Lashinsky,General George Patton,girth,giveaways, Grand Quadrille, haute e'cole, horse, horses, horse farms, horse training, horsemanship, horse pendants, jewelry, Las Vegas, Levade, lipizzaner, lipizzans, Lipizzaner breed, Loyal Lipizzan Fan Club, Lipizzan breeders, mares, merchandise, Neapolitan black, Neapolitano, performances, Piber Stud Farm, pirouettes,Pyrennees, riding, saddles, shopping, showtimes, Spain, Spanish Andalusian, Spanish Riding School of Vienna, special edition, stallions, stallion history, stud farms, Symphony in White, The Royal Lipizzaner Stallion Show, tours, t-shirts, trot, UK, United Kingdom, Vienna, Vilanos, Virtual Trade Center, videos, Walt Disney's Miracle of the White Stallions movie, white stallions, Wonderful World of Horses, Wonderful World Of Horses Show, world tours, Florida, Raleigh, North Carolina, Calurso, Conversano II Belladonna, Conversano II Rena, Coral II, Distinguido VI, Favory Nada, Maestoso Elvira, Maestoso II Nautika, Maestoso Rena, Neapolitano Carisima, Pluto II Granella, Pluto Rafia, Siglavy Carina, souvenirs