A trot around Vienna’s famous Spanish Riding School

Discover Animals’ Geoff Moore visited the world-famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna for our latest short film.

He talks to guide Magdalena Gries about how she looks after the stunning white Lipzanner horses, their training regime, how the grooms and riders play their part, and what happens to the many tonnes of horse manure produced each week! The horses start off black as foals and lose their dark coats as they mature. However, the riding school keeps one older black horse in the stables for good luck.

The Spanish Riding School in Vienna has practiced for more than 450 years and continues to cultivate classical equitation in the Renaissance tradition of the Haute Ecole – which features on UNESCO’s List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, celebrating a practice, representation, expression, knowledge or skill considered to be key to a place’s cultural heritage.

Also part of Vienna’s horse-pulling power are the ‘Fiakers’ (below), which were the way that the Viennese travelled around the city before cars. These charming carriages made good use of the wide ‘Ring Strasse’ to transport passengers around the city.Today it is the super public transport that does that. Now the fully integrated trams, buses and underground or UBahn will whisk you around the city.

Geoff stayed at the nearby Hotel Imperial (below), which 150 years ago was a palace; now it is the leading hotel within the city. The hotel lobby area was at one time where the horse-drawn carriages would drop off the likes of Emperor Franz Joseph who would call in to meet other important guests who were staying in Vienna. During its time, the five-star hotel has hosted nearly all the world’s royalty, heads of state, politicians, film stars and pop singers. It is adjacent to the Musikverein concert hall where Vienna’s New Year’s Day concert is transmitted around the world on both TV and radio.

There are a number of options for tours at the Spanish Riding school as well as attending performances and watching training; up to date prices and times can be found here.

For more on the Hotel Imperial, click here.

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