Desperate Dressage:: Wisteria Lane Leads Nicollette Sheridan to Vienna and the Spanish Riding School

by Fran Jurga | 29 March 2009 | The Jurga Report

The Lipizzaners of the Spanish Riding School are used to visitors. And they're used to celebrities, dignitaries, royal monarchs and even jet-lagged journalists like me. They pretty much take it all in stride.

A special guest recently at the stables in Vienna was Hollywood actress Nicollette Sheridan, star of the Desperate Housewives television show here in America. Ms. Sheridan was in town for a celebrity appearance at the Vienna Opera Ball.

A keen rider and horse-lover herself, she insisted on spoiling some of the School stallions with carrots and sugar lumps.

Our friends at the Spanish Riding School write in their understated way, "Although she would have loved to be able to ride and was beautifully turned out in pure white breeches, boots and waistcoat, this was one wish that could not be fulfilled."

Welcome to the club, Nicollette! One thing you learn in the first five minutes at the Spanish Riding School: The Lipizzaners are the celebrities, no matter who you are!

Aficionados of the Spanish Riding School might be interested to go back in time and read my Equisearch blog about the SRS 2005 Tour of the USA. Those were the days...

Photo provided by the Spanish Riding School: thank you! The stallion seems a bit wary of that coat! Click here for the tabloid version.

Sign of the Times: Saratoga Teen Lives Out Every Girl's Dream as Rider Trainee at Vienna's Spanish Riding School

The four new rider trainees at Vienna's tradition-embedded Spanish Riding School include for the first time two women, a British-born teenager who has been living in the USA and a native Austrian. (Spanish Riding School photo)

You read that headline correctly: "Girl".

A 17-year-old Saratoga, New York teen has broken through several traditional barriers this month. Sojourner Morrell, who is technically a British citizen, survived the month-long try-out phase as a stableworker and an entrance selection process to become one of four initiate riding student "Eleves" at the Spanish Riding School of Vienna.

Even if an Éleve is given the unique opportunity of training with the Spanish Riding School, this does not necessarily mean that he or she will automatically eventually retire as a Chief Rider. Each prospective Rider is faced with challenging requirements and must meet high personal qualifications. It takes approximately four to six years – depending on the individual’s talent and personal commitment – for an Éleve to progress to the position of an Assistant Rider.

The Éleves are the equivalent to apprentices at the Spanish Riding School. Until now young boys aged between 15 and 16 years were admitted. However, this age limit has been raised so that ideally young people wanting to join the Spanish Riding School have already either completed their school education or an apprenticeship. Sojourner is 17; the female Austrian Eleve is 22.

There’s more to the ideal Rider than just a love for horses and an equestrian talent. The baroque Lipizzaner, bred specifically for the High School of Classical Horsemanship, is smaller and more compact than the average dressage horse today. The rider should match the horse in his or her proportions.

If age and personal requirements fit, it is now a question of an Eleve completing the first four years of the equestrian training under the guidance of an experienced Rider and learning all about the Spanish Riding School. Working in the stables is just as important as learning to care for the saddles, bridles and all the other equipment.

After those first four years the Éleve is officially evaluated by the Director of the Riding School, Ernst Bachinger, and the Riders with regard to his or her skills and also in his or her own ability to pass on to others what has been taught. A positive evaluation will enable the promotion to the position of an Assistant Rider.

An Assistant Rider is expected to train a young stallion independently and present him in a public performance. This phase also takes at least four years and sees the Assistant Rider working closely with the experienced Chief Riders. This is the time the acquired equestrian skills should be developed into an art form and be passed on to a horse. This project demands a great deal of discipline and sensitivity from a young person. Taking into account all these stages, it takes about 8 to 10 years to progress from an Éleve to a Rider.

The tradition of training the art of riding at the Spanish Riding School will remain unchanged: the experienced Chief Rider passing on traditions and expertise to the next generation. An excellent Rider is not only able to train horses but must also be a good teacher. This way the quality of training has been upheld for centuries.

For the first time since the end of the Austrian monarchy, women will sit astride the Lipizzaners of the Spanish Riding School. In the 18th century, during Empress Maria Theresia’s reign it was perfectly normal for the ladies of the royal court to take part in the famous carrousels and equestrian feasts which took place in the Winter Riding School. Allegedly Empress Elisabeth, a superb rider, used the world’s most beautiful riding hall so she could enjoy her personal training sessions beneath the sparkling chandeliers.

The Spanish Riding School has been planning a tour of several US cities for 2010.

Thanks to the Spanish Riding School for explanations of the road that lies ahead for the Eleves.

Siglavy Mantua I, Spanish Riding School's Master of the Piaffe, Has Died

Siglavy Mantua I ridden by Oberbereiter Krzisch in the solo ride. Normally, the Lipizzans were equipped with double bridles but this special ride was communicated through a single Weymouth bit. Herr Krzisch rode with one hand and held a special sapling switch vertical in his right hand. (Spanish Riding School photo)

We sat there, transfixed in our stadium seats. You could hear every note of the Viennese march floating from the speakers in the huge Staples Center arena in Washington, DC. All eyes were on the spotlight, on the man and horse who piaffed to the music as one.

For many people, fairy tales piaffed to life before their very eyes when they attended a live performance of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna’s famous Lipizzaner stallions. They were entranced by the quadrille, mesmerized by the pas de deux, and awed by the airs above the ground.

But one performance in the show was different. When lights went down and the single spotlight followed that magical horse and rider around the arena, we knew we were seeing something special. The motionless rider rode with one hand, holding a wooden switch upright in his free hand. Without any sign of aids, the two piaffed, passaged and literally danced in the spotlight, like a music box come to life.

What people didn’t realize is just how special that treat was. There was no way that the public could know that for more than 20 years, it was always the same horse who danced in that spotlight. After all, the Lipizzaners look almost identical.

But only one horse and rider could and did perform the famous solo ride. Siglavy Mantua I and Oberbereiter Klaus Krzisch were a team admired around the world, yet few people knew their names.

I am sad to announce to his admirers around the world that Siglavy Mantua I died in August at the Spanish Riding School’s Piber stud farm in southern Austria, only a year after his official retirement from the performing troupe in Vienna. He was 28 years old.

Siglavy Mantua I lived his life within the high walls of the Vienna stables, and was ridden almost exclusively by Krzisch. When he arrived there in the winter of 1982, he was often overlooked because of his long back, and less-than-elegant carriage. With Krzisch’s dedicated training, the horse’s native intelligence and willingness helped him overcome his athletic shortcomings and he blossomed into a horse recognized for his ability to perform collected movements.

While the School’s 2005 USA tour was to have been Siglavy Mantua I’s farewell, he continued to be sound and interested in performing, so he remained in Vienna until last year, when he was sent to Piber for retirement and to breed mares. This summer, his health deteriorated and the decision was made to end his life with dignity and peace.

I remember being in a mini-press conference at the School when one of the journalists asked bluntly if the riders had a favorite horse among the many stallions. The director looked a little uncomfortable and exchanged glances with Oberbereiter Riegel. Then he shrugged and said, "Well, of course, Siglavy Mantua I is very special."

And he smiled as he said the horse's name. We all dutifully scribbled the horse's name in our notebooks. Later, I went to look for him in the stable and the head groom told stories about the aged stallion's brilliant personality and sense of humor. Mantua was certainly a favorite, at all levels, in public and in private, out of a cohesive unit of identical horses.

His 2002 son, Siglavy Malina II, is now with the School in Vienna, and every colt of his nice crop of 2008 foals knows they have big hoofprints to fill, as the traditions and performances and romance of the Spanish Riding School continue to enchant horse lovers.

The legend of Siglavy Mantua I will live in the memories of thousands of devotees of one of the world’s oldest equestrian traditions. His soundness and his longevity will continue to impress everyone in the horse health world. He delighted us all.

Note: Thank you to Oberbereiter Andreas Hausberger for sharing the news of Mantua's death.

This is a rare private moment at the 2005 Washington performance of the Spanish Riding School. In the afternoon, Oberbereiter Krzisch arrived at the makeshift stables in the bowels of the Staples Center to check on his horse and I happened to be standing outside the stall. (Mantua had the first stall, of course.) The photo above this one is the ornate sign above his stall in Vienna. I wonder who lives in that stall now! (Fran Jurga photo)