Looking out of the windows of their spacious guest boxes the famous Lipizzans of the SRS in Vienna appeared like having always been part of this scenery. A most appropriate one: On Graciela Bruch’s beautiful Trakehner stud in Sankt Wendel this prestigious and oldest still existing classical riding school in Europe gave its only appearance in Germany in 2011.
The show was part of the “Music festival Saar” which this year had as motto “Servus Austria”. During three evenings a troop of horses and riders from Vienna demonstrated classical dressage at its purest under the roof of a giant tent and in front of packed crowds.
Maybe some might think these small horses, whose old breed was never transformed into a sport horse, are a nice relic of the past. In fact they are in the sense that the stallions of the SRS represent and remind us of dressage practised to conserve classical principles which unfortunately are not always followed by sport with its riders seeking success in competitions.
So watching a display of the SRS is always travelling back to the roots of dressage and not about comparing them with the competition scene.
Sticking to classical principles in dressage while being successful in international dressage are the same time are German B-listed dressage rider Uta Gräf and her Holsteiner stallion Le Noir who appeared in the interlude every evening. She rode a pas de deux with her partner Stefan Schneider who demonstrated the traditional Spanish working dressage "Doma Vaquera" on an attractive grey Lusitano stallion.
The 9 items on the agenda of the SRS were listed as “All movements of the high school dressage” in which two grey and remarkably two bay Lipizzan stallions executed all Grand Prix movements. Commentator Hans-Heinrich Isenbart, the 88-year-old equestrian journalist legend, informed that usually the SRS always has at least one bay representative of the breed as a kind of mascot, but it also brings to mind that the Lipizzan breeding originally had horses in almost all colours.
It’s interesting to note that the one-time-flying-changes shown during this programme were not practised at the SRS from the beginning as for a long time it was not considered a natural movement of the horse. To bring these natural abilities to perfection through years of hard skilful training could also be admired in the airs above the ground. They were shown in hand with one bereiter leading the horse in a lunge line and a second animating the horse with a traditional whity. They horse later also executed them under the saddle in a double bridle. Vienna is well known for the perfection its horses show in these most difficult airs above the ground: the levade, courbette and capriole. In particular one horse delighted everybody with his exceptional high capriole.
Wherever the SRS appears one display is appreciated in particular: The one in long reins. To direct a horse in all the high performance movements simply by walking behind the stallion and only been able giving fine signals with two long reins is remarkable. The reins are attached to a Fullmer snaffle along with a dropped noseband and this is something hard to imagine for many riders. It’s the perfect harmony between a stallion and his rider and also in Sankt Wendel this demonstration did not fail to touch the crowds.
As in Vienna or elsewhere in the world: The grand final of the SRS is always the quadrille. 8 white stallions appeared, lead by director Ernst Bachinger whose son Christian also took part in this quadrille. The stallions part in groups, then came together again in different figures and movements as if done by magic hands. Standing ovations accompanied the riders when they left the tent just to return again to give a lap of honour in walk.
The spectators had not only seen classical dressage in its various forms on and above the ground, but also witnessed a kind of immortal European’s heritage.
by Silke Rottermann for Eurodressage.com
Photos © Birte Ostwald
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