The Spanish Riding School in Vienna - Ll'ecole D'equitation Espagnole De Vienne

Orac Verlag, 1988. First Edition . Trade Paperback. Very Good. 10" x 12 1/2. 76 Pages of which the first 16 pages are numbered and the following 60 un-numbered pages are beautiful color photographs or drawings and of course are about horses. This book is principally a pictorial presentation of the Spanish Riding School. The origins of the Spanish Riding School are obscure. The first date that has come down to us in this connection does not refer to its foundation. We simply know that in 1572 here - or in the immediate vicinity - a Spanish riding school was either renovated or established. When the Hapsburgs actually began to breed and train horses brought over from Spain remains a matter for conjecture. It is also known that eight years after the first mention of the riding school in Vienna - in 1580 - an imperial court stud was set up in the small Karst village of Lipizza (which lies to the northwest of the harbour city of Trieste in what is nowadays Yugoslavia). The founder was Charles of Inner Austria, Archduke of Carinthia, Styria and Carnolia. The beginnings in Lipizza is today a highly frequented tourist resort. The village lies in a dry region of sparse vegetation. This landscape with its numerous sink holes and steep rock faces was used by the Ancient Romans as a breeding ground for fine horses. Over a thousand years later many noble medieval knights came here to obtain their tourney horses.