I don’t disagree, but the reality is that the people who have “skin in the game” aren’t all that interested in the preservation of the program and the institution. We dressage people can gnash our teeth about it and lecture them about what they should value and pay for, sure. It will never be a moneymaker because horses. It has to be subsidized. That means making the case for its value and cultivating political support. That has not happened and is the institutional failure that all the rest of the problems have flown from.
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I think you’d be surprised at how many top riders get support and knowledge from various SRS riders/former riders. The SRS is not insular in that their riders and teachers are also out in ‘the real world’ during and after their SRS tenure helping with many aspects of training. Are they necessarily listed as “the trainer” of particular riders, not always. However, many riders get help with in-hand work and the Ps from SRS people or people who have been directly influenced by SRS people, because they are recognized as top notch with the years of training on the higher level movements.
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Christine Stuckelberger and George Wahl for one.
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Signed!
(already 8K+ signatures!)
& Shared.
What a tragic loss to Austria if this doesn’t change things.
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I have clinic’s with Arthur Kottas where all we did was in-hand and I learned more about how my horse used his body than a year riding him.
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Very true. One has competition as a goal. The other has exhibition and maintenance of equestrian tradition as a goal.
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Signing a petition is one thing. Donating (significant) money to support the institution is entirely another. I doubt very much that the Austrian government is going to hugely swayed by the opinions of a bunch of Americans who aren’t putting their money where their mouths are.
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Yeah… And the 4-Star hotel I worked for did not allow women to wear pants until 1998.
Some “traditions” die hard, but they do die.
SRS has now admitted women, as has the school in Jerez Spain.
It’s still a loss to Austria if this school goes the way of Disneyland.
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Austria should have the wherewithal to support the school.
Hardly a poor 3rd World economy there.
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SRS is more than riding. It is also breeding, for talent and temperament. What we’d call ‘vertically integrated’ in the business world. In that they are unique as far as I know.
I have long thought that what they need is an endowment to support them as Austria has cut them loose, and as others have said, it is hard to make money from horses.
I would contribute but am not volunteering to lead the charge
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This is sad. If they are having a problem profiting, then perhaps opening up the vast trove of knowledge they can offer to equestrian consumers would be a better way to make money than riding horses into the ground. I’d pay serious money to audit a clinic there on my next trip through Vienna. Is that something they have ever done or do? I’m not as interested in the performance as I am in the training.
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True. The SRS is as much a part of the Austrian history/heritage as are the Schonnbrunn or Hofburg palaces are.
The SRS institution is not so much brick/stone/mortar as it is a repository of knowledge that is held in the oral tradition and is not easily replicated. I read somewhere that the SRS did not write training books because each horse was an individual and you needed to deal with the animal in front of you that day.
I am sure that maintenance on the old Hapsburg palaces is a non-trivial expense.
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Wasn’t Franz Rochowski( not spelled right) one of Carl Hester’s mentors and Carl being Charlotte’s mentor? None of the Spanish Riding School’s knowledge is in written form and the legacy and knowledge is handed down orally. Over a long training period. Horrible for that knowledge to be lost.
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Yes. But if that is the case, then it seems like they need to monetize that knowledge in a way that fits in with this century if they want to survive. It’s so inaccessible isn’t it?
They seem so behind the times from a business standpoint—the horses shouldn’t have to suffer for it. Outreach and education should probably be their focus, not performances and entertainment. Zoos seem to manage on that model.
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Franz Rochowansky…Former Chief Rider at SRS. He also trained Vicki Thompson, Elizabeth Madlener, Pam Goodrich, Conrad Schumacher.
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I don’t disagree…but what you say is HOW to do “it”…eg, tactical execution of a mission.
The question is whether desire to keep the knowledge as part of Austrian Heritage (business strategy) needs to be recognized first.
You’re right, I am coming from a place that automatically places value on the SRS — I’m not sure most people are. Another failure on the outreach front.
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If you go to their website they have a gift shop. Many of the items are out of stock.
The gloves look Beautiful but I’m not sure I would pay 90 euros for a polypropylene halter
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“None” is probably too strong a word. Alois Podhajsky’s “The Complete Training of Horse and Rider” surely contains some of it.
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I disagree
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