Now, call me sexist but, I do wonder how many of the SRS issues started when - shock horror - in 2008 a WOMAN was appointed Director to an organisation dominated by men and - even worse - she encouraged women riders to apply for training!!! Apparently, women were not technically banned from participating over the previous 400 year history but it just ended up that way by custom and tradition. Now the majority of applicants are female. It was only in 2016 that a woman rode in the famous display for the first time.
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The United States has a great historical relationship with the SRS…perhaps this is an opportunity to re-engage, this time to the benefit of the both the horses and equestrians…considering Tempel Farms has set a precedent of creating a delightful breeding, training, instruction and performance operation working with SRS horses and riders, just imagine what more could be developed in North America if the equestrian community championed the cause to develop a facility with former SRS masters, riders and horses to preserve, perform and teach the art of haute ecole!
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The latest problem started in 2007 with the appointment of the first woman director Elisabeth Gürtler. Her remit was to make the organization pay it’s own way. (Like a circus.)
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They certainly are. Apples and oranges.
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Well, maybe, if Canada gets involved. But if the United States takes over any SRS here, the Lipizzaner will go the way of the classic Knabstrupper and other European breeds that Americans have adopted and adapted to their own ideas of breed standards. Haute Ecole will be replaced by competitive-style “dressage” and classical training will go out the window.
Is the Cadre Noir still in existence? Can they perhaps pick up the torch of classical dressage in Europe if Austria drops it?
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Is that the group that also has demonstrations that show unbelievable control over jumps? Like, they’ll jump a single rail standing on end?
Yes it has seemed that way to me too, which was a surprise and a disappointment to me. I didn’t see much airiness in their Airs Above the Ground.
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Every time i start Googling good places to retire, Portugal keeps popping up.
Maybe we should all retire to one of these two countries … I’m up for it. Are y’all? 
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It’s a great place, no question!
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@Rackonteur Portugal is a lovely country. It has benefited hugely from it’s EU membership with new infrastructure and good healthcare. English is the second language, taught in school and very useful in the large tourism industry. Rural area are still deeply rural as it takes time to grow from one of the poorest nations in Western Europe. Of the displays I’ve seen of “The Big Four”, the Portuguese were my favourite. The horsemanship is very deep in the country and they handle their horses quietly and with respect (I love generalizations).
What struck me last time I was watching a display in Jerez was that the audience was full of apparent middle-aged housewives, not looking in the least “horsey”, all watching with deep concentration and appreciation. It was definitely a local audience. I’ve noticed when riding in Spain that people in the villages come out of their houses and watch the horses. Not the riders. Spain has made the active decision to develop the best geriatric care as so many people retire there!
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Now i want to read The Drifters again. (James Michener). I loved it back in the 1970s. Part of it is set in the Algarve.
Different world, though, the '70s.
Kinda like expecting Hemingway’s Paris when i was there in ‘72 lol. Not that i did. Nope, more like the Musketeers’!
There was a COTH poster Manor Minor who moved to Portugal. She occasionally posts on FB. Her family seems to be doing well.
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Someone should suggest NP take charge of the SRS. He’ll teach them a thing or two.
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I like it! 
IF “Classical” training, and horses bred for Classical training, are not able to be competitive in what sport has decided is the desired form, then is there a valid reason to preserve it? Do we think competitive dressage will come full circle and go to this style of riding/training (seems doubtful)?
This is an honest question. The training the SRS does seems somewhat specific to the type of horses they breed. I am sure much of it translates, but is there a point in keeping it for that reason? If it is kept as a riding school to create, soft, talented riders, why should the government fund it vs sport? Does the riding they learn there, on those very unique horses, translate well to competitive dressage (in other words, could it be seen as a school to develop riders in general)?
Thinking of the RCMP riding school while the nowhere near the same level, as they purposefully take non-horse people, their breeding program produces horses that are very desirable for sport and generates revenue for the program. Does the SRS sell many horses? Wouldn’t that be a way to fund the program? But would people want to buy a horse of a breed that isn’t typically seen in sport? Perhaps that is their solution. Get horses from their breeding program out in the sports world.
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I’m perplexed by the idea that competitive dressage is the be-all and end-all. Competition is one aspect of dressage, but not the only, or even the most important. There is no need for the riding and/or training at the SRS to translate at all to competitive dressage, much less to translate well. The horses never were intended for competition, so why would their ability, or lack thereof, to do well in competition be of any importance?
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As with everything, it’s a question of marketing. Warmblood breeders made big moving mega monsters desirable and judges rewarded them, even though 99% of ammies would have more fun on a handy Baroque horse.
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