The Spanish Riding School

Painting of the Spanish Riding School done in 1773 by Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto

Alois Podhajsky at the Spanish Riding School

A re-discovered 15 minute long film thought lost from the early 1950's which was made for Austria's tourism features rare and unusual footage of the Spanish Riding School and its director, Alois Podhajsky. The horses are absolutely magnificent and the riding superb. The quadrille at the end is not to be missed. Compare the horses and riders with those of today -- 60 years later -- any difference? A terrific mini-doc from out of the past.

http://pegasustv.org/archives/player_0012.html

The clip above is nothing short of priceless, and I was blown away by the long lining at 2:14.

I have posted this so that people have a better understanding of what an "institution" actually is. As the quarterly "Feld Corporation Bash A Thon" unfolds at the "history channel" you will probably see the term institution used often in regards to the circus. It is probably not the dumbest thing you will ever hear, but it is close. The American rodeo is closer to an "institution" because at least it has it's roots in everyday American Cowboy ranch life. The circus is a business, and entertainment business to be exact. I love and cherish it as much as anybody else, but it is what it is. No more, no less. For some insane back end reasoning, people object to the Feld Corporation making a profit with their business. Big, big piles of profit if the financial trades are to be believed. But because their insane back end reasoning has convinced themselves that the circus, specifically Ringling Bros. is an "institution" and not an entertainment business, Ken Feld and family are damn near un-American because they insist on operating at a profit, big, big piles of profit. Those people, with their insane back end reasoning insist that the Felds run Ringling Bros. as it used to be, out of their own big, big piles of cash, regardless of the cost and damn any bottom line. We applauded Big Apple when it was growing strong, suckling on the handout tit, and we have now watched it tank as the handout tit dried up. Fact is, the Feld Corporation doesn't owe your "circus institution" shit, gentleman. To suggest that they want to make the show look bad, because of their "contempt" for for the circus is more pathetic then stupid, because it illustrates how little you actually know about the circus and the business of running a business.

FYI-this is a factual Institution, that the Government is now supporting. They sure don't "owe" to me, but I am grateful that they share it.

Spanish Riding School-home of famed Vienna Lipizzaners-nearly bankrupt
Jan. 11, 2008

VIENNA, Austria — Vienna’s renowned Spanish Riding School — famed for its white Lipizzaner stallions and their elegant strutting and sprightly dancing — is on the verge of bankruptcy, officials warned Friday.

The 430-year-old school, whose shows at the former imperial stables at the Hofburg Palace in downtown Vienna are among the Austrian capital’s top tourist attractions, lost nearly $2.9 million last year, said business adviser Elisabeth Guertler.

Guertler said a planned U.S. tour has been canceled to save on travel expenses as officials scramble to put together a bailout plan.

“We must work on all levels” to keep the school afloat, managing director Erwin Klissenbauer told Austrian radio.

Guertler, the former chief executive of Vienna’s prestigious Opera Ball, said high personnel costs were to blame for the school’s mounting losses. Its 17 riders are paid bonuses while on the road that can boost their monthly salaries to $14,700, she said.

In addition to canceling the U.S. tour, the school will boost the number of performances in Vienna from 38 to 69 this year in hopes of boosting ticket receipts, and plans to cultivate its own grain to cut feed costs for the prized stallions.

“Tradition is important, but tradition alone is no prescription for success,” she said.

Several unidentified riders told the newspapers Oesterreich and Wiener Zeitung this week they are worried about the welfare of the prized and pampered horses, and that the animals would risk injury if put through too many performances. In the 1980s, some stallions became lame after the number of shows was increased to 70 a year.

But Guertler is standing firm, contending the stallions suffer far more by being shipped overseas in cramped containers.

“If it turns out to be too much, I’ll put a stop to it,” she told Wiener Zeitung.

As officials awaited the release next week of an audit expected to detail the school’s financial losses, Klissenbauer played down fears that it might go out of business.

An estimated 250,000 people a year attend the school’s performances, which cost about $73 for a ringside seat and roughly half that for a standing-room-only ticket. Russian President Vladimir Putin toured the school during an official state visit last year.

“I believe the Spanish Riding School has huge potential and in reality is a healthy enterprise,” he said.

The Lipizzaners long served as a symbol of Austria’s past glory during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which stretched across much of Europe.

Austria’s former ruling royal family, the Habsburgs, went to Spain centuries ago to buy horses and founded a stud farm in what is now Slovenia. The school was privatized in 2001, and now operates the Piber stud farm in the southern Austria province of Styria.

Today’s fastidiously trained descendants of the original Lipizzaners prance during performances beneath crystal chandeliers under the direction of riders in two-cornered hats, performing to classical tunes with grace and military precision.

This link, Spanish Riding School: www.srs.at is for the nitwit's who hate and despise the Feld Corporation profit juggernaut, and instead offer "wise" counsel that that the Feld's should operate at worse case scenario, massive losses and best case scenario breaking even. It's in German, but it has an English link. At the top you will see the word Sponsorship, click it and it will take you to Sponsoring and Partnership. Here's what I suggest all you folks who can't stand, and feel dirty because the Feld Corporation and Ringling Bros. operates on big, big profits do. Show me your real, sincere love for your "institution" of Ringling Bros. and offer Ken Feld a Sponsorship of 2 million dollars from each and every one of you, for as long as he need's it, and sign a contract for two years of your uncompensated skill and talents and help him restore your "institution" of Ringling Bros. back to it's former glory, which I understand is also your birthright. Come on, show us how bad you want it and how important it is to mankind. Or would you rather piss and moan, and expect the Feld Corporation to give it to you, off of their table. Get real folks, and address the real cause's of the decline of the American Circus, not an
"institution" but a real life, actual, by God entertainment business.