Winter of 1939/40 in Ljubljana

Horserace in Ljubljana, 1. May, 1956

This used to be civil Airport, today there is a Letaliska cesta (Airport street) and the Airport is cca 20 km outside of Ljubljana. The control Tower is still standing though.

Money, Money, money... and Lipizzaner

Perhaps you didn't know, but Slovenians have put 2 lipizzaners on our 20 eurocent coins.

The horse in front is Siglavy Thais, ridden and trained by Alojz Lah of Lipica.

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As Andreas mentioned, Austra had a Lipizzaner performing levade on their 5 Schilling coin


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And here is the kinebar (gold bar with a kind of laser made picture) of a Lipizzaner. It exists in 1g, 5g and 10g sizes:
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Bosnian 1994 coin with a Lipizzaner Stallion

Lipica in it's post war golden age

Aral et Le Cadre Noir de Saumur--Catherine Lara

Great video here~~
http://romyromy1.multiply.com/video/item/92/_Aral_et_Le_Cadre_Noir_de_Saumur--Catherine_Lara_

If you can't access the video on my site, use this url~~

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNYWecnR5I4
Romy

Ljubljana in mid 1934

Sokol was a gymanstic society originally from Czech, but there was one with the same name in Slovenia (Dravska banovina in Kingdom of YU at that time). They did some horsemanship among other sports.

Victory day parade in Ljubljana, May 1956.

This was I believe the last big parade in Ljubljana, held to commemorate May 9, the Victory day. On May 9, 1945 Ljubljana was elibaterated and in those days this was a huge holiday. My mother and both grandparents were riding in it.

Lipica 1956

These are the Photos from an album of Dr. Harald Hofmann (my grandfather), who was a good friend with Mr. Alfonz Pecovnik (chief rider and trainer in Lipica for many years) and a good rider, trainer and judge himself.

Luz da liberal, e nobre arte da cavallaria : offerecida ao Senhor D. Jo찾o, principe do Brazil : Andrade, Manoel Carlos de : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

http://www.archive.org/details/luzdaliberaleno00andr
Hello All,

This is a link to the book Luz da liberal e nobre arte da cavallaria.. by Manoel Carlos de Andrade. This is the copy of the original version of this book. The book has been reprinted in its original language, Portuguese, about 2 or 3 years ago , but it's already out of print. In our latin countries we are very slow to see our own treasures. The book, to my knowledge, has been translated to German recently.
With my best wishes to all in this Christmas and Holidays!!

Programas - Escola Portuguesa de Arte Equestre - Tribuna Lusitana - A Arte da Cavalaria

http://www.tribunalusitana.com/programas/escola-portuguesa-de-arte-equestre
Hello All,

This an interview with Dr. Filipe Graciosa, Director of the Escola Portuguesa de Arte Ecuestre. It is conducted in Portuguese with English Subtitles. They talk about the 4 school proyect, the school's origins. It's very interesting. I personally always enjoy master horseman talking.

De Spaanse Rijschool

Nice video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-0cS2QHviY

World Dressage Masters in Palm Beach Canceled for 2011

WELLINGTON, Florida, Dec. 1–The Exquis World Dressage Masters in Palm Beach that has kicked off the richest series of dressage competitions for the past two years has been canceled for 2011.

The €100,000 (US$130,000) CDI5 had been scheduled for the first week of February as the dressage centerpiece of the Winter Equestrian Festival at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC). Equestrian Sport Productions that owns and operates PBIEC disclosed the cancellation Tuesday night after release of the highlights of the 12-week WEF with $6.2 million (€4.78 million) in prize money for hunters and jumpers.

“We took the difficult decision to cancel this year’s World Dressage Masters, as we were unable to guarantee the participation of the top European riders that had always made the event so successful in the past,” said Michael Stone, ESP President. “There are significant costs involved in staging the event, and without the stars participating, we couldn’t guarantee a sufficient number of spectators to make the event feasible.”

The World Dressage Masters Grand Prix Freestyle in PBIEC’s main arena with its distinctive coral-colored world class footing under lights drew spectators from around the world to one of the most glamorous destinations on the global equestrian circuit.

During the two years of the WDM in Palm Beach–the only venue in the series outside Europe–it attracted nine-time World Cup champion Anky van Grunsven and European Championship team mate Edward Gal of The Netherlands, multiple Olympic gold medalist Isabell Werth of Germany as well as Steffen Peters of San Diego, California and Canada’s Ashley Holzer.

Steffen Peters had made WDM in Palm Beach a focus of his winter campaigns with the WEG double-medalist Ravel in 2009 and 2010 and planned to do so in 2011.

“The news is disappointing,” Steffen told dressage-news.com. “I really looked forward to coming to Florida.”

The event was by invitation which became the most sought-after among North American dressage riders provided with an unprecedented opportunity for most of them to compete head-to-head at home against some of the world’s top competitors.

For 2011, however, conflicts with the winter-long indoor World Cup qualifiers in Europe, changes in horse ownership and fitness of some horses hampered the ability of the European organizers to get commitments from the top combinations on the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) rankings.

Unlike jumpers that routinely compete on both sides of the Atlantic, European dressage horses typically only compete outside the continent in global championships such as Olympics, World Cups and the World Equestrian Games that have been held only once in the Americas, in Kentucky earlier this year.

It was unknown how the cancellation of the Palm Beach event would affect the rest of the WDM CDI5* events that in 2010 included Munich, Germany; Cannes, France; Falsterbo, Sweden, and Hickstead, England.

But scheduling conflicts among European competitions are known to have caused issues threatening the viability of some shows.

Interest has been expressed for a Brazilian competition.

Each of the events offers €100,000 prize money, most of it provided by Exquis and Moorlands of The Netherlands, who created the series to promote and develop Olympic level dressage.

Exquis is owned by Anthony Kies who sponsors high performance dressage riders Hans Peter Minderhoud of the Netherlands and Anne van Olst of Denmark, both Olympic medalists, and Dutch jumper rider Harrie Smolders. Moorlands, owned by Kees and Tosca Visser, is most famous for the ownership until recently of the superstar stallion Totilas.

Management is by Sportbizz, owned by John van der Laar and Camil Smeulders and based in ’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.

ESP paid for transportation and accommodation of horses, riders and grooms from Europe and California in 2009 and 2010 as well as the five judges. Those costs were more than $140,000 each year, all borne by ESP.

The Grand Prix carried prize money of €10,000, the Special €30,000 and the Freestyle €60,000 (US$13,000, $39,000 and $78,000).

2011 tour dates for Spanish Riding School announced--London's Wembley Arena

The Spanish Riding School of Vienna announce their 60th international tour due to start in 2011 and with only three London dates – tickets for this exclusive event, to be held at Wembley Arena in November 2011 are the “must have” Christmas gift for this year.

 
Excitement builds for new Spanish Riding School tour


It is five years since the majestic, highly trained horses and riders of the 430 year old “High School for Classical Horsemanship” have graced the halls of the UK. Their last tour sold out within days as the opportunity to see the scholars of the Winter Riding School based in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna is a rare occurrence.


Their new show titled “Imperial Dream” sees an impressive display of classical equitation in the Renaissance tradition of the haute école.


Visitors to the world famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna thrill in the absolute balance and harmony achieved by these beautiful White Lipizzaner stallions and their regal riders. Famed for their in-hand work and movements above the ground such as the Capriole, Levade and Courbette the Imperial Dream Show will feature all the classics but with a difference….


In keeping with their Austrian heritage the addition of live orchestral music and dance will add another dimension to this breathtaking extravaganza. Incredibly moving, highly sophisticated and full of the glamour of Imperial Vienna this is one ticket that lovers of horses and the arts won’t want to miss out on.


The Imperial Dream by the Spanish Riding School, Wembley Arena, London:


Friday 25th Nov 2011 – 8pm
Saturday 26th Nov 2011 – 8pm
Sunday 27th Nov 2011 – 3pm.


Tickets go on sale at 9am on Wednesday 17th November priced at £65, £55, £35 & £25 (subject to booking fee) and are available from www.livenation.co.uk


For VIP packages or Hospitality go to www.LiveNationExperience.co.uk or +44 (0)207 009 3484 

little film

Hello friends i got a youtube film here and i want to know what you think of it, im seeing things and i wanne know if im correct

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds8M914pBHU&feature=player_embedded

Clinic in Nieuwekerk aan den Ijssel, Netherlands

Start:	Nov 13, '10
End:	Nov 14, '10
Location:	"Mearas Stables"

Dressage-clinic at Thamar Gotthjalpsen

Green Energy Made in Piber

State of the art biogas plant facilitates renewable energy – a stimulus for a whole region

On September 10th, 2010 the start of a new era for renewable energy was heralded by the presentation of a state of the art biogas plant located at the foot of the Federal Stud Piber. The plant which is to be completed by spring 2011 by the Styrian Company Grünkraft will heat the baroque castle of Piber and simultaneously produce enough electricity to provide for more than 722 households.

With this innovation the stud’s daily accumulated horse dung will be ecologically utilized and produce renewable energy. Cooperation with 60 farms will additionally ensure the sufficient supply of the plant. Additionally the biogas plant can heat more than 25 households with its heat loss – thermal output which is not only ecofriendly but also future-oriented.

Subsequently the electricity produced by the power plant will be fed into the public mains. Both Federal Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich and Elisabeth Gürtler welcome the Spanish Riding School’s innovative move and emphasize the importance of such plants for the ecofriendly production of energy.

Federal Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich: “This project has 2 pleasing aspects: as Minister of the Environment this biogas plant is a further step towards ecologically producing energy. As the representative of the Austrian Republic in the Spanish Riding School this project is the ideal symbiosis between modern sustainable management and tradition.”

Managing Director Elisabeth Gürtler: „This new project not only offers positive environmental aspects but also enables us to save costs which is imperative given the difficult economic situation of the Spanish Riding School.”

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„Grüne Energie made in Piber“

Erneuerbare Energie dank moderner Biogasanlage – Impulse für eine ganze Region

Mit der am 10. September 2010 erfolgten Projektpräsentation einer hochmodernen Biogasanlage am Fuße des Bundesgestüts Piber wird eine neue Ära im Bereich der grünen Energiegewinnung eingeläutet. Die Anlage, die bis zum Frühjahr 2011 vom steirischen Anbieter Grünkraft errichtet werden soll, wird dann das barocke Schloss Piber beheizen und erzeugt parallel dazu eine Strommenge, die mehr als 722 Haushalte versorgen könnte.

Durch diese Innovation wird der täglich anfallende Pferdemist des Gestüts ökologisch sinnvoll verwertet und erneuerbare Energie produziert werden. Eine neue Zusammenarbeit mit 60 Landwirtschaftsbetrieben wird die Belieferung der Anlage sicherstellen. Zusätzlich zur Stromproduktion kann die Biogasanlage mit ihrer Abwärme mehr als 25 Haushalte beheizen – eine thermische Leistung, die absolut umweltfreundlich und zukunftsorientiert ist.

Der produzierte Strom des Kraftwerks wird im Anschluss in das öffentliche Netz eingespeist. Bundesminister DI Niki Berlakovich und Dkfm. Elisabeth Gürtler begrüßen diesen innovativen Schritt, den die Spanische Hofreitschule in die Zukunft unternehmen will und unterstreichen die hohe Bedeutung einer derartigen Anlage zur umweltfreundlichen Energiegewinnung.

BM DI Niki Berlakovich: “Ich freue mich zweifach über dieses Projekt. Als Umweltminister sehe ich diese Biogasanlage als weiteren wichtigen Schritt in Richtung Ökologisierung der Energiegewinnung. In meiner Funktion als Eigentümervertreter der “Spanischen” gelingt mit diesem Projekt eine ideale Symbiose zwischen moderner nachhaltiger Unternehmensführung und Traditionsbetrieb.”

Generaldirektorin Dkfm. Elisabeth Gürtler: „Neben den positiven Umweltaspekten gelingt uns mit diesem Projekt auch eine erhebliche Kosteneinsparung, was angesichts der schwierigen wirtschaftlichen Situation der Spanischen Hofreitschule von großer Bedeutung ist.“

FT Article "The Beastliness of Modern Art"

Here is a link to a Financial Times Art article that I thought this group might find interesting. It discusses the associations of animals in contemporary art and focuses a good deal on the depiction of horses. 

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/bff94af8-d7e0-11df-b044-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss

Here is a quote from the section about Stubbs.

“There were many sporting painters but only George Stubbs transcended the genre by delivering pictures in which horses and men were virtual peers. Stubbs changed the nature of the genre from equestrian portraits to horse portraiture. The secret of his success lay in his unparalleled mastery of equine body language: the flare of a nostril, the widening of an eye, the accurate fixing of gait and stance. Stubbs was the first to realise that, hitherto, equine representation had been conforming to templates supplied largely by the Renaissance; and that freshly exacting anatomical study, a scientific accumulation of empirical information, was the condition of individualising his subjects; of making not just horse portraits but something like equine genre paintings.

It was only by being a true anatomist, which is to say, using death to inform the trick of life, that Stubbs could produce The Anatomy of the Horse (1766), the masterpiece that made his name and fortune. Subjects would be brought to his attic studio where he would hang them in a complicated harness-contraption from the ceiling and then methodically and slowly bleed them to death, injecting the veins and arteries with tallow to painstakingly preserve their external appearance through the skin. Eventually he would proceed to a flaying and thence to a careful, systematic dissection. What a Gothic romance! It was only from this shocking, protracted intimacy in which love and death were bloodily commingled, that Stubbs was able to liberate the horse from its confinement in the conventions of equestrian studies and reconstruct the pure animal as though never saddled: creating what were, in effect, equestrian nudes such as “Whistlejacket” (1762) or fantasies of entire families of mares and foals gathered together in some imaginary glade like a school of Houynhyms “

 

Westphalen Memorial

Westphalen Memorial--(englisch)
Thomas Ritter

    I found a very interesting description of a competition that was held 100 years ago. This gives you an idea of how the skills of the rider and the quality of the horse’s training can be assessed in a way that eliminates trick training and drilling memorized test patterns. This competition was incredibly difficult, but it provides interesting food for thought about how to make competitions again more about training than breeds, fads, fashions, or anything else. This forms an especially interesting contrast to this day and age where some Olympic horses can’t stop or walk anymore out of tension.

    Colonel Felix Bürkner was the last director of the famous cavalry riding school in Hannover. He was one of the leading competitors in Germany – and one of the true masters of classical dressage – in the early 20th century. Together with colonel Hans von Heydebreck, Bürkner held the first certification exams for professional trainers. He was a firm believer in a well rounded education for both horse and rider and rode his horses regularly over fences and behind the hounds in fox hunts.

    In his autobiography, he describes a very sophisticated and difficult competition for military officers that took three days, in which practically all the skills of the rider were evaluated. Bürkner won this competition several years in a row.

    Felix Bürkner, Ein Reiterleben, 1957:

    "Only two weeks after my arrival at my regiment, I took my two horses, the
Trakehner Romeo and the Thoroughbred mare Iokaste to the May tournament in Berlin to participate in the Grand Prix for officers, the “Westphalen-Memorial”, for which His Majesty the Emperor had donated the prize of honor. …

    This test comprised all areas of riding and consisted of:

       1. A dressage test with one’s own horse,

       2. Change of these horses and riding of the unknown horses in a called dressage test,

       3. Correction of disobedient and spoilt horses in an arena that had been cordoned off by lances. Here, called tests had to be ridden as well, and obedience jumps had to be taken, such as a white grate, one meter wide, one meter high, against the sun and towards a bright red umbrella that was being opened and closed. The time limit of one minute was checked with a stopwatch, and exceeding this limit was penalized with disqualification.

       4. Riding of unknown school horses in called high school movements which were provided by the imperial stable and Kommissionsrat Stensbeck. On Ten Drugi I had to show piaffe and passage including transitions, as well as à tempo changes in the collected canter on the volte,

       5. A hunt-style jumping parcours with an evaluation of the jumping style. In the parcours, a narrow board across a wide water-filled ditch and jumping across a pasture fence into a lake. …

       6. Equestrian games (jeu de rose) on polo horses,

       7. Evaluation of all the races the participant had won up to this point, - the more wins, the higher the points.

    This solemn test lasted for three days, …

Westphalen Memorial--(deutsch)


Ich habe eine sehr interessante Beschreibung eines Turniers gefunden, das vor 100 Jahren gehalten wurde. Man bekommt einen guten Eindruck davon wie man die Fertigkeiten des Reiters und die Qualität der Ausbildung des Pferdes auf eine Weise testen kann, die Trickreiterei und das Drillen von auswendiggelernten Aufgaben eliminiert. Dieser Wettbewerb war unglaublich schwierig, aber er kann interessante Denkanstöße geben wie man auf Turnieren wieder die Ausbildung mehr in den Mittelpunkt rücken kann, gegenüber Rassen, kurzsichtigen Trends,
Modeerscheinungen usw. Er bildet einen interessanten Kontrast zur heutigen
Dressurreiterei, wo manche Olympiapferde nicht mehr halten oder Schritt gehen
können, weil sie so gespannt sind.

Oberst Felix Bürkner war der letzte Direktor der berühmten Kavallerieschule in
Hannover. Er war einer der führenden Turnierreiter in Deutschland – und ein wahrer Meister der klassischen Reitkunst – im frühen 20. Jahrhundert. Zusammen mit Oberst Hans von Heydebreck hielt Bürkner die ersten Reitlehrerprüfungen für Berufsreiter. Er war ein Verfechter einer vielseitigen Ausbildung für Reiter und Pferd und ritt seine Pferde regelmäßig über Hindernisse und in Fuchsjagden hinter der Meute.

In seiner Autobiographie beschreibt er ein äußerst schwieriges und anspruchsvolles Turnier für Offiziere, welches drei Tage lang dauerte und in dem praktisch alle Fertigkeiten des Reiters getestet wurden. Bürkner gewann dieses Turnier mehrere Jahre hintereinander.

Felix Bürkner, Ein Reiterleben, 1957:

“Schon zweieinhalb Wochen nach meinem Antritt beim Regiment fuhr ich mit meinen beiden Pferden, dem Ostpreußen Romeo und der Vollblutstute Iokaste zum Maiturnier nach Berlin, um mich an der großen Reiterprüfung für Offiziere, dem
„Westphalen-Memorial“, zu beteiligen, zu dem S.M. der Kaiser den Ehrenpreis für den Sieger gestiftet hatte. …

Diese Prüfung umfaßte alle Gebiete der Reiterei und bestand:

   1. Aus einem dressurmäßigen Vorreiten des eigenen Pferdes,

   2. Wechsel dieser Pferde und Vorreiten der unbekannten Pferde in einer
kommandierten Dressuraufgabe,

   3. Korrektur unrittiger und verdorbener Pferde auf einem mit Lanzen abgesteckten Viereck, auf demebenfalls angesagte Aufgaben zu erfüllen sowie
Gehorsamshindernisse zu springen waren wie beispielsweise ein weißes Gitter, ein
Meter breit, ein Meter hoch – gegen die Sonne und einen grellroten Sonnenschirm, der auf und zu geklappt wurde, wobei die hierfür festgesetzte Minutenzeit nach der Stopuhr kontrolliert wurde und nicht überschritten werden durfte, sonst Disqualifikation.

   4. Vorreiten von uns bisher unbekannten Schulpferden in angesagten Lektionen der hohen Schule, welche hierfür der kaiserliche Marstall und der Kommissionsrat
Stensbeck zur Verfügung gestellt hatten. Auf Ten Drugi mußte ich Piaffe und Passage mit Übergängen sowie à tempo Wechsel im versammelten Galopp auf der Volte zeigen,

   5. Absolvierung eines jagdmäßigen Parcours unter gleichzeitiger Bewertung des
Stils. Im Parcours ein schmaler Laufsteg über einen breiten Wassergraben und
Hineinspringen in einen See über ein Koppelrick hinweg. Da ich beides in flüssigem
Galopp mit Romeo schaffte, holte ich mir viele Zeitpunkte,

   6. Gewandtheitsspiele (jeu de rose) auf Polopferden,

   7. Bewertung aller bis zu diesem Tage im Leben gewonnenen Rennen, - je mehr,des to mehr Pluspunkte.

Diese feierliche Prüfung nahm drei Tage in Anspruch,...

Eleve Hannah Zeitlhofer

Hannah Zeitlhofer, our female eleve at the Spanish Riding School, made it today for the public performance! She rode a young stallion and did an outstanding job!

I'm proud of the school, the riders and Hannah!

Spanische Hofreitschule Foto's III