K & L's Travel Blog

Poor Lorena did not sleep well.  She woke up at 1:00 am and could not get back to sleep.  When I awoke at 6 am she was furiously writing political essays and expressing envy at my sound night’s sleep.  Jet lag is a beast.  

My fitbit total tells the whole story.  We were up and out early and walked the entire day.  Vienna is a lovely old city that is easy to walk .  We head for the old part of town and the Lipizzaner’s practice session at Spanish Riding School.  

We slowly make our way to the Spanish Riding School. We had seen them before in 1985, but decided to return for the morning work-out and try a stable tour in the afternoon. We stopped early and bought our tickets (good move as the line later was daunting). I wondered if we would be bored, but we were delighted. I re-read my old journal before we left, and was amused at my lengthy commentary devoted to the work-out. We were lucky enough then to actually see them practice airs above the ground: Levade and a Capriole. I think this is pretty rare these days as only a few horses have the talent for these moves. They were designed for war and are quite stressful on the horse, so I was happy enough to watch them walk, trot and canter with a bit of passage thrown in. As in 1985, I was impressed with their liberal use of praise, loose reins, pets and sugar cubes. Another difference was that there were women riders, as they were allowed to join the school in the mid-1990’s. There are 5 women today out of 45 riders. 

• 

Another big difference from our earlier visit was that the practice in those days was quite lightly attended. Not so today. We were surprised when we entered to find standing room only—the place was packed. We did find a standing spot and I was totally distracted by an older woman near us who looked just like one of my first riding instructors. The resemblance was so uncanny, Kitty had to cry out “Faye” just to show me it wasn’t her. 

I saw a man who looked just like our female physician.  I could not stop looking at him and saying “Look it’s Dr. Evans”.  What does it mean that you start seeing familiar faces all around you?  I think you are just trying to make sense of all the stimulation and people.  

Jet lag is a bit like a drug. A hallucinatory drug. The stable tour was worthwhile as our guide let us take photos of the horses. In all of their materials, they are clear about not allowing any photos of the horses. I imagine all the guides get permissive and allow it. I was thrilled. 

My favorite part was the stable tour.  Did I mention that there was a horse named “Kitty”.  A stallion mind you.  All the Lipizzaner’s are stallions.  The guide took great delight in explaining the reliance on stallions because of their “feistiness” not just athletic strength.  We were not to think lesser of Kitty because of his female name.  He did not mind, chuckle, chuckle.  I think they should allow female Lipizzaner’s too just like the riders.  But then I like to think of myself as feisty.