Spanish Riding School, Dressage.com

The Spanish Riding School of Vienna
The True Miracle of the White Stallions
1939 - 1955

The True Miracle
of the White Stallions

Spanish
Riding School

The Summer of 1945

By John D’Addamio

As I mentioned in the introduction to this series, the Disney movie The Miracle of the White Stallions leaves out the events between the return of the breeding herd to Austria and the Spanish Riding School’s return to Vienna in 1955. Before we delve into the events of those 10 years, let’s clarify the situation and conditions.

So, Col. Reed captured Hostau on April 28^th and informed Patton of the operation’s success a day or so later. In addition to the Austrian (SRS) Lipizzaners, the Hostau stud was home to the Yugoslav Lipizzaners, over 100 high quality Arabs, 200 Thoroughbred and trotting race horses, and 600 Cossack breeding horses which Reed described as Dons and Urals.¹

Podhajsky was unaware of the capture of Hostau at the time of the School’s performance for Patton and Secretary Patterson on May 7. Consequently, Podhajsky requested that Patterson and Patton provide protection for the Spanish Riding School during the Allied occupation and that Patton locate the Lipizzaner breeding herd and return it to Austria. Although Patton already knew the location of the Lipizzaner mares, he was not aware of the fact that the Hostau herd included all the Austrian breeding stock.² Reed states that the herd was considered war booty and that the best of those not returned to Austria were shipped to the U.S.A. for use by the United States Remount Service.³This would have been the fate of the Austrian (SRS) Lipizzaner herd if Patton had not helped Podhajsky. Patton also committed the U.S. Army to providing feed and supplies for the Spanish Riding School and the breeding herd during the Allied Occupation. This turned out to be important.

In short, even if Podhajsky had known that American units had already captured the Lipizzaner herd, he needed to impress on Patton that the School would need short term help to survive the post-war occupation and that Austria needed the breeding herd returned to her in order to preserve the Spanish Riding School as a cultural institution in the long term.

During the first weeks of the Allied Occupation, Podhajsky and his staff were busy moving the breeding herd and completing day to day activities such as going to collect feed or other supplies. By June, they had resumed training and were asked to do performances for ordinary soldiers. Podhajsky thought the school at the castle was too small for large audiences so Podhajsky set up a performance area in a meadow. American troops cordoned off the area and kept the military audience orderly. Throughout June and July, the Spanish Riding School did performances for 1,000 to 2,000 U.S. soldiers from various units without incident. Podhajsky writes that Austrians would come and watch the performances too. In August, the 238^th Infantry Regiment requested a performance. The guests of honor were to include a number of generals including Patton! Podhajsky took the opportunity to make a ceremony to present Patton with leather bound photo album of the Spanish Riding School. At the end of the performance, Podhajsky rode to the dais on which the generals were seated and thanked Patton for his tremendous support over the past few months.⁴ It is fortuitous that Podhajsky took that opportunity to express his appreciation rather than leaving it for another time. Patton was killed in a car accident in December 1945.

After the second performance for Patton, Podhajsky began to receive requests to give performances in other Allied troops in other zones of occupation. (Austria was divided into 4 different zones with each zone under the control of one of the Allied Powers.) Podhajsky informed them that the School was under control of the U.S. Army and any visits to other zones of occupation would require permission from U.S. Army officials. Consequently, the Commander of Second Corps issued orders that the Lipizzaners could not be moved without written permission of the Corps. This essentially put an end to such requests. It proved essential in that granting the original request would have established a precedent. When the Russians pressured Podhajsky to send the School back to Vienna with the understanding that they would only send a few horses to Moscow and would only allow generals to come to ride occasionally, Podhajsky fell back on the Second Corps’ orders against travelling without its written permission. He states that the American attitude was that all the Lipizzaners would stay in Upper Austria and he used it to keep them safe.⁵

Next time: Ten Years in Exile.

Footnotes:

1. Handler, page 29

2. Podhajsky, pages 119 - 120

3. Handler, page 30

4. Podhajsky, pages 146 – 147

5. Podhajsky, pages 147 - 150

Bibliography

Handler, Hans, 1913 - 1974
1. "Die Spanische Hofreitschule zu Wien", Vienna, Verlag Fritz Molden, 1972
  1. "The Spanish Riding School". English translation by Russell Stockman ,New York, McGraw-Hill, 1972
Podhajsky, Alois, 1898-1973
1. "Ein Leben Für Die Lipizzaner", München, Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, 1960, 413p.
  1. "My Dancing White Horses", English Translation by Frances Hogarth-Gaute, London, Harrap, 1964, 287p.
  2. "My Dancing White Horses", New York, Holt Rinehart & Winston, 1965, 302p.

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