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The Spanish Riding School
of Vienna |
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The Vienna Performance: The next section of the long performance in Vienna is the Pas de Deux or "Steps of Two" in English. While the choreography of the All Steps and Movements of the Classical School section is improvised to some extent, here the same movements are shown with two horses and riders but the choreography is fixed. It may change a little from one year to another but the choreography is always fixed for any particular performance. At the performances we saw in 2007, the Pas de Deux was performed by Chief Rider Eder riding Conversano Corvina and Rider Bauer riding Conversano Undine I. The entire section is done executing the same movement side by side or executing a mirror image movement on opposite sides of the arena. It begins with canter to the pillars from opposite corners where K and F would be in a competition arena. The horses were so perfectly matched that, when they did half pass side by side, they seemed to be wrapped around each other. There are times when they are riding directly at each other on the center line. If you don't know the choreography, you might easily predict a crash! But, they turn in opposite directions when they get to the pillars at X so the crash never happens. One of the most stunning movements is new choreography since we last saw these two perform the Pas de Deux in 2005. It features the canter half pirouette. They ride directly at each other from opposite long sides of the arena. One horse is in the true canter and the other is in counter canter so that they are on the same lead. As they pass the center line, each horse and rider make a half pirouette around their partners! Then, they return to the same long side from which they started. It is so beautiful to watch but it requires perfect timing to execute. (Don't try this at home, kids!J) They do everything, including the half pirouettes around each other, in both directions to demonstrate their suppleness and training. The Work In Hand comes next. This section showcases the classical piaffe, with deeply bent hindquarters lightening the forehand, and the training of the levade, capriole, and courbette. Each horse is wearing his saddle, snaffle bridle, a lunge cavesson and side reins. His trainer is on the ground and leads the horse with either a web rein about 1.5 M or a short (6M rather than 8M) lunge line. Each horse warms up with some piaffe. Most of them do piaffe along the wall. But, there is often one horse doing piaffe between the pillars. He is attached to the pillars with reins rather like cross ties to demonstrate that he does piaffe on the spot. Sometimes, there is a rider on the pillar horse but not always. The trainer stands behind the horse with his whip raised, unused, in the air. In the performances we have seen, the pillar horse piaffed the whole time except for short breaks for sugar and praise. The pillar horse is as steady as a rock in piaffe and the only correction I have ever seen was to straighten him after he had shifted his hindquarters to the side. Even that correction is rarely needed! I have never seen it more than once or twice and the section lasts about 15 minutes! There are always horses to demonstrate each of the jumps but the numbers vary. Several horses impressed us in the performances we saw in 2007. Chief Rider Riegler and Neapolitano Madar demonstrated Courbette. Madar raised himself up and gave three good solid jumps in the performances. In training, we saw him do as many as five jumps. There were three horses demonstrating Capriole. Chief Rider Eder and Pluto Riga were very impressive. Riga jumped high and got perfectly horizontal before he kicked out. Two levade horses also impressed us. Radnetter's levades with Conversano Tiberia were very good. Tiberia rose up slowly to the 30 degree angle required for the levade and held it as steady as a statue. Chief Rider Hausberger presented Favory Dagmar in the levade. We had seen this horse before but I had forgotten how beautiful this stallion had become! His color is very striking. The Austrians call it "Milk White" because the coat is a very pure white and it shimmers. But, what makes him even more striking are his hindquarters and neck. His neck is long and very well shaped. His hindquarters are very strongly muscled. His piaffe is absolutely superb! In demonstrating the levade, F. Dagmar raised his forelegs slowly, immediately found his balance, and usually held it perfectly. What impressed me most about F. Dagmar was his behavior when things didn't go quite right. If he lost his balance while holding the levade, he arched his back and stretched his neck a little forward to regain his balance. In this way, he could hold the levade even with a small loss of balance. This takes great strength, coordination, willingness and determination. Next Time: The Long Rein solo and Airs above the Ground |
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