(Peter Paul Rubens – Detail from Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma – The Collection – Museo Nacional del Prado)
“Now for your Cherishings, they are those which I formerly spake of;
Only they must be used at no time but when your Horse doth well,
(© 2015 Xenophon Press with permission of the publisher. Review © 2018 Kip Mistral. Feature image by Ignace Duvivier, 1780, (de) Mohrenstechen in der spanischen Hofreitschule – https://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/15502/GG_2699.html. Kunsthistorisches Museum – http://www.khm.at/de/objektdb/detail/630/. CC BY-NC-SA – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ )
Not one, but an amazing three forewords penned by luminaries of modern classical riding greet the reader who picks up Austrian Art of Riding: Five Centuries”; Karl Mikolka, Charles DeKunffy and Sylvia Loch all give their stamps of approval for the publication of this English translation of Dr. Werner Poscharnigg’s fascinating work.
Fanciers of the Lipizzan horse, the Spanish Riding School, classical riding, fine horsemanship and equestrian history will be thrilled to sit down with this behind-the-scenes look at a cavalcade of famous personalities—both human and horse—who had a critical influence on the development of Austro-Hungarian equitation.
If you read about Washington Square Park in New York City today, you certainly won’t see images like this which was painted in 1897. Still the days of horse-drawn conveyances, we see dusk settling in on a day that has seen fresh snowfall. The Washington Square Arch looms in the background. The streets and the park are still clean and white and fresh, and people are busy setting out for their evening excursion. I imagine it is a Saturday night…the gentlemen are in top hats and the ladies dressed in refinement. Is that group of three young women giggling as they pass the carriage? The horse is certainly watching something. The couple with their backs to us are waiting for their cab. The scene looks cold but strangely cozy. What do you see?
(© Text by Don Juan Gómez-Cuétara. Detail of painting by Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez Felipe III, King of Spain 1634-35)
Like a magic crucible, wherein history and art are fused, the Spanish horse, our partner in love and grief, slave to our glory, is a horse at once fiery and docile, whose proud neigh proclaims to the world the beauty of his race, pride of men who are not prepared to abandon chivalry, dream of young men who refuse to accept a way of life which holds no place for him.
(© 2018 Kip Mistral. Illustration “Holiday Time” by Heywood Hardy [1842-1933])
I dreamed this morning, literally, that I am wandering through a busy outdoor market. It is an old country market with much tradition, animals and all kinds of rustic things for sale by generations of people who know each other. They are friendly and chatty, and I find myself talking to many women who have spent a lifetime with horses. They all have different stories about their experience and I am struck with the richness of their memories. Naturally, being a journalist I start thinking what a fabulous article it would make to bring these conversations together in one place, woven together in a sort of tapestry.
