Alois Podhajsky by Marcella Schultz

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Alois Podhajsky was born on February 24, 1898 and died May 23, 1973. He died of a Stroke

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He was an Austrian soldier, rising to be a colonel. In 1939 he became the chief of the Academy of Classical Horsemanship, or otherwise better known as the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria. The school was founded in 1572, and the school’s main focus was the training of Lippizaner horses in classical dressage. Podhajsky was the director of this school throughout World War II and created deep attachments to his horses. He competed in both the 1936 Summer Olympics and the 1948 Summer Olympics. He retired in 1965, writing a number of books on classical horsemanship.

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The Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria

Evacuation

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In WWII, Podhajsky worried about the safety of the horses and the school because of bombing raids on Vienna. Podhajsky worked hard to get authorization to leave Vienna, as the people seeing the grand horses leave, they would lose hope on whether or not the people would make it through the war. He eventually got access and took most of the Lippizaner stallions of Vienna to Sankt Martin im Innkreis in Upper Austria. A few of the mares from the Piber Federal Stud, a breeding farm which supplied horses for the school, were also evacuated.

U.S. Protection

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Though the horses were much safer then they were at Vienna, there were still harsh conditions and challenges. There was little food for the humans or the animals, and starving refugees even looked and tried to steal the horses for meat. One day, American General George Patton was marching his troops through Austria, he was told of the presence of the Lippizaners in Sankt Martin Im Innkreis. The general and Podhajsky had both competed in the equestrian events at the Olympic Games. Patton and Podhajsky renewed their acquaintance and Podhajsky decided to perform an impressive display with the remaining horses and riders for Patton, who was a lifelong equestrian and for Undersecretary of War Robert P. Patterson. The Americans, impressed with their orchestrated performance, decided to place the stallions under the protection of the United States for the rest of the war.

Rescue the Rest

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Podhajsky told Patton of where there were more of the Lippizaner bloodstock. Many of the Lippizaner mares and a few of the stallions had been taken from the breeding farm at Piber and had been sent to a Nazi-run stud farm in Czechoslovakia called Hostau. When Hostau fell behind Soviet lines, German prisoners were interrogated by the U.S. Army Captain Ferdinand Sperl, the officers provided details of the Lippizaners location and asked for the U.S. to save them before they fell to the Soviets and became horsemeat. The 2nd Cavalry Regiment managed a raid behind the Soviet Lines, accepted the surrender of the Germans in Hostau, and evacuated the Mares and Stallions. The horses were relocated to Wimsbach in Upper Austria.

Home

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Once the war was finally done, the Lippizaner stallions finally went back home to Vienna in the autumn of 1955.

Never Accept Defeat

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Podhajsky refused to accept defeat and worked day and night, risking his life to save the Stallions of Vienna. The centuries of forging the perfect horse were not in vain, the years taken to train each individual horse was not to waste. He refused to let the horses die for a cause he did not support. If the horses could return to their normal lives after that dreadful war, then the people of Europe, Asia, and America could too.

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Podhajsky riding Nero xx

"Nature can exist without Art, but Art can never exist without Nature." ~ Alois Podhajsky

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"Whenever difficulties appear, the rider must ask himself: does the horse not want execute my demands, does he not understand what I want, or is he physically unable to carry them out? The rider's conscience must find the answer." ~ Alois Podhajsky

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Site of Information

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(yes yes, i know wiki is bad but shush its where i could find the most information and besides im reading a book on this story so most if not all of the info i found aligns with what i've read)

The Perfect Horse -Elizabeth Letts |Site of Information|

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!Also part of my source of information!

Letts, Elizabeth. "The Perfect Horse", New York Times, 05/23/2017.

The Miracle of the White Stallions -Walt Disney

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Disney+

Any of Podhajsky's books

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Such as ‘My Horses, My Teachers’ or 'The Dancing White Horses of Vienna.'