Watch the world's oldest classical equestrian academy put its Lipizzaner stallions through their paces in the baroque Winter Riding School — a ritual unchanged since 1572 and one of Vienna's most iconic living traditions.
What to expect
You enter the Habsburg Winter Riding Hall — a breathtaking white-and-gold baroque room commissioned by Emperor Charles VI in 1729 — as the Lipizzaners begin their daily training. Watch riders in bicorn hats and tailored brown coats guide the stallions through the Airs Above the Ground: the Levade, the Courbette, and the spectacular Capriole. The trainers move silently, communicating through the subtlest of leg and rein signals. The soft drumming of hooves on the sawdust floor and the creak of leather in that gilded silence is deeply moving. Photography is permitted during Morning Training.
Good to know
Morning Training runs Tue–Sat (check seasonal schedule at srs.at); doors open at 10:00, sessions last ~1 hr. Located in the Hofburg Palace complex — easily combined with a Hofburg or Sisi Museum visit. Book tickets online well ahead; popular slots sell out weeks in advance. 10-min walk from the Ringstraße tram stops.