03/15/2023
My friends and colleagues, I need your help, for my beloved Lipizzans and for the world of dressage.
Please share...
As most of us know by now, Oberreiter Andreas Hausberger has been fired from the Spanish Riding School on charges of insubordination, stemming from a letter that he wrote to the newest SRS director citing his concerns about the stallions' welfare, and the increasing demands that have been made upon them. He has been banned from the grounds of the SRS, without the opportunity to say goodbye to the stallions and riders that he has spent his life and life's work training.
He is at least the third Oberreiter to be fired from the SRS under similar circumstances in the last 15 years. As the privatization of the SRS continues with a series of directors who are being chosen for their marketing skills and not equestrian knowledge, we face losing what to most of us is the Holy Grail of dressage. Many of the old Riders who transmitted their knowledge through hands-on education of the next generation of horsemen have left the school in frustration over its management. Through his 40+ years at the SRS, Mr. Hausberger is one of the greatest repositories of this knowledge, and he and his colleagues are irreplaceable.
As a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage site, the Spanish riding school is intended to be a living museum of classical dressage for all of Europe, and not a carnival of circus tricks. Mr. Hausberger has worked especially hard to prove that classical dressage methods are very applicable to the world of competitive dressage as his successful assistance with Jessica Von Bredow and Benjamin Werndl and their ranking at the top of the FEI world standings.
I have been asked, and I'm asking all of you, to please consider signing the following petition. I will continue looking into other areas where our voices can be heard to support the Spanish Riding School. Unfortunately, once these voices are silenced and the welfare of the horses becomes a secondary concern, the dressage world will have suffered an irretrievable loss.
Link to Petition:
https://www.change.org/p/stopp-der-zerst%C3%B6rung-des-weltkulturerbes-spanische-hofreitschule?fbclid=IwAR3v8RGbqQocYhtQVz4oeFEJi-XsvuRJLU40bWc_NTV_lTLm6gkH5apJAIY
If you wish to take further steps to help please contact:
The Minister of Agriculture
Norbert Totschnigg
[email protected]
and
The Head of the Supervisory Board of the SRS
Martin Winkler
[email protected]
We have been advised to address concerns regarding the Art of Classical Horsemanship, the Lipizzaner breed, the horses welfare, and the traditions of the Spanish Riding School.
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