Alois Podhajsky

Colonel Alois Podhajsky, portrait by Siegfried Stoitzner

Alois Podhajsky (born February 14, 1898 in Mostar ; † May 23, 1973 in Vienna ) was a rider and officer in the Austrian army and head of the Spanish Riding School .

Podhajsky received his first riding lessons at the age of twelve. Later he was an officer in an infantry regiment . After initially participating in show jumping competitions and his first dressage successes, he was transferred to the cavalry . He received his advanced training at the military riding and driving instructor institute Schloss Hof . During a two-year assignment (1933-34) to the Spanish Riding School, he was tutored there by Wenzel Zrust , Gottlieb Polak and Ernst Lindenbauer . At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin , he achieved a bronze medal in dressage with the stallion Nero .

On March 1, 1939, Podhajsky was appointed commander of the Spanish Riding School, which he directed until 1964 and in whose further fate and survival he played a decisive role. He was renamed the Spanish Riding School, introduced a summer stay at the Hermesvilla in Lainzer Tiergarten for the Lipizzaner horses , increased the number of horses from 30 to 70, procured material and chandeliers for the riding arena , which are still in use, and managed the Change of gallop à tempo at the Spanish Riding School. In February and March 1945 he evacuated the Lipizzaner horses from Vienna. A return of the riding school to the traditional building in Vienna was not possible until 1955.

Since 1949 Podhajsky organized foreign tours of the Spanish Riding School, which increased their awareness. In 1963 he doubled Robert Taylor , who played Alois Podhajsky, for the film Escape of the White Stallions (Original: Miracle of the White Stallions ) .

Even after his retirement, Podhajsky continued to work as a riding instructor and author of numerous books on horse riding.

Podhajsky died of a stroke in Vienna on May 23, 1973 . His honorary grave is in the Vienna Central Cemetery (group 40, number 33).

Publications

• The classical art of riding , Rowohlt, Reinbek, 1980, ISBN 3-499-17037-X
• Little riding apprenticeship , Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, Munich 1974, ISBN 3-485-01708-6
• Riding and judging , Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, Munich 1973, ISBN 3-485-01718-3
• The riding instructor
• The big book of the Spanish Riding School , Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-485-01770-1

Remarks

1. ^ Time : Obituaries , Time. June 4, 1973. Retrieved October 8, 2016. 

Web links

• Alois Podhajsky in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Literature by and about Alois Podhajsky in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry on Alois Podhajsky in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
• Alois Podhajsky in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
• Colonel Alois Podhajsky in the interview in the online archive "Austria at the word" of the Austrian media library