Spanish Riding School – Legal bases
The legal bases for the Spanish Riding School are laid down in the Spanish Riding School Act.
As of 1 January 2001 a company named “Spanische Hofreitschule – Bundesgestüt Piber" (Spanish Riding School – Piber Federal Stud) was established.
As of 1 January 2001 the company "Spanische Hofreitschule – Bundesgestüt Piber" was established to ensure the maintenance and traditional breeding of the horse breed "Lipizzaner", to maintain the tradition and the Haute Ecole of classical equitation, to use the relevant parts of the Vienna Hofburg palace and the federal stud farm at Piber according to tradition and thus to safeguard the public interest in the Austrian and international cultural asset thereby represented, a company named "Spanische Hofreitschule – Bundesgestüt Piber" was established as of 1 January 2001. Since 1 January 2017 the company name has been "Spanische Hofreitschule - Lipizzanergestüt Piber" (Spanish Riding School - Lipizzaner Stud Piber).
Lipizzaners are one of Europe’s oldest cultural horse breeds. As the population of this old and famous breed is small, utmost attention has to be paid to its preservation. It is vital to maintain the high standard of Lipizzaner breeding in the type of the “baroque pomp horse“.
At the Spanish Riding School, the best Lipizzaner stallions from the Piber Federal Stud are trained and groomed and the number of their presentations is counted. The best stallions then return to Piber as studs. The breeding of the Lipizzaner and the management of the respective locations at Piber in Styria are the responsibility of the Piber Federal Stud.
The Spanish Riding School Act provides a special legal framework for the two organisational units – the Piber Federal Stud and the Spanish Riding School. Both institutions date from the time of the Monarchy and were then managed as subordinate agencies of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management – until the company was established.