'Col.Podhajsky was a man who had enormous presence and personal charisma. He was an absolutely correct man, right down to the way he took off his gloves. He carried this correctness accross into everything he did with horses. For instance, if he found a small straw in the tail of a horse, he would insist we take it back and groom it again. His maxim was: 'If you can't discipline yourself..how can you expect to discipline a horse?' Col. Podhajsky always tried to understand the thinking of the horse, and then work in with its temperament. He always believed in getting a mental and physical balance with a horse. It was a great privelige for me to be his only pupil for three and a half years.
He knew the Royalty of the world, and sometimes when I visited him he would be entertaining eminent people. One of his closest friends was Prince Bernhardt of the Netherlands, who often visited Vienna. Col.Podhajsky used to give evenings in Vienna, talking about the Spanish Riding School, with their magnificent Lippazaners, and showing slides. I used to visit him in his private apartment in the Hofburg. It was a wonderful place, and full of well known artworks. As a trainer, he had a very relaxed approach when teaching, and yet at the same time he was totally uncompromising about what he wanted from both the horse and the rider. He strongly emphasized the need for the horse and rider to move as a team, rather than just pushing a horse into shape.'
Warrick Cozens* If you go to here you can view photographs from my personal collection of Col.Podhajsky. |
