Saturday, December 27, 2008

Horses of Salzburg

Seeing as I'm still confined by the weather....it is raining, but it's made even more treacherous road conditions, I thought I would go through some of my old photos and post to my blog.

These pics were taken in 2007 when I went with a friend from K9 Search and Rescue to visit another friend from K9SAR who was teaching in Salzburg, Austria. We took the milk run flight and flew round trip for under $400, staying in mostly hostels and were only there for 10 days. In those 10 days, though, I was able to load up some memory cards and my own memory with beautiful scenery and good times with friends.

This post is on the horses of Salzburg. Of course, everyone know the famous Lippizzaners of Vienna, but the Austrians love all their horses. We saw many Haflingers, and even rode some up in the Tirol country. Lovely horses with spirit and just the right height for me! :)

Here are a couple of sweeties that haul the tourists around....





There are two horse "ponds" (Pferdeschwemme-horse wash) remaining in the city, and I really enjoyed this one. It was built in 1695 adjacent to the old Episcopal Stables. This is where prized horses from the archbishop's royal stables were bathed.
Michael Bernhard Mandl was the artist who created the pond and the sculpture dominating the center "The Horse Tamer". The horse frescoes surrounding the fountain were painted by Josef Ebner.










The fountain at Residenzplatz was made famous to the US public in The Sound of Music. The Residenzbrunner or Residence Fountain was created by Italian sculptor, Tommaso Garona between 1656-61. It is said to be the largest and most beautiful Baroque fountain outside of Italy....of course it was the horses that caught my attention. :)








Here are some other fountains and architecture around the city that I managed to not write down any info about....



At the Schloss Mirabell (Palace) you can find mythical relatives of the horse...




Oh, and one snooty lion! :)

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful pictures Tammy! I'm sorry to hear about your nasty weather conditions up there. I'm hoping everything thaws out slowly.

BB said...

Ohhhh... that was incredible! I saw the Dancing Horses of Vienna in the early 90s (for real) as they practiced for their famous shows. Takes me back there... hope you are warm enough there. Finally cooling down here (thank goodness!).
BB
:-)

Susan said...

Tammy, what beautiful photos! I've always wanted to go to Austria (being an enormous fan of The Sound of music) and now I want to go even more! If this photo essay is an example of what you have in your archives, I can't wait to see more!

Joanna@BooneDocksWilcox said...

beautiful photo's

just curious - how long have you been home bound now?

the7msn said...

What a wonderful way to work around cabin fever - and we are the beneficiaries. Stay warm.

I need orange said...

Thanks for taking us along to see the horses!!!

Jennifer said...

Incredible photos! I loved them, I bet all of that was really something to see in person, what a beautiful place!

Michelle said...

That was a lovely "armchair trip"! My cousin in Whitehorse has Haflingers, and we recently re-watched The Sound of Music (Brian's first). Small world!

Michelle said...

Oh, and of course I've seen the Royal Lipizzaners, and Disney's wonderful movie about them.

Danni said...

You know what struck me the most about all your beautiful pictures? All that gorgeous SUN and BLUE SKY!! lol :-)

Gone2theDawgs said...

Joanna, I've been out of the house (other than feeding critters) once in a week.

Danni, we had almost all sunny days when we were there! It was wonderful!

Karen said...

Sounds like it must have been a really fabulous trip. More! More!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

lol! The snooty lion made me laugh :)

All of the horse ponds and sculpture were just stunning. I would have been in heaven seeing and being surrounded by all that equine beauty.
I love the Haflingers so much. I wish I wasn't so tall or I'd have one of my own. I'm sure falling from a Haflinger would have caused much less damage than falling from my 15'3hh Paint mare. :P

Thanks for the wonderful tour,
~Lisa
New Mexico