The South African National Lipizzaner Centre is the only Centre of High School Riding to be recognised by the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. The Spanish Riding School, formerly the Riding School of the Royal Court in Vienna, is dedicated to the preservation of Classical Riding in its purest form. The Lipizzaner Centre in South Africa is the only other team of performing Lipizzaners in the world that adheres strictly to these principles.
The Lipizzaner Centre is under the Directorship of Mrs Marianne Conlyn, a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable lady who is also a Senior Rider. Mrs. Conlyn has brought about some very constructive changes since she has been in charge, and the Lipizzaner Centre is very lucky to have such a capable trainer.
The Riders are all ladies, and they work for the love of preserving the Classical Art of Horsemanship, as wages are not very high. These ladies give up six days a week, to training and producing, to a very high standard, the performing Lipizzaner stallions.
The structure of the Centre is based on that of the Spanish
Riding School. Pupils come to the Lipizzaner Centre as Students,
and for the first six months are confined to work on the lunge,
where they learn balance and the classical seat. The student
rider is expected to perform various stable duties and to observe
the Riders during training, as much can be learnt from watching.
The student, after about six months on the lunge, is able to take
the reins and ride the stallion, still on the lunge, under the
watchful eye of her instructor. All the movements of classical
dressage are learnt this way, the experienced stallion teaches
the student rider the secrets of classical riding. Throughout the
Rider's career she will return to the lunge to correct any faults
in her seat or to master movements she may be having difficulty
with. 
When she has finished her training on the lunge, the student rider is given an older, experienced stallion to work with, and she has lessons every day. Only when she is able to ride the School Quadrille on this stallion does she graduate to Junior Rider. As a Junior Rider, the girl will be given a younger horse, and under instruction she will be expected to bring this horse on, and produce him for the performance. She will also be expected to teach some of the newer student riders, and should begin to display a deeper understanding of riding with the team, and the work-in-hand. Only when a Junior Rider has produced her own stallion to the standard of the School Quadrille does she qualify as a Senior Rider.
The Senior Riders are those riders who are able to produce, from scratch, a stallion that will eventually perform in the School Quadrille, the Pas de Deux or, if he is of exceptional talent, the Solo performance. The Senior Riders are responisble for the training of the Junior Riders as well as the horses. The Senior Riders also decide what particular horse and rider combinations are most successful, and are responsible for making changes if a particular rider is unable to manage a particular horse. Mrs. Conlyn, and the Senior Riders are responsible for selecting from many applicants, those riders which display the talent which will earn them the position of student rider.
The Senior Riders also take
their stallions and compete in open competition, and mostly they
are accomplished dressage riders and teachers outside of the
Lipizzaner Team.
The Riders of the Lipizzaner Centre are trained twice a year by Bereiter Andreas Hausberger from The Spanish Riding School in Vienna. During his time with the team, he is very demanding and requires the utmost of concentration from both horse and rider. The Senior Riders are under a lot of pressure during these times, as they are expected to display their skill to this remarkable teacher. He observes both the training of the horses as well as the riders. The intensity of the training of the Senior Riders is required to ensure that the very exacting standards of classical horsemanship are adhered to and passed on to future generations of Riders at the Lipizzaner Centre.